Property Inspector (14829)

Why Work for us: Employee benefits (southampton.gov.uk)

Are you looking to develop an interesting and rewarding career in an ambitious city?  Are you, highly motivated, professional and friendly?  We are looking for a Property Inspector within our Southampton based Voids team who has the ability to build successful working arrangements and partnerships with other internal teams i.e. Housing Offices and Allocations.

Southampton is a city of opportunity. Can you help us deliver the vision for the entire city, ensuring we leave a positive legacy for future generations?

About You:

You will be part of the busy Estate Maintenance team within our Housing Operations Service that carry out repairs, maintenance and project work to over 16,500 council owned properties throughout our estates across the city. We also carry put repairs and maintenance to approximately 1,500 empty properties per year.  Your duties will include;

• Carrying out pre-vacation and void inspections
• Accurately identify and record scope of works with the ability to diagnose building faults
• Visiting tenants and dealing with telephone, face to face and email queries
• Liaising with tenants so that their properties meet the Moving Out Standard
• Ensuring that empty properties meet the Moving In Standard
• Investigate complaints including those from Councillors, MPs and Ombudsman
• Supporting managers within the service
• Building successful working relationships and partnerships with internal and external service providers
• Managing the health, safety and welfare of staff and customers

Experience and a working knowledge of CDM and Health and Safety policies is a must along with being educated in a relevant building qualification of HND / HNC / CIOB.  The successful applicant must have a full clean driving licence and will be required to undergo a DBS check. 

As the work is varied a flexible approach is required to meet changing needs and tight deadlines. Excellent customer service skills, enthusiasm, and a ‘can do’ attitude is essential as you’ll be our ambassador when speaking to customers and suppliers.  You will liaise with residents, peers and colleagues on a daily basis so communication and customer focus will be essential to the role. Organisational, customer service, time management and high level of competency in using IT systems are key to this role. You will need to be able to remain calm and unflustered when working under pressure and/or faced with confrontation.

About Us:

We are committed to being a Child and Resident Friendly City where people are proud to live and work and where you can make a significant difference to our local communities.  We want Southampton to be a modern city, amongst the best places to grow up, live and work in and we are committed to tackling inequality and to creating a city that is greener, fairer and healthier.

About Southampton:

• Our city is easy to travel around on foot, bike and public transport
• We have a fantastic range of retail outlets, restaurants, bars, cinemas and theatres.
• Our City has award-winning parks and open spaces with the New Forest National Park and beautiful beaches on our doorstep
• We have one of the major ports in the UK operating 364 days a year.

Why work for us?

You can be confident of a rewarding career, with a competitive salary, job security and a wide range of employee benefits including generous annual leave and career progression opportunities in return for your dedication to bettering the lives of Southampton’s residents.

We’ll provide:

• Access to the Hampshire Local Government Pension Scheme
• Interest free travel loans and discounts.
• Employee Support Services.
• Employer pension contributions
• Maternity/Paternity/Adoption leave

You will work a 37-hour and your basic leave entitlement is 27 days annual leave per year (not including bank holidays).  This leave increases to 30 days after you have completed 5 years of continuous service. Other employee benefits range from childcare vouchers and discounted travel to money off at selected restaurants, shops and salons.

If you’d like to be part of our team and our City, apply today!

Contact details for informal discussion:

For further information and details regarding the position please contact Terry Larder at terry.larder@southampton.gov.uk, 023 8083 3519

Recruitment contact details:

Email: recruitment@southampton.gov.uk
Tel: 023 8083 4033

Additional information:

• The working hours for this role are 37 hours per week.
• This is a permanent position.   
• Please note that appointments are usually made at the bottom of the salary scale.
• This post requires a DBS check.
• For any posts that require a DBS check, if you have lived outside the UK within the last 5 years, you will be required to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct or a police certificate from the country/countries you have resided in. Kindly note that this is at the expense of the candidate, as well as any costs involved for translating into English.

How to apply:

To apply for the position please select the 'Apply for this job' button at the bottom of the page.

The supporting statement section of the application form must be completed, unless there are specific criteria questions for you to evidence against. Applications are shortlisted against the essential and desirable criteria found within the job description for the post. Please refer to the job description when completing your application form and evidence how you meet the required criteria/questions. A CV on its own will not be considered.

Unfortunately we are not able to accept applications that are made through a third party agency. We cannot guarantee that any correspondence sent from third party agencies will be responded to. To ensure your application is received please apply directly through our website.

We are proud to be #DisabilityConfident and support fair recruitment practices. Find out how you can get involved at gov.uk/disability-confident.  No applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment because of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership and pregnancy or maternity, unless a Genuine Occupational Requirement (GOR) applies.

Southampton City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults.  It is committed to delivering services to ensure they are happy, safe and have opportunities to reach their goals as responsible members of our community.  We believe it is always unacceptable for a child, young person or adult to experience abuse of any kind, and recognise our responsibility to safeguard and promote their welfare.  We are committed to following safe practices to ensure this and expect all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.  This commitment is reflected in all our recruitment and selection practices.

As a Corporate Parent we are actively aiming to support all our children in care (looked after children) and care leavers. Any applicants who are children in care or care leavers, who meet the essential criteria for the post applied for, will be guaranteed an interview.