Senior Legal And Governance Officer

Who are Acis Group?

We began as a social landlord providing homes in West Lindsey. Now we provide over 7,000 affordable homes across the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber. Our homes include ones for affordable rent, Shared Ownership, people aged 55 and over and supported housing - but now, we do so much more. We take our roles in our customer's lives seriously, putting them first in everything we do. And as part of that we've grown to provide wider services to truly support the communities in which we work.

In addition, there are over 4,000 learners a year are supported in local communities stretching from Sheffield to Mablethorpe - with everything from entry level qualifications, arts and wellbeing courses through to employability support to help people fulfil their potential. This is through Riverside Training, our employment and skills team, and CLIP, an education provider.

Your role is all about providing a Legal and Governance service for Acis by working closely with our colleagues.

Here's what our Head of Legal Catherine has to say about the role:

"The role of the Senior Legal Officer is a really exciting opportunity that gives you the freedom to structure your own day, balance your own workload in a way that you want, but with the support of a great team around you, which means that your matters will keep moving even if you are on leave. If you want a role where no two days are the same, where you are making a huge difference to people's lives and everything you do has the customer at heart, then the Legal and Governance Team is the team for you.

We have a modern approach to flexible working in a newly refurbished office space and if you are looking for a forward thinking and ambitious company, who always puts the customer first, then the Acis Group is the company for you."

Being part of the Acis team, you'll get:

• Generous holiday entitlement - At least 25 days annual leave every year, plus bank holidays
• Enhanced pension contributions up to 10%
• The opportunity to undertake professional training, funded by us.
• Staff benefits with Paycare - A health and benefits scheme giving you support and contributions towards various health benefits such as counselling, eye tests, vaccinations and much more
• Benefits with Acis Perkz - a discount scheme giving you savings off hundreds of schemes including discounts on your coffee, weekly shop, days out and much more!
• Employee recognition scheme, where we celebrate and award our Stars within Acis, including gift vouchers
• Long service awards for our loyal employees
• Cycle to work scheme
• Enhanced sick pay scheme
• Enhanced maternity and paternity scheme to support you and your family
• Employee Assistance Programme to give you confidential advice and support, when you need it
• Professional membership subscription to support your continuous professional development
• Death in service benefit

As a Senior Legal and Governance Officer, a typical day might include:

• Providing advice to our colleagues, and taking the lead on a number of routine ASB, tenancy management and any more complex rent arrears cases
• Leading on, and working closely with our colleagues on routine disrepair claims that have been issued against us, ensuring that we protect the Acis Group at all times
• Advising on and liaising with our colleagues as the lead for routine sundry debtor claims
• Providing support and collating our evidence, where necessary, for our insurers together with advising and assisting our colleagues with potential insurance claims that are, or might be made against us
• Providing legal advice and guidance to our colleagues as and when required on a variety of legal matters
• Providing advice, support and guidance to our Legal and Governance Officer on matters relative to their role, for example on Right to Buy/Acquire, Shared Ownership resales and staircasing, Boundary enquiries and land purchase requests
• Providing advice, support and guidance to our Legal and Governance Assistant on matters relative to their role
• Taking the lead with the legal aspect of our commercial portfolio, providing advice and guidance as necessary on things such as lease clauses, renewals and breaches
• Reviewing contract agreements prior to signing, or bidding, to ensure that the Acis Group can comply with the terms, or to negotiate terms as necessary, advising our colleagues on the terms and consequences as set out in the agreement
• Assisting with providing comprehensive responses to the Housing Ombudsman's enquiries
• Helping the team with getting Subject Access Requests responded to within the deadline

The must haves:

• A relevant legal qualification, or a great level of experience
• A great standard of education, with at least 5 GCSEs at grades A-C (or equivalent) with one being English.
• The ability to find solutions in creative ways to a wide range of issues is one of your strengths
• Experience of working in the social housing sector
• Useful experience in a number of legal areas such as civil litigation, ASB possession proceedings, relevant court experience, disrepair, commercial property, and/or contract review for example
• The ability to prioritise your workload effectively, despite ever changing deadlines and goals
• A great eye for detail!
• You'll be adept at change and knowing how to bring your colleagues along for the experience
• Fabulous communication skills.
• You're happiest when you are working within a team environment as we all support each other but equally you will be able to work on your own without supervision.
• You must know how to keep the information that you hear from working in your role confidential.

What will make you stand out from the crowd:

• You are either a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives or a Solicitor with significant relevant experience

As soon as a suitable candidate is found for this role we reserve the right to close the job advert ahead of the closing date, so please do not delay in submitting your application.

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