Service Charges & Rent Manager

Norwich, Norfolk
Saffron Housing

Service Charges & Rent Manager

£49,680 per annum

Long Stratton, Norwich, Norfolk

Permanent, Full Time

Fulltime: 37hrs per week

Proposed Interview Date: TBC

We have an exciting opportunity for a Service Charges & Rent Manager to be operationally responsible for the effective management, administration, and communication of service charges and rent application for 7000+ homes, homeowners, freeholders on estate and garages.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Develop, implement, and manage the annual service charge budgets for all properties within the Housing Association’s portfolio, ensuring accuracy and transparency.
• Ensure the annual rent and charges are issued in line with regulatory requirements, and best practice. Ensuring all tenants that have a service charge or personal charge receive clear and concise breakdowns of the charges, with transparent explanations for any changes in costs.
• Ensure that service charge, estate-based charges and utility billing arrangements comply with the relevant laws, regulations, and guidelines, including the Leasehold Reform Act and other housing legislation.
• Provide clear and transparent communication to residents regarding service charge billing, including responding to queries and explaining charges in an understandable manner.
• Work closely with contractors, suppliers, and internal teams to support the teams that manage the contracts to ensure that services provided to residents (e.g., cleaning, maintenance, grounds maintenance) are delivered as per the agreed terms and conditions.
• Lead on the implementation of new systems, tools, or technologies to improve service charge management and resident satisfaction.
• Deliver a high standard of customer service ensuring customer outcomes are effectively delivered.

Our Ideal Candidate Will Have:

Educations and Qualifications:

• Degree level or equivalent relevant professional qualification or qualified by experience (E).
• Evidence of continued professional development (E)
• Have or are working towards a Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Level 3 or above, or similar (D).

Experience:

• Demonstrable and extensive working in service charge and rents management or a similar role within housing associations, property management, or public sector housing.
• In depth experience in managing complex variable service charges, estate charges, sinking funds, and diverse rent regimes (Social, Affordable, Intermediate).
• Understanding of leasehold management, Section 20 consultation processes and managing external third-party managing agents.
• Understanding of welfare benefits.
• Extensive experience in operational management and leading a customer facing team.
• A track record of customer excellence and performance against KPI’s
• Experience of change management and being and subject matter expert for changes in software and systems.
• Experience of working within a customer-focused environment and handling challenging customer interactions.
• Knowledge of housing management software and systems used to manage service charge billing and reporting.
• Experience of modifying and maintaining policy and procedures.
• Substantive experience of working with and presenting complex financial and compliance reports to governance groups including Tenant Service Committees and Boards.
• Experience of identifying, interpreting, and implementing changes in response to new legislation or regulations.
• Experience at forming and delivering strategic roadmap plans including training, quality assurance, and annual plans.
• Experience in leading customer facing teams and a history of customer excellence & performance against KPI’s.
• Experience of interpreting law and housing legislation as it related to rents, service charge, leasehold management and managing agents to ensure compliance and effective service delivery.
• Extensive stakeholder management of both internal and external stakeholders.

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities:

• Strong knowledge of government policy, legislation, regulations, in relation to service charges, rents and best practice
• Strong knowledge of leases, tenancies, legislation, and case law in relation to service charges, sinking funds and rents.
• Knowledge of developing IT systems for managing service charges & rents.
• Strong knowledge of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 & Housing Acts.
• Knowledge of the Regulator of Social Housing’s Consumer Standards (2024) and pending leasehold, shared ownership, and freehold charges reforms.
• Coaching and leadership skills to enable a team to develop to achieve its full potential.
• Exceptional ability to translate complex financial concepts into “plain English” for diverse stakeholders, colleagues, and residents.
• Exceptional customer service skills with a commitment to resolving complex enquiries efficiently and effectively.
• Strong customer service skills, with a focus on resolving queries and complaints in a timely and professional manner.
• Strong skills in financial modelling, budgeting, and forecasting
• Proficiency in using data and insights to drive personalisation transparency, and service improvements.

Please note this role is subject to a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service check