Job Introduction
Residential Acquisition Officer - Fixed Term Contract/Secondment for 18 months
Salary: Band 7 - £31,067 - £35,235 p.a.
37 hours per week Monday to Friday
We have a brilliant opportunity to join our Housing Supply service as a Residential Acquisition Officer! Portsmouth City Council's Housing Supply service sits within the Housing, Neighbourhood and Building Services directorate. Responsible for the supply of new, bespoke, temporary, or permanent affordable housing, looking to meet the continual demand placed on the Council for housing, and increase our available housing stock. Working alongside our internal capital projects team, local estate agents, landlords, leaseholders, and solicitors, as well as a multitude of internal Portsmouth City Council stakeholders, we look to meet this demand whilst acknowledging the financial impact across the council.
The Role:
Based in the Civic offices, the purpose of a Residential Acquisition Officer is to:
- Support the Housing Asset & Valuation manager with residential property acquisitions specifically for use as Temporary Accommodation.
- Identify suitable properties for acquisition and assess whether it fits the eligibility criteria.
- Instruct and review open market valuations in accordance with the RICs Red Book of Global standards.
- Negotiate sales price as required, insuring value for money for the Council.
- Compile a financial appraisal to establish the viability of the acquisition.
- Prepare offer letters to vendors, and legal instructions upon receipt of acceptance of offer.
- Review legally binding documents that make up the draft contract pack.
- Prepare 'point of sale' statements for Legal Services.
- Bring properties back into the Northgate and stock database systems; ending lease contracts, reconciling ended service charge accounts and reserve funds against completion statements from Legal Services/acting solicitors.
- Any other directorate wide project/tasks as required.
A full UK driving license is essential for this role, on & off island site visits may be required. Portsmouth City Council offers hybrid working, with officers being required to work in their designated workplace at least two days a week. Hybrid working is driven by the needs of the service; therefore you may need to come in more regularly if your service needs require it.
Who is the person?
We are looking for somebody who:
- Has a high level of customer service experience, this is essential for the role.
- Is confident in their verbal and written communication, with strong, negotiation and analytical skills.
- Experience of interpreting legislation, contract & lease agreements.
- Can work accurately to a high standard and level of detail, with the ability to analyse and interpret large amounts of data and report writing.
- Experience of managing external suppliers, raising purchase orders, and paying invoices.
- Has financial awareness with the ability to recognise and achieve value for money working within budgetary restraints.
- Is competent using a variety of IT systems such as databases, financial management systems, Excel, and other Microsoft Office applications.
- Has the ability to work in accordance with the 'Ways of Working' as described above.
If you have any questions or would like to have an informal chat about the role please e-mail jack.white@portsmouthcc.gov.uk
If applying as a secondment please ensure that you have your line managers permission and state this in your application.
When completing the application form, please thoroughly tailor your application to the 'Who is the Person' points with the use of examples from your experience. This is really important or you are likely not to be shortlisted. The full job profile is attached at the bottom of this page!
About Portsmouth City Council
What we can offer you:
Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.
Read more about working at Portsmouth City Council and our benefits on our careers portal homepage: Careers Portal - Find jobs with Portsmouth City Council
