Service Charge Advisor

Job Role

Reporting to the Head of Sales & Home Ownership, you will be supported by the Service Charge Team Leader to ensure the accurate calculation, setting, administration and reconciliation of service charges, ensuring compliance with lease agreements, legislation and regulatory expectations whilst delivering transparent and customer-focused services to residents.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• To prepare annual service charge budgets for leasehold, shared ownership and rented schemes
• Work closely with operational teams (repairs, estates, planned maintenance, home ownership) to ensure costs are
• Accurate
• Reasonable
• Eligible
• Ensure charges reflect our value-for-money principles

KEY DUTIES

• Ensure all relevant service charge expenditure is captured and apportioned in line with Soha’s service charge policy
• Collect all necessary data, entering it into spreadsheets checking for reasonableness, and highlighting anomalies to service charge team leader
• Ensuring that communal electricity supply and cleaning service provision in blocks is captured and recorded as per agreed terms
• Ensure that grounds maintenance charging is allocated fairly and proportionately
• To liaise with third party management companies, checking that charges are reasonable and correct, building good working relationships
• Produce accurate service charge statements and send out on a timely basis
• Ensure that all controls in areas of responsibility are working effectively and reconciled on a regular basis
• Assist with service charge audits, both internal and external
• To liaise with the Development team to ensure service charges for new build properties and acquisitions are set up correctly
• To actively seek views of customers to ensure continuous improvement of the service and to meet the changing needs of residents
• To undertake any other duties as may reasonably be required

What you will need

• Excellent numeracy, financial and IT skills with a particular focus on Excel
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work in a team environment as well being able to self-manage
• Excellent organisational and administrative skills
• Ability to write reports and maintain records appropriately
• Attention to detail
• Good analytical skills

It would also be nice to have

• Experience with the social housing sector, or in a finance team
• Experience of using Sage
• Experience of using QL, or similar housing management system