Solicitor (Barrister / Legal Executive) - Housing

Location: Spennymoor, County Durham - Agile / Hybrid working from October 2022

Salary: Up to £53,121 depending on skills, including car allowance

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: Full Time

This is fantastic opportunity for an experienced Solicitor with proven experience in managing the full range of legal issues facing Social Housing providers to develop their career and provide invaluable expertise to our business.

About us

We are an award-winning not for profit housing association that currently owns nearly 8,600 homes across County Durham. We offer more than just a home. We help improve the lives of the people living in our homes and in our places. We work hard to make sure those homes are high quality, sustainable and adaptable, while meeting tenants’ current and future aspirations. We offer support that help people into work and training and increase their financial confidence and stability.

There is no Plan B. There is no Planet B either. Now in the third and final phase of our nine-year Plan A, our strategy for 2022-25 and beyond requires ourselves, our suppliers, partners, and customers to raise our game with a primary focus on supporting sustainable places. To achieve this our new build and acquisition programme, tenancy support service, regeneration work and home improvement programme will all be focused on improving lives through sustainable homes and places.

About the role

This is a critical managerial role in our organisation ensuring that our tenancy contracts are effectively enforced, responding to litigation, preparing, and delivering cases to ensure legal compliance across a range of housing and property matters. You will also provide expert advice on the interpretation of various statutes and case law, assessing the legal implications of supplier and contractor terms and conditions and working with the Head of Governance to enable delivery of our business objectives within a comprehensive framework of statutory and regulatory requirements.

Collaborating closely with our development team you will also undertake conveyancing (Right to Buy/Acquire) and manage a small team administering ad-hoc purchases and sales of land/property in accordance with the prevailing regulatory regime.

About you

To be successful in this role you will need to be an astute, highly knowledgeable, qualified solicitor/barrister/legal professional with proven experience in housing-related litigation, including rent

arrears, debt and breathing space regulations, disrepair claims, obtaining access, evictions, and anti-social behaviour.

Solutions-focused, personable, credible and with the ability to support strategy delivery and mitigate against key organisational risks, you will play a key role in providing an enabling and reputable legal and governance service.

Knowledge of housing legislation, associated procedures, and practice, including landlord and tenant law is essential alongside practical experience in social housing, awareness of the prevailing social/economic/legal context to our provision and highly developed negotiation and persuasion skills.

Closing Date: 2nd September 2022 (12noon)