Service Charge Complaints and Disputes Manager

Service Charge Complaints & Disputes Manager

Location: London

Salary: £51,099 - £54,135 per annum

Hours: 35 hours per week

The Role

Our client is an award-winning housing and regeneration organisation with a national reputation for innovative urban and social regeneration.

They are looking for a Service Charge Complaints & Disputes Manager to lead on building trust and credibility in their service charge processes.

The postholder will:

• Lead on investigating, managing and resolving complex service charge casework
• Lead on mediating and brokering resolutions between residents with service charge concerns and colleagues
• Meet with tenants and leaseholders to present, explain, and clarify service charge information
• Assist in the preparation of documentation and evidence for legal proceedings, tribunal cases, and Ombudsman investigations
• Identify key policy issues and trends that may impact the organisation, and devise proactive strategies to address them
• Develop a model to maximise the information residents can self-serve through online access
• Produce regular reports on the nature, frequency, and outcomes of service charge complaints, providing insights for process improvements

Key Responsibilities

Engagement:

• Act as 'honest broker' between residents and their teams
• Develop clear, comprehensive, and legally compliant service charge information
• Engage with residents to better understand and address concerns about service charges
• Ensure communication about service charges is empathetic, professional, and unambiguous
• First and main point of contact for service charge queries, disputes and complaints
• Improve service charge transparency

Governance:

• Assist in the preparation of documentation and evidence for legal proceedings, tribunal cases, and Ombudsman investigations
• Assist with internal audits
• Ensure complaint handling and dispute resolution processes comply with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements
• Ensure residents' voices are heard
• Identify trends and recurring issues, providing insight and recommendations to efficiency and service charge accuracy
• Implement robust controls to ensure data integrity

Leadership:

• Act as ambassador for the organsiation
• Be an exemplar to colleagues
• Identify key policy issues and trends that may impact them and devise proactive strategies to address them
• Provide guidance and training on best practice
• Role model the behaviours that underpin their values, and reinforce their importance

Planning:

• Collaborate with facilities, finance, housing, and technical and other colleagues to ensure accurate and timely service charge information to residents
• Develop a model to maximise the information residents can self-serve through online access
• Develop a plan to influence and promote an ethos of transparency

Reporting:

• Produce regular reports on the nature, frequency, and outcomes of service charge complaints, providing insights for process improvements
• Use data analytics to inform strategies

Service Charge Accounting:

• Assist with annual service charge processes
• Assist with major works consultations
• Review apportionments in line with agreements and statutory requirements

Skills and Qualifications

• professional qualification or degree in Accounting, Housing, Property Management, or a related field; or equivalent experience
• analyse and interpret financial data
• balance conflicting priorities to meet deadlines
• convey complex information clearly and persuasively
• effectively communicate difficult decisions
• attention to detail
• familiarity with dispute resolution frameworks, including mediation, arbitration, and tribunal procedures
• held a service charge accounting or finance role
• led on resolving disputes and complaints
• apply and interpret service charge accounting principles
• apply and interpret statutory requirements, including landlord and tenant legislation
• deliver excellence in a complex environment

To Apply

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