Job Introduction
What you’ll do
We are looking for two Legal Assistants to join our in-house Legal Services team - one in a permanent role and one on a 12-month fixed-term contract. In these roles, you will support the operational teams on a range of housing management related issues, including tenancy and lease breaches, with particular focus on escalated arrears and pursuing effective recovery via legal action.
You will work closely with the local officers and tenancy sustainment and safeguarding teams to ensure debt is escalated appropriately, once all reasonable support options have been put in place.
We support flexible working arrangements that foster collaboration, combined with the power of in-person interactions. For this role, we’d expect you to be in the office or out and about with customers for at least three days a week to ensure we’re at our prime, crafting exceptional customer experiences and achieving outstanding business outcomes.
How you’ll do it
You will have your own caseload which will be predominately escalated arrears cases that have been referred to you, to drive an effective resolution. You will play a crucial role in rent and service charge collection for the organisation. Your decisions will be in collaboration with operational teams, whilst placing the resident at the centre of every decision.
You will assist with team and organisational projects and provide administrative support to the legal team. You will collaborate and support your legal colleagues to ensure that resources are deployed in accordance with business need.
Specific duties will include:
- Leading on rent and service charge recovery cases referred to you by the operational teams, with the goal of maximising income for the organisation.
- Managing other legal cases assigned to you. Providing support to Paralegals, team managers and team leaders as required – particularly those where there is a crossover with arrears to ensure cases are managed in a joined-up way. This may include housing and lease management issues including disrepair.
- Representing NHG well in external settings such as court, multi-agency meetings, local authority engagement meetings, mediation and casework panels on tenancy and lease breaches.
- Preparing, drafting and responding to all necessary legal documentation and bundles, evidence and witness statements as required.
- Providing excellent administrative support for the legal team including inbox management, excellent record keeping and document handling.
- Working closely with the operational teams and tenancy sustainment and safeguarding teams, to be confident that legal escalation takes place once all reasonable proactive engagement with residents has been exhausted, always focusing on tenancy sustainment objectives.
The Ideal Candidate
We are looking for a conscientious person, who has an eye for detail and an enthusiasm for law. You should have excellent written and verbal communication skills and a proven ability to exercise good judgement and discretion. You will also be able to develop and maintain strong relationships with colleagues, operational teams and third party stakeholders.
Essential:
- Good spoken and written English
- Strong organisational skills, accuracy, and attention to detail
- Good research skills
- Ability to work independently in a fast-paced environment.
- Experience working within an income and debt recovery team within a legal department or practice, housing association or similar organization.
Desirable:
- Educated to A-levels or equivalent
- Understanding of the Civil Procedure Rules particularly as it relates to debt recovery action.
- Legal drafting skills
What’s in it for you?
Once you join us, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to grow and move around our organisation. You’ll also have access to a wide range of learning opportunities to help you achieve, grow and maximise your potential. There will be opportunities for personal development, including pathways to qualifications.
Benefits include:
- Excellent annual leave allowance and flexible working opportunities (qualifying period may apply)
- Generous pension scheme
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay - we offer enhanced maternity and adoption pay in addition to statutory entitlements (qualifying period may apply)
- Employee assistance - free confidential advice and counselling services provided by independent specialist organisations
- Health cash plan
- Staff discounts - we give our staff access to discounts at hundreds of major retailers, gyms, restaurants, entertainment, days out, insurance and much more
- Interest free loans: season ticket loan, tenancy deposit loan and training loan
- Cycle to work scheme
- Life Assurance x 4 annual salary
All about us
Notting Hill Genesis is a not-for-profit organisation providing affordable homes for Londoners and it is now one of the largest housing associations in London. We are both a landlord and a developer, with more than 60,000 existing homes and 10,000 more in our pipeline and we employ around 1,500 people.
For more information on what we do and what makes us different please visit:https://group.nhg.org.uk/careers/
We welcome applications from everyone. We actively monitor the diversity of our workforce and strive to show equal representation throughout all levels of the organisation. We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a Disability Confident employer amongst other diversity commitments. To find out more about our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion please visit: https://group.nhg.org.uk/careers/diversity-is-our-strength/
Selection Process
Step 1: If you are interested, please send your application now! Closing date is 22 June 2025.
Step 2: Successful candidates will be invited to interview and assessment.
Please apply for this role online. If you are not able to apply online or if you have any reasonable adjustment requirements arising from a disability or medical condition to fully participate in the recruitment process, please discuss this with our hiring team via jobs@nhg.org.uk.
Should a redeployee apply for this role, their application will be considered before any others.
Disclaimers
NHG reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role, so we advise you to submit your application at your earliest opportunity.
