Discover what it’s like to work in our Housing team
Housing Officer, Deniz, has been at Hastoe for seven years now and as he puts it, his job consists of anything and everything to do with housing.
He deals with the works: from managing residents’ rents accounts, collecting arrears, dealing with antisocial behaviour cases, handling mutual exchanges, attending tenant sign ups and dealing with void properties. For Deniz, juggling all these different things is the best but also the most challenging part of his job.
Here, we find out what a work day looks like for Deniz at the moment.
8:30am: Deniz's patch covers Essex, East Sussex and Kent, so his day can often involve a lot of driving. His first visit is to one of our estates in Hornchurch, Essex, so he starts his day by travelling there.
9:30am: He's visiting this site because one of our block of flats there requires weekly fire alarm testing.
Once we've completed the fire testing, I'll do some work in the estate office so residents can come and speak to me, raise issues or ask any questions. I'm always in contact with our residents - be that phone calls, emails and everything in between. It can make my job more challenging, as I've got to speak to residents and complete all my other tasks. But that's what my job is, keeping a lot of plates spinning and I really like talking to our residents - it's one of the things that makes my job so interesting."
11:30am: Later that morning, Deniz has a meeting with his manager about starter tenancies:
"As a Housing Officer, I'm involved in advertising our newly available properties with the local authority, reviewing the shortlist of applicants and making sure they fulfill a Section 106 requirement, which means the applicants have to have a local connection to the area. I then arrange visits to the home and chat to the applicants to ensure they'll be suitable tenants. Once all that's done, I go back to my manager where we approve the applications and I'll then start working with the Property Services team to make sure the homes are ready for the new tenants to move into."
12:30pm: After this meeting, more driving is on the cards for Deniz, who then travels all the way to one of our schemes in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
2:00pm: He is meeting with a social worker, who is helping one of our residents get their repairs sorted but there has been reports of issues with the condition of the property. Deniz speaks to the resident and the social worker and conducts a house inspection.
3:00pm: After his meeting and inspection has finished, Deniz heads over to speak to the Estate Officer and checks the site to see if there is any issues that need to be raised or dealt with.
"Because I travel so far to visit our sites, once I'm there I always try to walk around to check everything is in order. With smaller estates I check to see if the ground maintenance is being done properly and check there are no ongoing issues like fly tipping. With blocks of flats, I'm often checking that there are no fire safety issues and that residents aren't leaving anything in communal areas. I also assess everything from trees to footpaths to make sure there are no hazards. If I do spot anything I'll raise it as a communal repair once I'm back from the site."
4:30pm: After speaking to a few more residents, Deniz finishes off his day as he started - in the car and travelling back from Tunbridge Wells.
Glossary
Section 106 Local Connection Agreement: This refers to Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and is where a local connection is a requirement of the planning permission. This means the developer will have to find occupants who have a local connection to the area where they are building the houses.
Mutual Exchange: This refers to a scheme where people who live in a council or housing association home find someone to swap homes with.
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