Discover what it's like to work in our Finance team
Kemi joined Hastoe’s Finance team in January 2025. Her role is vital to helping us provide and manage affordable homes across rural communities. From carrying out the monthly rent reviews to responding to resident queries, every part of her day plays a part in making sure our services run smoothly. Here’s what a typical day looks like for Kemi.
9:00am: Kemi starts her day by checking her emails and logging into our housing management system, ActiveH, to review any new queries from colleagues and residents.
Other departments might send a re-let or refund request or ask to cancel an overdue rent charge. Alternatively, a resident might query a service charge so I’ll look into the costs and sometimes issue a refund. There is a wide variety of tasks to prioritise.
10:00am: Next, Kemi handles some requests from the Homeownership Team. For example, when someone wants to sell their home, Kemi checks if their account is up to date and pulls together details like planned works, ground rent and insurance to send back to the team. She might work on two or three of these cases a day, depending on what else comes in.
If a refund request comes through from the Rents Officer, Kemi is responsible for approving it. This involves checking all the relevant documents to make sure everything is in order before the money is returned.
A lot of my work involves going through spreadsheets to check older records, make adjustments and issue updated statements like the ones residents get at the start of the year. It can be time-consuming but it’s important to get it right.
11:00am: Once a month, our Senior Finance Officer reconciles the rent income received via direct debit, cheques and PayPal. Kemi must check the accuracy of the workings and upload the journals to SUN Accounts.
1:00pm: After lunch, Kemi focuses on the monthly rent review. Every month, some residents are due a rent or service charge increase based on government guidelines or tenancy agreements.
I extract the data from our systems, double-check that the right accounts are being reviewed, calculate the increases and make sure the service charges are updated. As I’m still relatively new, it can take me 2-3 days to finish everything. Once it’s ready, it goes to our Head of Finance for review.
Once the review is approved, letters are sent to residents and Kemi helps respond to any questions that come in.
4:00pm: Some afternoons, Kemi gets requests for planned works spreadsheets or service charges.
Many of our schemes are mixed tenure – with rented, leasehold, and shared ownership properties. Leaseholders contribute to planned works, like roof or window repairs. I work closely with the Planned Works and Leasehold teams to confirm the costs, then we consult with residents. It’s about managing expectations and finding solutions that work for everyone.
Kemi has found the support from her team invaluable during her first few months.
I really enjoyed working on the April rent review with our Head of Finance. He helped guide me through it so I can take on more of the responsibility next time. The other members of the team are experienced and really know what they're doing. I feel lucky to have such a great team!
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