Regulatory Officer

Would you like to be a part of The London Borough of Hounslow, whose diverse workforce are committed to making a positive difference for our residents and visitors by ensuring the quality of our services are maintained to a high standard?

About The Team

Hounslow Council is an outstanding council serving an outstanding borough. With brilliant, visionary leadership, a dynamic Cabinet and a can-do culture, we’ve built strong partnerships across the borough which have transformed how we serve one of London’s most diverse boroughs. Hounslow is the world in one place, full of potential, but a borough hit hard socially and economically by Covid-19. We have stepped up for our residents and businesses like never before.

In Hounslow we have adopted an additional licensing scheme which covers most HMOs within the borough. The aims of the scheme are to improve housing conditions and standards of management in the private rented sector and to reduce ASB associated with poorly managed HMOs so that they are not a blight on local neighbourhoods.

Hounslow’s accessible location and good quality large housing stock has meant there is a huge demand for HMO type accommodation. We have around 1600 HMO properties in Hounslow that have either been issued with a licence or have an application in place and are being assessed. There are likely to be many more properties that are unlicensed that we do not know about. These will involve investigatory and enforcement work to identify properties and landlords.

You will be dealing with new HMO applications and carrying out inspections to ensure that the properties comply with our Housing standards. The Council has identified the need for a joined-up approach across Council and you will be expected to collaborate with a wide range of other council services.

Key Responsibilities

• Determine applications and issue licences with appropriate conditions to ensure that properties are well managed and comply with the councils housing standards and liaise with other council services to deliver a joined-up approach to the management and control of HMOs in the borough.
• Inspect properties to ensuring absence of hazards and compliance with HMO licence conditions and carry out the enforcement of legislation as appropriate in a timely and efficient manner using the full range of enforcement functions.
• Deal with and act sympathetically on complaints about licenced premises ensuring due customer care.
• Be responsible for organising personal workload including maintenance of records, preparing plans and schedules, writing of letters and reports and work with other team members to ensure the targets of the team are achieved.

Your Skills

• Technical knowledge of building construction for residential premises and experience of using the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and inspecting HMOs.
• Good observational and investigation skills; and the ability to carry out inspections relevant to the work area, at times outside normal core working hours.
• Good customer care and communication skills in explaining complex legal and technical issues when dealing with all service users
• Ability to work in liaison with internal and external organisations.

Essential For The Role

• An environmental health and / or HHSRS qualification would be desirable but will also consider those who can show HMO licensing and enforcement experience and knowledge of HMO related work within a Local Authority setting.
• Experience of a variety of effective communications techniques
• You may be required to work outside routine office hours to carry out monitoring and compliance inspections so you will need to be happy with this aspect of the role.

This post is considered by the authority to be a customer-facing position; as such it falls within scope of the Code of Practice on English language requirement for public sector workers. The council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act 2016 to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the employee specification.

For more information and how to apply contact [email protected] or 0208 583 3605

To View The Hounslow Employee Benefits,

Interviews will be held during week commencing 4th April 2022.

Would you like to be a part of The London Borough of Hounslow, whose diverse workforce are committed to making a positive difference for our residents and visitors by ensuring the quality of our services are maintained to a high standard?

To View The Hounslow Employee Benefits,

Interviews will be held during week commencing 4th April 2022.