Housing Management Solicitor in Manchester

Location: Oldham (Hybrid – 37 hours per week)

Reporting to: Head of Legal

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £55,000

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) have an exciting opportunity for a Housing Management Solicitor to join our in-house Legal team. This is a fantastic opportunity to work at the heart of a purpose-driven organisation, providing expert legal support that directly impacts our customers, homes and communities. This is a hybrid role where you’ll split your time between home and our collaborative office in Oldham.

The impact you’ll make

As a Housing Management Solicitor, you’ll play a key role in supporting colleagues across the organisation to manage complex housing issues, ensuring we take the right legal approach while delivering fair and customer-focused outcomes. You’ll work on a varied caseload covering tenancy enforcement, anti-social behaviour, possession proceedings and safeguarding matters, helping us to create safe, sustainable communities. You’ll also bring a proactive, solutions-focused approach, supporting early intervention and helping the organisation make informed, risk-aware decisions.

You will:

• Provide expert legal advice on housing management matters including ASB, possession, injunctions, access and safeguarding
• Manage a varied caseload from early advice through to court and tribunal representation
• Draft legal documentation including notices, pleadings, agreements and policies
• Work closely with housing, ASB and safeguarding teams to provide practical, timely legal support
• Support early intervention and prevention to minimise escalation and cost
• Represent the organisation in court and tribunals where required
• Ensure compliance with relevant legislation including housing, equality and human rights law
• Build strong relationships with internal teams and external partners including local authorities and counsel
• Identify legal risks and contribute to continuous improvement across the organisation

Our ideal candidate

You’ll be a qualified Solicitor with experience in housing management law, who is confident managing a varied caseload and working closely with operational teams. You’ll be comfortable balancing legal risk with customer impact, and able to provide clear, pragmatic advice that supports decision-making across the organisation.

You will have:

• Qualified Solicitor in England and Wales with a current practising certificate
• Experience in housing management law, including ASB, possession and injunctions
• Strong knowledge of relevant legislation including Housing Acts, Equality Act and Human Rights Act
• Experience managing cases through to court or tribunal, including advocacy
• Excellent drafting, research and case management skills
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain legal concepts clearly to non-legal colleagues
• A collaborative, solutions-focused approach

Desirable:

• Experience working in-house within a housing association or local authority
• Understanding of wider regulatory and policy landscape in social housing

Why join FCHO?

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) is a housing association providing safe, affordable and high-quality homes across Oldham and the surrounding areas. We own and manage over 11,500 properties and have the highest regulatory (G1/V1) governance rating. Every day, we’re proud to make a real difference in our communities. Our work is guided by our Corporate Plan, focused on quality homes, excellent services and strong communities. We care deeply about our customers, colleagues and communities and are committed to improving lives across Oldham.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary
• 37-hour working week with hybrid working options
• 30 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
• Option to purchase additional annual leave
• Defined contribution pension scheme with up to 10% employer contribution
• Private health insurance and healthcare cash plan
• Employee Assistance Programme (24/7 support)
• 24/7 GP access through Doctorline
• Discounts, wellbeing tools and gym membership
• Professional subscriptions paid (where required)
• Enhanced family-friendly policies
• On-site wellbeing room and café
• Long service awards

Interested?

If you are an experienced Housing Management Solicitor, we’d love to hear from you. Please note, we reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive a high volume of applications.

Inclusion and accessibility

We are committed to building an organisation that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, skills and are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. As an equal opportunities employer, FCHO is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective colleagues and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership. We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join us. We care that you have a great experience with us at FCHO and if you need us to make any reasonable adjustments to make your experience smoother, please let us know and we’ll do all we can.