Senior Land & Property Officer in Leeds

Job title: Senior Land & Property Officer

Salary: PO4 £47,665 - £50,908

Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract: Permanent

Location: Leeds City Centre

As a Senior Land & Property Officer you’ll thrive on playing your part in transforming one of the most dynamic cities in the UK.

Our vision is for Leeds to be the best city in the UK. One that is caring and compassionate, has a strong economy and which tackles and reduces inequalities.

The focus of our business is to provide a comprehensive property service covering a range of Council owned assets across the city. The organisational culture is to provide a quality service we can be proud of and enhances the development of the Leeds City region.

Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.

About You

• Be a MRICS commercial surveyor having completed a RICS accredited degree with experience undertaking red book valuations.
• Be compassionate and have emotional intelligence, possessing excellent leadership and motivational skills to get the best out of people.
• Have a proven track record in negotiating and delivering complex property related activity, covering managing a property portfolio covering landlord and tenant work, property disposals and acquisitions, and managing an asset valuations programme.
• Have an excellent all-round understanding and experience of property work and relevant legal processes, balanced with commercial acumen and compassion.
• Have a well-tuned ability to effectively work with residents, businesses, politicians and development or investment interests.

About The Role

The Senior Land and Property Officer is a senior role with accountability on behalf of the Land and Property Service across a range of property related projects in different portfolios. The post holders will work with Principal Managers, Executive Managers and Heads of Service in helping the delivery of property related projects.

The work will be varied with the bias of one position focused on valuations including managing the asset valuation programme, other statutory work such as rating and CPO and Corporate Real Estate Project Advisory relating to acquisitions / disposals / development agreements.

The postholder may also be involved in a range of landlord and tenant work on a significant portfolio of properties owned by the Council which will include investment, disposal and acquisition of properties in this portfolio. Additionally, manage a defined range of property transactions to ensure efficient delivery services to customers, to meet the objectives of the Leeds Ambitions and Inclusive Growth Strategy. There will be responsibility to maximise the financial return both in revenue and capital terms and responsible for signing off valuations in accordance with the procedures of the Council and the RICS red book.

Other areas of work you may have the opportunity to be involved in include:

• The acquisition and disposal of land and property including the sale of development sites, surplus operational properties, freehold reversions and possible acquisitions / compulsory purchase of land and property required for the economic growth of the city.
• To identify development opportunities and undertake feasibility studies and provide advice on planning issues linked to the economic growth of the city.
• Provision of valuation and property advice to other Directorates of the Council.
• Actively support continuous improvement of the property service through contributing to cross Council projects and supporting the Departmental Management Team.

This senior role is integral to our Land & Property team which includes officers with varying degrees of experience who work on a wide variety of property related matters. Senior Land & Property Officers will be responsible for supervision and management of junior staff.

What We Offer You

We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:

• A competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays.
• Membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions.
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements, currently attending the office at least three days a week.
• A clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities.
• A range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further.

Job Purpose

To co-ordinate and manage priority work streams and programmes within the Asset Management and Regeneration service with specific focus on the delivery of regeneration programmes for the city.

Responsibilities

• The duties outlined are not meant as an exhaustive list and will also comprise any other duties within the spirit of the post commensurate with the outcome for this post.
• To work as part of the property team and support the management of workloads in this area of work in order to deliver Value for Money services to customers in line with Council priorities ensuring that the work incorporates the council’s cultural values.
• To assist with the management and achievement of the service plan for your area so that it achieves its corporate and service objectives and outcomes.
• To coach and mentor staff within your area to assist in the achievement of the Organisational Strategy, Leeds Ambitions, and Council values and behaviours.
• To promote and deliver positive solutions to achieving equality, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of your service delivery focussing on equality of outcome.
• To support organisational development and continuous improvement by contributing to cross Council projects and supporting the Asset Management & Regeneration Management Team.
• To maintain effective consultation and communications with staff, service users, Councillors, trade unions, partners and other stakeholders.
• To work as part of the team for Leeds, in ways which are open, inclusive, responsive and accountable, to develop and maintain good working relationships with internal and external customers, other stakeholders and partners to achieve excellent outcomes for the citizens of Leeds.
• To work responsibly to ensure the safety of staff, service users and contractors in accordance with all statutory obligations and the council’s Health and Safety Policy.
• To work with elected members, service users, partners and community representatives in ways which support open, responsive and accountable government.
• To support the provision of a consultancy service to the Division on development and regeneration issues.
• To work responsibly to deliver workloads within approved budgets, to defined timescales achieving the required quality and following agreed procurement processes.
• To work flexibly as required to meet directorate and corporate priorities.

Qualifications

Degree qualification or equivalent experience and be a professional member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Essential requirements

Essential requirements Candidates will only be shortlisted if they can demonstrate that they meet all the following essential requirements.

• A degree or degree level professional qualification.
• Understanding of local government / public sector and experience of achieving results in a politically sensitive environment.
• Understanding of public sector issues.
• An understanding of community issues.
• An understanding of the development process.
• Understanding of property development particularly in relation to physical regeneration.
• Understanding of Planning and Development Briefs.
• Understanding of project financing and the role of the private sector.
• Knowledge of the Council’s contract procedure rules and Standing Orders in respect of the development process.
• The knowledge of dealing with a variety of property transactions.
• To hold a relevant surveying qualification and to be a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Experience

• Senior experience managing and delivering a number of projects and initiatives in a service or operational area relevant to the area of service delivery in the remit of the post.
• Experience of working effectively with others to deliver cross sector or cross service projects.
• Experience of managing services to meet customer needs.
• Experience of co-ordinating physical development and regeneration initiatives through to implementation.
• Experience of taking a lead role in problem solving and risk mitigation initiatives.
• Experience of dealing with Member enquiries and issues.
• The experience of undertaking a wide variety of property transactions / negotiations at a high level and to provide an effective property service which can incorporate property work.
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplined team / officers to deliver property related transactions using problem solving techniques and resolving conflict.
• Experience of collating, monitoring information and preparing and presenting reports on various property transactions.
• Experience of managing and controlling accounts and budgets and the delivery of the property service in accordance with financial regulations.
• Experience of appraising all types of property transactions and assisting Managers with approving valuations.

Skills

• Ability to interpret corporate visions and values and put into practice agreed policies and strategies.
• Ability to apply policies, funding requirements and property development skills and knowledge to implement physical regeneration.
• Ability to contribute to change programmes, improve service quality and support a culture that drives up standards and performance.
• Ability to make an effective contribution to internal and external meetings.
• Ability to take forward development and physical regeneration initiatives and policies from inception through to development to implementation.
• Ability to resolve conflict.
• Ability to write comprehensive, succinct, well presented reports up to Executive Board level.
• Ability to develop productive working relationships that command respect, trust and confidence.
• To ensure good working relationships with colleagues and clients to deliver council objectives across all levels.
• Ability to manage competing priorities whilst delivering on a range of projects and adapting to changing circumstances and priorities. Ability to work to strict deadlines.
• Ability to take the lead in the development of innovative approaches to problem solving.
• Ability to deal with Member enquiries efficiently and effectively.
• Ability to conduct negotiations successfully at a senior level.
• Good planning, programme and risk management skills.

Essential Behavioural And Other Characteristics

• Understand and embrace Leeds City Council values and behaviours and codes of conduct.
• Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Leeds Ambitions of health and wellbeing, inclusive growth, thriving strong communities, and a resilient sustainable city
• Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
• Carry out duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health, Safety and Wellbeing.
• Participate in appraisal, training and development activities to ensure up, to date knowledge and skills.

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