Estates Surveyor

Job summary

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.

The Chief Operating Officer Group works closely with the Home Office’s policy and operational commands to enable us together to deliver the department’s priorities. The group is comprised of different teams and professional functions, including Commercial, Finance, People, Portfolio and Project Delivery, Security, Estates and Information and Digital, Data and Technology.

A key purpose of the Home Office Property Services Team (HOPS) is to ensure that operational colleagues are supported by a Professional Property and Estates function that provides modern, fit for purpose, environmentally sustainable workplaces, that enables staff to maximise their operational effectiveness.

Estates Management is a critical function in delivering this, aligning closely with the Home Office Estates Strategy, Government Policies and operational priorities, while ensuring property and legal compliance across a diverse national leasehold and freehold portfolio.

We work in close partnership with Business Leads across the estate, alongside our professional partners including the Government Legal Department (GLD) and the Government Property Agency (GPA). Together, we develop and manage a pipeline of lease events, identify and champion opportunities for efficiencies, deliver robust business cases to Governance Boards, and review legal and professional advice relating to lease proposals.

This an exciting opportunity to join the HOPS Team as an Estates Surveyor.

Job description

The post holder will ideally be experienced in Estates Surveying and Government Property matters and expected to provide professional, specific and detailed estates advice across our complex and diverse national portfolio, including challenging assumptions and providing a steer to colleagues which safeguards the Home Office and Government interests.

The work will include:

• Dealing at pace with detailed and complex estate management and transaction work, including but not limited to:
  • Acquisitions
  • Rent reviews
  • Lease renewals/regears
  • Licences for alterations
  • Dilapidations negotiations
  • Freehold sales
  • Licences, MOTOs (Memorandum of Terms of Occupation) and TOAs (Terms of Occupation Agreement).
• Ensuring that agreements meet Home Office requirements, benefits the taxpayer and is in line with Government Legal Advice and Policies, whilst ensuring that value for money is achieved and that legal or commercial pitfalls are avoided.
• Assisting in providing timely, detailed and accurate advice and guidance.
• Directly collaborating, instructing and managing agents and lawyers with the view to ensuring that acquisition terms and conditions are acceptable and managing the work done by external estate surveying and legal service providers.
• Writing and presenting papers for Governance and Investment Boards in respect of lease events, as part of the wider national portfolio strategy.

Key Responsibilities

• With our Principal Surveyor, proactively review and manage lease documents and pipelines to ensure the agreements are in line with business needs and wider strategies.
• Prepare and present Governance reports and applications to internal Estates Investment Boards.
• Provide Estates advice and challenge of assumptions in a professional capacity.
• Procure, oversee and assess advice from other legal and professional partners to ensure that it benefits and is in line with Home Office interests.
• Manage and monitor upcoming lease events and opportunities for estates efficiencies, liaison with Strategy & Planning leads to identify opportunities for savings.
• Work collaboratively alongside our internal and external delivery partners and suppliers to ensure business requirements are met and delivered successfully.
• Support the HOPS senior management in development and delivery of the Home Office and wider Government estates strategy and pipeline.

Working Pattern

Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis.

Travel

UK wide travel as Home Office Property Services have sites across UK. Travel will be expected across the portfolio and regularly to London for official signing and sealing activities.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Qualified Estates Surveyor (MRICS/FRICS).
• Experience of transactional work and estates management.
• Understanding of Lease Events, lease agreements, processes and associated legal terminology.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Strong analytical skills to interpret complex data.
• Working collaboratively with key stakeholders to develop estates solutions and challenge assumptions.
• Ability to work towards tight deadlines in a multi-stakeholder, fast paced and high-pressured environment.

Desirable Criteria

• Membership of the Government Property Profession (GPP).

Qualifications

Must be a qualified Estates Surveyor (MRICS/FRICS)

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• GPP: Property Professional Expertise at Senior Practitioner level

Benefits

In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
• Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.
• See more of our benefits on our careers website

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Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.

1. Application – by 26th June 2026

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• CV
• Personal Statement (maximum 750 words).

Your CV should consist of your career history, qualifications and skills/experience, including any key achievements in each role. Your CV will be scored against the experience required for the role as noted within the essential criteria.

The Personal Statement should be aligned to and demonstrate how you meet the skills and experience set out in the essential criteria, detailed in the job description.

For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.

2. Sift – 30th June 2026

The sift will be held on the Personal Statement and CV, as listed in the advert.

Should a high volume of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted on the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift that will consist of all the remaining element submitted (CV). Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the initial sift will not have their remaining submitted element scored and will only receive a sift score for that assessed at the initial sift.

3. Interview –from 21st July 2026

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview that will be Behaviours (as listed in the job advert) and Technical Skills based questions. All Behaviours listed in the selection process will be scored at the interview.

For guidance on the Technical skills, please refer to the Government Property Profession & RICS 2022-03-30 GPP Career Framework v13

In addition, candidates will be asked to prepare a presentation that will be delivered at interview. The presentation question/scenario will be disclosed closer to the interviews.

The presentation will be assessed against 'Experience' on the 'Success Profiles' and will be assessed against the 'Essential Criteria' as listed in the job advertisement.

The interview will take place on Teams.

For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.

Problems during the application process

If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application, please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website.

Do not create or attempt to submit another application, online test or use a different Civil Service Jobs account to proceed as this would be in violation of the candidate declaration.

Breaking Tied Scores

The behaviours, technical skills and experience have been ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores.

Standards

All Civil Servants are expected to comply with the Civil Service Code, and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

Further information

If you have previously made an unsuccessful application for a role with the same essential skills and are not able to demonstrate how you have developed these skills since your last application, please reconsider applying as your application is unlikely to be successful.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms directly. If you are doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Reserve List

A reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Reserve lists may be held for each location. Candidates will be appointed in merit order by location where this applies.

Similar Roles

Job offers to this post are made based on merit. We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same competencies and essential skills.

UK residency and security requirements

For meaningful security checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. Learn more on our website. Security Checks - Home Office Careers.

Please note that this role requires Security Check (SC) clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years.

However, in exceptional circumstances security clearance applications for candidates who have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years may be considered. Failure to meet this residency requirement will result in your security clearance application being rejected.

As well as successfully obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance, candidates will be subject to a range of additional checks. The range of checks carried out will depend on whether you are a current Home Office employee, existing civil servant or an external new entrant as well as the role requirements. The level of Criminal Record Check required for this role is Basic. Further details are included in the Notes to Candidates.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page Demystifying Vetting - GOV.UK.

Visa Sponsorship

We are unable to sponsor any individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas as we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License.

Capability allowance

This role has access to a Digital Capability-Based Allowance – Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA). Applicants who are successful at interview will be invited to complete a Capability and Skills Assessment post-interview. Any allowance awarded will be based on the assessment of your capability against the six skills advertised for this role. Please see the Home Office Digital Recruitment and Retention Allowance Careers page for more information.

The allowance values are set by the Home Office, subject to remaining in a qualifying role. This allowance is non-contractual, subject to an annual review and could be withdrawn at any time.​

For both new entrants and existing civil servants, the total compensation offer is a combination of base salary and, if applicable, a capability-based allowance. The pay ranges for this role are National: Min- £47,200 - London: Min £51,200. New entrants to the Civil Service will start on the pay range minimum. For existing civil servants, our policies on level transfer and promotion will apply.

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you are deaf, a language service professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Home Office Resourcing Centre
• Email : HORCCampaignTeamCorporateEnablers@homeoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. and you wish to make a complaint, then contact the Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

2025-11-01 Pre-employment Checking - Document Requirements (V17) Opens in new window (pdf, 642kB)Candidate Information v17 April 2026 Opens in new window (pdf, 207kB)