Land Use Agent

Job Function

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• Provide real estate acquisition, damage claim settlement, secondary land use proposal evaluation, inquiry/complaint resolution and other related services to a variety of internal and external Real Estate customers.

Job Description:

• Negotiate real estate settlements with property owners that include the acquisition of various land tenure rights (e.g. low voltage easements, distribution station purchases, access road agreements) and any damage claims resulting from construction or maintenance activities on private property, required to meet low and high voltage operational/other business requirements or the needs of the other client groups in accordance with established policies, practices, procedures and rate schedules.
• Initiate and conduct property owner contact prior to, during and after the construction/rehabilitation of high and low voltage facilities. Property owner groups include private (including absentee) owners, government agencies, Crown Corporations, First Nations, railway companies.
• Meet with client groups to receive and assess work assignments, conduct field checks and investigations, advise Supervisor and/or client representatives of particularly difficult property owner situations and jointly develop appropriate work solutions. Review technical and engineering drawings, survey plans, undertake Registry/Land Title Office, Assessment Roll and other searches to determine property ownership, land title status, sales detail data etc.
• Assemble relative real estate and other comparative data collected from internal and external sources, meet with private and public sector customer group representatives, attend public meetings, prepare and execute standard real estate documentation and make associated payments, in accordance with Corporate and other related guidelines and practices. Contentious or difficult issues or matters of disagreement or discrepancy are to be referred to the Supervisor or their delegate for resolution.
• Investigate, assess liability and negotiate, if appropriate, claims for damage to properties, trees, fences, crops etc. arising from activities/programs undertaken by the Company or other client groups. Prepare, approve and execute damage claim agreements and arrange for applicable customer reimbursements, in accordance with standard rate schedules or comparable market rate data. Contentious or difficult issues or matters of disagreement or discrepancy are to be referred to the Supervisor or their delegate for resolution.
• Develop and undertake Real Estate program audits of real estate acquisitions or settlements completed by client field staff involved in the real estate activities, at the request of the client group and under the direction of the Supervisor or their delegate.
• Review real estate transactions to ensure consistency with real estate policies and practices, identify and summarize inconsistencies and identify possible training requirements to address real estate acquisition/settlement work deficiencies.
• Provide real estate advice and guidance to other Company staff involved in the acquisition of real estate rights. Explain and clarify real estate policies and procedures, as required.
• Review Secondary Land Use, Plan of Subdivision and other similar proposals involving the use of the Company owned or easement lands by internal or external parties to ensure operations, maintenance, access and other related activities are not adversely affected and that potential environmental impacts are adequately addressed.
• Review and assess survey, drainage and other similar drawings, conduct field site visits, identify problematic proposal areas and recommend appropriate mitigative actions and construction terms and conditions.
• Requires meeting with consultants, contractors and other external parties to review construction terms and conditions, as well as monitor and inspect ongoing construction/property restoration work activities and secondary land use installations to ensure compliance with conditions outlined in construction or real estate agreements.
• Provide direction, clarification or redirection to contractors and others, as required to ensure work activities are completed, in accordance with specification requirements.
• Investigate and respond to a variety of customer inquiries and complaints involving the Company or other client group owned and easement properties (e.g. status of real estate rights, right of way damage or drainage concerns, unauthorized right of way activities, weed control, property boundary fencing etc.).
• Meet with internal and external customers, contractors, consultants etc. and provide explanations and clarifications, as required. Ensure steps are taken to resolve the issues raised (e.g. arrange for installation of signage/fencing, removal of unauthorized activity or correction of drainage problem, verify fence boundary claims and make payments for shared fence cost reimbursements etc.) in conjunction with established policies, municipal bylaws, provincial legislation, procedures, guidelines and practices. Contentious or difficult issues or matters of disagreement or discrepancy are to be referred to the Supervisor or their delegate for resolution.
• Assist the Supervisor, Senior Real Estate Administrator or their delegates in the negotiation of real estate licenses, leases or other similar agreements, in accordance with established policies, practices, procedures and rate schedules, for the use of the Company property or other client real estate interests by internal or external parties, usually in conjunction with related acquisition project requirements.
• Input, retrieve, update, interpret and maintain real estate acquisition, land use, environmental or other similar data within a variety of computerized databases and manual record and reference systems and produce standardized, general or specialized statistical or other similar reports (e.g. spreadsheets, graphs, tables, presentation materials) for the Supervisor, their delegate or client representatives, as required.
• Perform other duties as required.

Education:

• Requires a knowledge of general business administration, mathematics, real estate appraisal and management, valuation principles, legal terminology and real estate documentation (including real estate interests such as fee ownership, easement, leasehold) to effectively acquire a variety of real estate rights and successfully negotiate damage and other claims with external customers.
• Requires a broad knowledge of drafting and survey principles, environment science and low and high voltage operations to assess the impact 1) Company operations on land owned by others and 2) secondary/other land use proposals on owned and easement properties.
• Requires a good knowledge of English and oral/written communication skills to effectively communicate with various customer groups including property owners, customers, consultants and contractors. This knowledge is considered to be normally acquired in and equivalent to a Grade XII education in a secondary school plus intermediate related courses.

Experience:

• Requires experience in a real estate environment to be familiar with real estate and construction and maintenance practices and procedures, the nature of real estate interests and associated land transactions/legal documentation, negotiation practices to successfully acquire real estate rights and settle damage and other claims from private, public sector, railway company and other customer groups.
• Requires experience reading and interpreting survey, drainage, technical specifications and other similar drawings/data to 1) understand the impacts of work activities/land proposals on both private and Company lands and 2) effectively address associated problems and issues that may arise with internal staff, customers, contractors, consultants and other members of the public. A period of up to four years is considered necessary to gain this experience.