AN estate agency which has branches across the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire is rebranding, and is looking to expand further in the months ahead as the outlook for the property market brightens.

Five former Halifax branches in Darlington, Stockton, Yarm, Stokesley and Northallerton have now been transferred to the Your Move national brand, the biggest single estate agency brand in the country, and will be called Your Move Scott-Collier Taylor.

The branches have been given a regional addition to their title through the inclusion of Scott- Collier Taylor, named after Ian Scott-Collier and Ian Taylor, who bought four estate agencies in the Halifax franchise in 2006, opening the Northallerton branch a year later.

Mr Taylor, who is from Darlington and has worked for Halifax for 31 years, is now looking for growth as the property market continues to recover. He and Mr Scott-Collier, who has worked within the region’s property market for more than 30 years, have recently taken on three new staff, taking its workforce to 25, as it looks to expand in the months ahead.

“When we first took over the business, we grew it by 40 per cent in the first eight months.

Having gone through the last couple of years, and seeing a much better 2009 than 2008, we now hope to look ambitiously again at where we are going,” said Mr Taylor, who started working for Halifax bank as a clerk in its Bishop Auckland branch in 1978.

“We have had a very promising start to this year, and think the rebrand to Your Move will be a positive move – the inclusion of Scott-Collier Taylor in the name is a good way to highlight we are a local agent as well as a strong national brand, and we are confident of the advantages that will bring our customers.

“We have plans to grow the business, though the plan to open any new branches were put on hold in the past 18 months, but we do still hope to do that within the next two years, depending on how the property market develops this year.

“There are also certain pockets within our branch network where we would like to gain greater coverage, so we will also be looking at that in the months ahead. The fact we have taken three new quality people on recently shows we are back to looking at growth, and that is something we hope to continue.”

Your Move Scott-Collier Taylor covers an area stretching from the edge of Guisborough in the east across to Barnard Castle, and Sedgefield in the north to Thirsk.