Today we can report yet another departure from Countrywide – that of Margaret Payne.

She was the PA for a number of years to the managing director of Countrywide’s estate agency business, Robert Scarff.

Scarff “quit” last May in a string of high-profile departures from Countrywide.

He had risen to the top after joining as a trainee in 1978 and at the time of his departure was said to be the only person on the board who had actually sold a house.

Look today on Scarff’s Linked In profile and you will see he currently describes his occupation as “resting”.

However, this is not quite true, as we understand that his former PA is leaving to go and work for him in a new venture – an IT recruitment business he is starting up with his son-in-law.

We also understand that Scarff’s idea of “resting” may not be quite the same as other people’s – and that a return to the residential property world cannot be ruled out.

One possibility could be a start-up of some kind of hybrid estate agency. A source tells us that if this happens, it will be a very big project indeed.

Another possibility is that Scarff takes on consultancies and non-executive directorships within the estate agency world – he has certainly not been short of offers.

We suspect that Scarff – said to have found his enforced downtime surprisingly enjoyable in terms of relaxation and family life – and his loyal PA will have a busy time ahead.

* Countrywide is rumoured to be trying to hire a new marketing director, with Henry Pryor tweeting: “Chief exec came from @Bupa & is non-exec at @Tesco so no surprise perhaps that @CounrywideUK look set to hire marketing director from @DFS.”