Mike Griffiths has suddenly left the software firm he founded, Expert Agent, just months after its roller-coaster acquisition by ZPG.

Emails to Griffiths on Friday received an automated response, saying he was leaving that day. However, he does not appear to be subject to a lock-out agreement, making it clear that he is neither retiring not disappearing.

Expert Agent was acquired by ZPG in March, but the deal was held up after regulator the Competition and Market Authority queried the purchase.

However, the CMA  went on to clear the acquisition in June by ZPG, which owns a number of software suppliers to the estate agency market.

Asked about his departure, Griffiths told EYE at the weekend: “I have decided the time is right to hand over the reins of Expert Agent.

“I left the business on Friday. It is in great shape and there’s a very competent team in place to support the ongoing product development and the 2500 agency branches that use Expert Agent daily.

“With regard to the future, I’m certainly not going to retire or disappear.

I’m going to spend time with as many agent friends as I can over the next few months – helping them with their IT and online strategy.

“I’m particularly interested in helping resolve the challenges presented to high street agents by the need to compete with online and hybrid agents.

“If anyone needs any input or wants to discuss any plans, please email me – mike@mikegriffiths.biz

Griffiths has always been a contrarian voice in the IT sector for estate agents.

He sold GMW Systems, his previous estate agency software business, to the Assertahome portal in 2000, but later said: “Independent agents saw through it and were not prepared to give a ‘big brother’ corporate access to their client data”.

After that sale, he went on to found Expert Agent as an independent software house, before bringing in new backers who essentially owned the business.

In April 2016  Griffiths spoke out after Zoopla’s acquisition of the Property Software Group, saying that many independent agents would “want to stay with an independent software provider”.

Griffiths’ views seem unlikely to have gone down well with ZPG, which told EYE at the weekend: