Belvoir, which has over 300 offices on the high street and is currently the UK’s largest property franchise business, this morning announced the acquisition of Brook Financial Services Ltd, which trades as Mortgage Advice Bureau within the Mortgage Advice Bureau’s network.

Mike Goddard, who founded Belvoir in 1995, also announced to the stock exchange this morning that he is standing down as chief executive officer, but will continue to play an active role as chairman, providing expert strategic input to secure further expansion for the Group. Dorian Gonsalves, who is currently Belvoir’s chief operating officer, and has been with the company since 2005, has taken over the role of CEO with immediate effect.

Gonsalves said: “The acquisition of Brook Financial Services, which trades as the Mortgage Advice Bureau, is a very exciting strategic development for Belvoir, and will enable our franchisees to further grow their businesses by offering a range of financial services to clients, which will in turn help to mitigate some of the impact of the upcoming ban on tenant fees.

“Brook Financial Services has already successfully provided mortgage services to our Newton Fallowell network and we intend for similar products and services to be rolled out across the whole network.

“Michelle Brook, who founded and is the sole shareholder and director of Brook Financial Services, has worked within the financial sector for over 30 years, and has built up an extremely successful business, which operates from offices in Barnsley, with a team of 32 staff and advisers, operating within the Mortgage Advice Bureau network.

“I am delighted that Michelle will continue working full time as the managing director of Brook.

“I am very much looking forward to my new role as CEO. This will enable me to see the group through a period of growth, and implement further new initiatives, which we already have in the pipeline.”

The Mortgage Advice Bureau was founded by Peter Brodnicki and successfully floated on the AIM stock market in 2014. It has 950 advisers across the UK, many working in estate agency branches.