WHEN Sonia Duffin took over Blackburn-based Benchmark Lettings it had just 42 properties on its books.

But 12 months later the 27-year-old, one of the youngest letting agents in the town, has more than doubled that and the company is thriving.

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And the former Westholme pupil is now ready to expand her business, with the firm being rebranded to Duffin’s Estate Agents in January and has hopes of branching out into the Ribble Valley later next year.

Miss Duffin, of Tockholes, said: “I bought Benchmark in Preston New Road last December and there were just 42 let and managed properties.

“We have doubled that and now have more than 100.

“Now I have got the lettings where I want them to be, I want to go into sales.”

Once the company’s relaunch is completed, the firm will also deal in residential and commercial sales, investment properties and block management.

Miss Duffin spent seven years at university studying to be a solicitor, but with a long background in property and family links to the industry, it wasn’t long before she found her calling.

She said: “Being a solicitor just wasn’t for me.

“While I was doing my training I worked for a property company and my dad has always been in property as well.

“I have actually worked in the industry since I was 15.”

The expansion has already created one job, with interviews imminent for a new position to add to the two staff members who already work at the firm.

Miss Duffin said she had been thinking of setting up her own business and had even identified a couple of potential sites in Cleveleys, near Blackpool.

She said: “I was thinking of setting up from scratch but then this came up for sale.

“But When I bought it it was making a loss, but now it is going really well.

“I am excited to go into sales and I definitely think the market is there.”

And she doesn’t plan to stop there, with a clear vision for the future already in place.

She said: “My plan is to get this up and running here until the middle of next year.

“And then In June or July I want to open up in Clitheroe.”