Several staff at a troubled property management company have reportedly quit after not being paid for several weeks.
PS&B Estate Management told clients its Lloyds bank account had been frozen in February – leading to fears essential bills such as utilities, contractors and insurance could be going unpaid.
PS&B’s website has previously claimed it holds £7.7 million in funds on behalf of clients, for whom it managed more than 400 schemes.
Since then, an alternative bank account set up with Revolut has also been frozen, and Trading Standards has launched an investigation.
It now appears the company has been having difficulty paying staff, leading to a reported exodus from the company last week.
Yesterday, doors to the company’s office in Queens Road, Brighton, were locked and nobody inside was answering the door. One staff member who left as Brighton and Hove News arrived confirmed they had not been paid.
Another at Carr and Priddle next door – a sister company of P S and B – declined to comment because, he said, staff were taking action against the company.
Another client who managed to speak to someone inside yesterday said she had also been told staff had not been paid – and advised to find another agent.
The woman, who owns a flat as a leaseholder in one of the affected blocks, said electricity to communal areas had been turned off at the beginning of April because of non-payment leaving communal areas in the dark.
She said when she visited yesterday morning, the lights were off and the doors locked, but she was eventually allowed in.
She said: “During this visit, I was informed that there were currently no working property managers and there wouldn’t be for the foreseeable future because staff had not been paid.
“Most concerningly, I was advised by someone within the office as I left that, ‘I would suggest you find a new agent’.
“As a leaseholder, I find the apparent lack of communication and uncertainty surrounding the management of our homes deeply concerning.
“Residents are left wondering who is responsible for maintaining essential services, how service charge funds are being administered, and what protections are in place if the managing agent is unable to continue operating.”
Another leaseholder also contacted Brighton and Hove News to say he had been told more than a dozen staff had quit after not being paid May’s salaries.
Leaseholders said in April they feared the frozen account would lead to unpaid utility bills, which could put essential services such as lifts and fire safety systems at risk of having power cut off.
At the time, HMRC had lodged a petition asking for the company to be wound up – the third one since January 2025, about a year before the bank account was frozen.
This was dismissed, and PS&B says the petition has been “fully settled”. Subsequently, another of PS&B’s sister companies, Hive Company Secretarial Services Limited – faced being struck from the Companies House register – this has also been suspended.
In 2024, the sole director of PS&B and its various sister companies, Peter Hewett, was excluded from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, and last year he was severely reprimanded over allegations of unpaid and/or unfiled taxes.
Mr Hewett says the first decision was based on incomplete evidence and was incorrect, and in the second case, it was HMRC who was responsible for unfiled taxes.
Property management companies are typically appointed by freeholders, who have responsibility for the upkeep of blocks’ communal areas, but collect money from leaseholders on their clients’ behalf. Leaseholders do not have a say in who manages the freehold.
In April, Mr Hewett told Brighton and Hove News the leaseholders’ funds are held in a Lloyds client account and separately from those of the business He said the account is a Trust Fund under s42 and compliant with legislation.
He said the company had instructed lawyers and that Lloyds had let them down badly. He also said all taxation submissions had been filed correctly.
He said there was “very little danger” of urgent items, such as utility bills, going unpaid.
Brighton and Hove News approached Mr Hewett for comment again yesterday lunchtime. He had not responded at the time of publication.
