Clients of a troubled property company collectively owed millions have been warned they may only get back a fraction of their money.
HMRC finally succeeded in getting a winding up order for PS&B Estate Management on its third attempt last month, more than six months after the company’s bank account was frozen.
The Brighton and Portsmouth-based company, whose sole director is Peter Hewett, 58, managed the freehold of hundreds of blocks across the south coast, for which essential bills for maintenance, utilities and insurance went unpaid for weeks.
A 58-year-old man was arrested on 14 July when the organised crime squad raided two addresses in Portsmouth.
Three days later, police were given permission by a court to hold onto cognac, coins, comics and stamps belonging to Hewett which had been seized that day.
Official receiver Lyndsey Burgess has now written to known creditors of PS&B Estate Management, telling them that the company’s bank account contain £386,173.
At one point, the company said the account, which was used to hold service charges and other funds for all its clients, held more than £7 million.
Meanwhile, the company owes at least £1,882,181, of which £68,173.50 is owed to HMRC, a preferred creditor, meaning the tax debt will take priority over the repayment of other creditors.
The report says: “The official receiver is investigating various asset matters relating to this company.
“At present, there are credit balances in the company bank accounts of £386,173.23; however, the status of these funds remains uncertain.
“There are also claims that are being received and considered at present.”
Ms Burgess said she had interviewed former director Michael Barber, who resigned in January 2026, but added: “We are still awaiting co-operation from the current director Peter John Hewett and former director Karen Baker [who resigned in March 2026].”
The South East Organised Crime Unit (Serocu) has also written this week to people who have been contact with them, warning them the investigation is likely to take several years to complete.
It also said it had secured orders against further assets – but said these could only be used to repay clients if there was a criminal conviction, the process would take five or six years, and it’s unlikely assets would be found to the value of what is owed.
Forensic accountants are being sent client accounts for an initial review, with a full review likely to take five years.
It added: “We have contacted previous staff at PS&B who are assisting us with enquiries to better understand the business.
“At this stage, we can see that property managers and the accounts team were working diligently and can see no evidence of misconduct on their behalf.”
Clients include freeholders and leaseholders who manage their own blocks of flats. The case has strengthened calls from leasehold campaigner Shula Rich for more protections for flat owners’ money.
She said: “Something has to happen and it can.
“The last Act or Parliament in 2002 for leaseholders put protection of our funds on the statute.
“In 2002, twenty four years ago, Section 156 said that all leaseholders’ funds should be kept separate from each other. No mixing of block’s accounts. It has never been commenced.
“This powerful law would have meant that Parsons and all agents could not be throwing our money into one big account
called a “trust” account. They would have to separate each blocks’ funds into their own identifiable accounts.
“All this money would not have been in one Lloyds account.
“I have written to Mathew Pennycook this week asking again for Section 156 to be commenced in this present act promised before the end of this Parliamentary session.”
Anyone who wants to register as a creditor of PS&B Estate Management should email piu.or@insolvency.gov.uk.
It’s about time that our insolvency laws are reformed so that individuals can be held to account. In this case, that would probably not help. It is frustrating when someone seems to have a good standard of living on the back of someone else’s money, closes the limited company and suddenly springs up with a brand new iteration. Some unscrupulous people develop serial expertise in this area including moving finance to multiple subsidiaries to avoid scrutiny and keep below the limits for VAT and other taxes.
This is a TOTAL SCANDAL. They have ripped off Freeholders of flats AND Long-Leaseholders. Also suppliers, Where do we claim compensation? Many people are on low to middle incomes. P.S. and B are owned by Blue Bambini, allegedly based in Portsmouth. They threaten forfeiture (similar to repossession over any small debt and have been known to harass people (which is illegal under the Protection from Harassment Act and other Laws). See the Citizens Advice Bureau (C.A.B.) or the Brighton and Hove Leaseholders Association.
Both the National Leasehold Campaign (N.L.C) and Free Leaseholders are national organisations camppaigning to change the laws.
This is a TOTAL SCANDAL. They have ripped off Freeholders of flats AND Long-Leaseholders. Also suppliers, Where do we claim compensation? Many people are on low to middle incomes. P.S. and B are owned by Blue Bambini, allegedly based in Portsmouth. They threaten forfeiture (similar to repossession over any small debt and have been known to harass people (which is illegal under the Protection from Harassment Act and other Laws). See the Citizens Advice Bureau (C.A.B.) or the Brighton and Hove Leaseholders Association.
Both the National Leasehold Campaign (N.L.C) and Free Leaseholders are national organisations camppaigning to change the laws.
It’s an absolute disgrace! My mother lives in one of the blocks that was being “managed” by him. I can’t believe that HMRC have priority over innocent victims who have lost their hard earned money and are potentially suffering financial hardship while this guy lived in luxury. Pay back the people what they are owed FIRST. If anything else can be recovered, then pay taxes owed. Whatever happens to this man, he should have to pay back his debts indefinitely. Family assets should be seized and if he makes it out of prison, any penny he ever earns or claims should be used to repay the money he stole and tax he avoided.
Madness how unregulated this part of the market is.
I rented one of the penthouses on Upper Drive through these charlatans. I remember being in their office discussing the property as I was buying a house outside Brighton and Hove. Even though I was paying probably one of the highest rents in the city they tried to belittle me telling me of all the footballers who rented through them. Thoroughly unprofessional and frankly somewhat lacking in brainpower.
What I don’t agree with is HMRC stealing the assets before so called “protected client funds” ? Haven’t HMRC ripped everyone off enough?
I have every sympathy for the people who appear to have been robbed by these charlatans. I’m afraid that HMRC do have first claim because any VAT charged never belongs to the Company; they are simply unpaid tax collectors. If the taxpayer recompensed every victim of theft, fraud or other crimes, the country would be bankrupt. It is a dangerous precedent to set. There might be a sympathetic case for HMRC to offset it as a tax loss if the leaseholders are a limited company but I am not a tax expert.
We were assured by P.S.&B staff that our block’s money was safe in a ‘client account’. This was a lie.
It’s important to remember that the employees have lost out too. My partner worked for this company and is owed months of unpaid wages. Staff were also left with no work but weren’t formally made redundant, so they weren’t being paid and couldn’t properly move forward or access redundancy support either. The ordinary employees were simply doing what they were told by those above them and, as the article itself confirms, there is no evidence of misconduct by the property managers or accounts team. They’re victims in this too, not just the clients.
Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, victims can go after the rogue director’s property. A good way of getting justice if all he gets is a slap on the wrist via the standard legal channels.
It’s unlikely they’ll get much out of this, if anything. PoCA has a very specific pecking order on who gets paid first, and it’s dependant on there being money to recover in the first place.
So many crooks in the City, this lot and Sparks too. Who can be trusted?
I love this conspiracy that specific electricians are by there very nature not to be trusted. Plumbers are alright, carpenters are sound, electricians though…dangerous. 🤣🤣🤣
Someone should look at his assetts pre closing, any financial and property movements are fraudulent and are liable to seizure to cover the losses, also property he paid for and moved into other family ownership, that can also be checked against new “owners” incomes. The money was paid in, it’s around somewhere, banks also become liable if they participate in moving funds out of client accounts after his fraud charge date.
How is it possible for £7 million to go missing from an account. Someone must have a copy of a bank statement? How can it take 5 years to work out where the money went? At least they confiscated his comics. TPO, AML and CMP all seem a complete waste of time. Pathetic.
Was PS&B legally covered by RICS for our money, if not why not!?
Own flat in Littlehampton block.
PSB told us in 2015 that the lift shaft in our block of flats had flooded and shorted the electricity supply which sits above ground level and PSB demanded £5,000 to fix it. We noticed on inspection that there was dust at the bottom of the lift shaft ? PSB employed a clown surveyor who stated the flood was due to global warming and the ice caps melted raising see levels.
I asked Peter Hewitt to give me his opinion as we are on top of a 200 ft cliff and well above the roof tops of Brighton and we didn’t see the sea rise that day. ?