Brighton block manager PS&B in liquidation as police investigate: what it means for your service charge money

What happened

PS&B Estate Management, a block management company that traded in Brighton, Portsmouth and Bognor Regis and was formerly known as Parsons Son & Basley, is in compulsory liquidation. Companies House shows a winding-up petition dated 2 July 2026, winding up from 19 August 2026, and the Official Receiver as liquidator.

The company’s own website once said it held more than £7 million for clients across more than 400 schemes, as Jo Wadsworth reported for Brighton and Hove News. Its bank account used for client money was frozen in February 2026, and leaseholders reported unpaid bills for utilities, contractors and insurance. Trading Standards opened an investigation.

On 14 July 2026, officers from the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit arrested a 58-year-old man from the company in Portsmouth on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position, fraudulent trading, money laundering and theft, as Khay Loc reported for PropertyWire. He was released under investigation. Nobody has been charged, and no court has found any wrongdoing.

In September, Brighton and Hove News reported that the Official Receiver had told creditors the company’s bank accounts held £386,173, with their status uncertain, against debts of at least £1.88 million, and that detectives had warned the investigation could take years.

What it means for your building

This is the situation every board dreads: the leaseholders’ money is held by an agent, the agent fails, and the money is frozen or short. Service charges are held on trust for the leaseholders under section 42 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, so they are not the agent’s money. But a trust only helps if the money can be traced. The duty in section 156 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 to keep each block’s money in its own designated account has never been fully brought into force, and in England block managers do not have to belong to a client money protection scheme.

Blocks owned by their leaseholders, or run by RTM and residents’ management companies, often use an agent to collect and pay bills. The board stays responsible for the building even when the agent handles the money.

What to do now

If your block was managed by PS&B:

• register as a creditor with the Official Receiver and keep copies of every demand, payment and statement;
• if you have information for the police, call 101 quoting reference 44260266014;
• check urgently that buildings insurance, fire safety systems, lifts and communal electricity are paid and in force, and appoint a new manager or take it in-house;
• tell leaseholders what has happened and what the board is doing, and take legal advice before asking anyone to pay twice.

Every board using an agent should ask:

• which bank holds our money, and is it in a separate account in the building’s or company’s name, marked as a trust or client account, rather than a pooled account?
• can we see the bank statements every quarter, not just the agent’s report?
• does the agent belong to a client money protection scheme and a redress scheme, and is it regulated by RICS or a member of The Property Institute?
• are insurance premiums and large bills paid direct, and who can sign payments?

Consider holding the service charge and reserve accounts in your own company’s name, with the agent able to pay bills but not move money elsewhere.

This is general information, not legal advice. The investigation is ongoing and nothing in this story suggests wrongdoing by any named person.

How Freeholdpilot helps

Freeholdpilot is built around the building company keeping separate company, service charge and reserve accounts in its own name, and it keeps budgets, invoices and board decisions in one record every leaseholder can see.