A Plymouth property management company has gone bust leaving debts of more than £2m – with creditors left in tears and informing the police.
Devon Block Management Ltd (DBM) has called in liquidators with documents filed at Companies House revealing huge sums are owed to the residents’ management companies at numerous apartment blocks in Devon and Cornwall.
These companies are formed by residents who pay into accounts to cover such things as service charges and to create reserves.
They are now wondering where their money has gone with DBM’s statement of affairs saying more than £2m is likely to end up unpaid.
PlymouthLive has contacted Sean Nicholson, director of DBM alongside wife Elaine, but has yet to receive a reply.
Those blocks owned cash include the 109-apartment Azure building, on Plymouth Hoe, where Azure Plymouth Ltd is owed £450,000.
Azure’s chairman told PlymouthLive he has now contacted the police. A resident at another block has also spoken to officers.
At Devonport ’s Westbury Court, where DBM was last year ordered by a court to pay residents £45,000, Westbury Court Management Company is likely to end up short of more than £45,000.
Residents are owed money at other Plymouth apartment blocks including The Grand, Thorn Park, St James Mews, Walker Terrace, Elliot Terrace and Cala Court.
There are also residents’ management companies owed cash in Ivybridge, Tavistock, Torquay, Yealmpton, Okehampton, Dartmouth, Exeter, Truro, Torpoint and Newquay.
Property experts connected to the blocks fear the debts could substantially increase with more claims coming in all the time and fear claims may eventually top £5m.
Award-winning estate agency Atwell Martin now manages many of the buildings on behalf of residents and said the situation is unprecedented and “emotional”.
Andrew Bullivant, a partner at Atwell Martin in Plymouth, told PlymouthLive: “I have never seen anything like it, it’s been extremely difficult working with these people and trying to recover their finances.
“There have been people breaking down in tears. Emotionally it’s been extremely difficult for all parties, It’s been devastating.”
David Corry, chairman of Azure Plymouth Ltd, said the £450,000 owed is made up of residents’ cash and some Government funding received for projects such as cladding replacement.
He said he has contacted the police. Notes of a creditors’ meeting, seen by PlymouthLive, attended by an employee of DBM on behalf of Mr Nicholson, said that a police investigation was ongoing.
Mr Corry said Azure residents are now unable to arrange vital services. He said: “It’s a real worry, we are now running on empty. Things are not being done. We can’t renew contracts for gardening or cleaning – it’s a real struggle.”
DBM was based in Stonehouse Street, Stonehouse, and provided specialist residential property management for blocks of flats and apartments throughout Devon and Cornwall.
Its website said it offered “an extremely effective approach to block and estate management” and was accredited by the Property Ombudsman and Residential Landlords Association.
Devon Block Management Ltd was incorporated in 2008 and controlled by directors Sean Nicholson and Elaine Nicholson, who say they are owed nearly £900,000 they ploughed into the business.
Its accounts are currently overdue, according to Companies House, and should have been filed by February 28, 2026.
Accounts for the year to May 2024 showed net assets of £167,813 and it employed 11 people. The statement of affairs, signed by Mrs Nicholson, said just £504 is available for preferential creditors.
A letter to creditors from turnaround specialist Marshall Peters, seen by PlymouthLive, included a statement from the directors explaining the reasons for the business failing.
These included the admission that the company “misused” funds held on behalf of clients and “in hindsight it is accepted this was a serious misjudgement”.
With the company’s reputation damaged, clients then started to leave and the company ended up owing large amounts of money and struggled to recover cash it believed it was contractually due.
Marshall Peters advised the company that insolvency and liquidation was the only way forward.
A well-attended creditors meeting was held last month in Plymouth and the company placed into voluntary liquidation with liquidators at Interpath Ltd appointed this month.
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