An estate agent sunning himself on the Costa Blanca while his firm faces financial turmoil back home in Brighton has been banned from the profession for life.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) imposed the punishment on Allan Langley Smith, owner of Hadleys Letting and Estate Agents, one of the larger agencies in Brighton and Hove.

He is also being investigating by Sussex Police and trading standards officers after more than 40 ex-customers complained of being owed money after the firm went into meltdown in May.

The company's two offices - in Queen's Road, Brighton, and Western Road, Hove - have been raided by bailiffs and repossessed by landlords.

Meanwhile, father-of-two Mr Langley-Smith enjoys life in Alicante in sun-soaked south-eastern Spain.

His entry on the Friends-Reunited web site boasts: "I play lots of golf, eat lots of paella and have a permanent tan!"

The OFT stepped in after finding he had misled people about his own personal interest in certain sales, breaching the Estate Agents Act 1979.

OFT spokesman Mark Kram told The Argus: "The OFT has banned him from estate agency work for life.

"He was found by one of our adjudicators to have failed to disclose a personal interest to a client and failed to disclose a potential interest to a potential buyer."

Brighton and Hove trading standards received a complaint and passed the details to the OFT. Mr Langley-Smith has until July 28 to appeal.

He had founded the firm in 1996 and named it after his young son, Hadley, who he said he was grooming to take over when older.

He took over the Queen's Road office after the abrupt closure of Sparks and Co, the estate agents previously occupying the property.

Mr Langley-Smith's firm initially flourished, opening a second office in Station Road, Portslade, a year later before moving to Western Road for more space in September 1998.

The company's web site claims it was due to expand further in September 2001 but put the plans on hold.

Its fortunes have continued to decline since then, especially after Mr Langley-Smith sold his home in Chichester Drive East, Saltdean, in April last year to move to Alicante.

Managers continued to run sales and lettings but staff desertions and wrangles over paying rent on the two offices culminated in the bailiff raids on May 13.

The bailiffs, acting on behalf of landlords Coastal Management for unpaid rent, seized computer equipment and changed locks.

Now police and trading standards have been overwhelmed with calls from worried clients who had been told nothing about the firm closing or being sold to new owners.

Tenants have been paying rent without it reaching landlords, while neither have known how to get in touch with each other without Hadleys acting as the go-between.

Brice's Estate Agents took over the Western Road office on June 23, a return to the building for Louise Brice, who worked for Hadleys until last summer.

She said: "We're getting three or four calls a day about Hadleys, from as far afield as America. We've been advising everyone to contact trading standards.

The police have been in as well."

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: "Rents are being paid by tenants and not being passed on to landlords.

"We have a list of about 40 tenants and landlords who have been affected by this and we know there are a lot more and we want them to get in touch."

Mr Langley-Smith has instructed insolvency practitioners Baker Tilly to formally wind up the firm.

When The Argus called him at his home in Alicante, he referred all inquiries to his solicitors, saying: "I have no comment at all."

One of the solicitors to whom he referred The Argus was Mark Westwood, of Theaker Loadsman, in Church Street, Hove.

But Mr Westwood said: "We were just dealing with a possible sale of the business that was being negotiated a while back but that fell through.

"Allan needs to instruct someone else to help him deal with this palaver as soon as possible. It's not our specialism."

Andrew White, insolvency practitioner dealing with the case at Baker Tilly's office in Queen's Road, Brighton, was unavailable for comment.