An estate agent has complained to the Liberal Democrats after the name of his business, May & Co, was used by the party in a political stunt in a campaign launched on Friday.

The Lib Dem set up a spoof estate agency and called it “May & Co” – identical to the name of the firm in Chelsea which has been going since 1920.

May & Co boss John Yianni said he started getting abusive phone calls once the Lib Dem campaign appeared on Twitter.

The name of the spoof agency was hastily changed to “Theresa May & Co”.

However, Yianni said that the name was still too close to that of his own agency.

He told the BBC: “The damage has been done and it’s probably going to get worse. You don’t want to be politically biased in your business.

“People were saying: ‘What are you doing getting into bed with them?'”

He said he had contacted Sir Vince Cable and the Lib Dem headquarters to ask for the campaign to be dropped altogether.

The stunt describes Theresa May & Co as “Westminster’s finest estate agents – dealing exclusively in selling vulnerable elderly people’s homes to pay for the care they desperately need.

“So, if you need social care but can’t afford it, talk to Theresa May & Co – and we’ll help you sell your family home to pay for your care.”

Banners showing the “Theresa May & Co” estate agency logo were used at a protest against the proposed Tory reforms, which include the so-called dementia tax, whose critics allege that people would need to fund their social care by selling their homes.

Lib Dem candidate Sir Ed Davey said there were ways of funding social care that would not involve “setting up May & Co estate agents to come after your home”.

A spokesman for the Lib Dems said an early draft version of the spoof website and blog had been accidentally released before the campaign’s launch on Friday.

The old website now redirects you to theresamayand.co