A Brighton lettings agency described as “appalling” and “intimidating” by alleged renters in Google Reviews has undertaken a year-long rebranding exercise after admitting it lost focus on its tenants.

MTM Property, in Brighton, specialises in student lets, but while it is highly rated by landlords, the experience of tenants seems to differ.

The agency found it had a good reputation with landlords  and has a 4.44 out of 5 rating on AllAgents.

A spokesman said the agency doesn’t pay for any of AllAgents extra services and just leaves it up to clients to use the free reviews service.

But it has a rating of just 3.1 out of five on Google with 113 reviews. Most of these reviews come from people saying they have been tenants.

One reviewer, who gave the agency one star, said: “Appalling letting agency. Intimidating, rude and sly behaviour from owner and staff. They take advantage of students, charge you extortionate fees and rip you off when you move out and want your deposit back. Stay clear.”

Among its most recent reviews, tenants complain about the state of the property, maintenance issues and fees charged. There are some positive Google reviews, but mainly from landlords.

The agent has tried to address this by working with brand agency Pixeldot to come up with a new company name following a year of internal workshops, client and tenant interviews, and research.

It hopes that its new name — Coapt — will help it appeal to students.

Coapt will now offer a student liaison team, internal brand ambassadors, a new website and new marketing material such as branded notebooks and information on local attractions in the city.

EYE queried what the agency thought went wrong previously.

A spokesman said: “Working in the industry on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget what it’s like to move away from home for the first time and for most students, letting a property is one of their first impressions of a city. Our rebranding process was in part trying to recognise our role in supporting our tenants in this big life transition.

“Both our landlords and our tenants have been really positive about us doing this and many are happy that we’ve listened and have been prepared to make changes.

“Although a full transformation won’t happen overnight, we’ve received some really positive feedback from the tenants that they’ve not only noticed the rebrand, but noticed the difference in our approach too.”

Students and landlords will see different branding on marketing materials.

Tenants will be met with yellow and black colours on communications while landlords will have a “more premium” black and grey.

Leon Mepham, managing director at Coapt, said: “We had received a lot of feedback from the student community about the level of care and attention the agency was seen to be providing.

“In all honesty, I think we had lost focus.

“We have such great relationships with our landlords and have always received glowing reports from them that we’d neglected a community of students – many of whom their engagement with us is their first impression of this city.

“When we took a step back and recognised that, and the scale of the impact that could have, we knew that we had to change.”

Luke Taylor, creative director at Pixeldot, said: “Whilst the landlords were satisfied with the service received and their relationships with staff at MTM, the old brand had a poor reputation amongst Brighton’s students — which was a real issue — particularly as they are the largest student property agency in the city.

“We wanted to create a new identity which spoke to MTM’s full customer base. The new name, Coapt, means ‘to bring together’; echoing the positive commitment the company is making to students and landlords alike.”

Coapt currently has 126 properties for let on Rightmove.