Van Mildert Review

Absolutely dreadful experience having to deal with these jobsworths! I had such a traumatic time dealing with their endless scrutiny that I will never deal with them again. Unnecessary, unwarranted and unacceptable anguish caused by them.

My application failed because of these bad referencing agents. My guarantor 's p60 from NHS considered not enough and they asked references from the hospital manager... and probably after that, they would ask Queen to guarantee for my guarantor's guarantor...

Wonderful service and the staff on the end of the phone are extremely helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. Act very promptly on any question I have had. Easy to use.

Truly horrendous. I d give 0 stars if I could. Tried to get referenced for a flat and they were the most useless company. They constantly changed what information they required and ask for an excessive amount on information and even then they needed a guarantor. Impossible to contact without waiting on hold for ages and rude staff even when you do.

Arguably the hardest company to communicate with and progress applications with. The staff have no sense of urgency and are consistently rude. If you are dealing with an estate agent who utilises their 'service', please be aware that it will not be a walk in the park.

Avoid this company! It's impossible to get in touch with this agency. I was on hold half an hour, I sent 10 emails and there were no answer or respond from them at all. If I would have any choice and if this company would not be given from my letting agency I would never go with them. AVOID

Incompetent and lazy

I made an application for renting a property with an estate agency related with them and I give them details of 2 guarantors.

They asked to me and my guarantors one thing per time instead of asking all together, I mean they asked to fill a form after 3-4 days they asked 12 months of bank statement (never happened in my life, normally it is only about 3 months) after a week other details, so they took more than 2 weeks to collect all the details they need, the estate agency obviously couldn't wait long and I lost the house. If they have asked all in one time it could have take 3-4 days to give them what asked instead of more than 2 weeks.

Also, after almost 3 weeks they told me that they weren't able to reach my previous landlord and that they could accept reference letters instead. Why you have to wait so long? I could have gave you the first week.

Last, I often call them to speak about it, asking what they need from me or from my guarantors, only the last time I was told that for data protection they couldn't talk to me about my guarantors, when before we talk about that. The negotiations where 3 weeks long the data protection came only on the 3rd week.

They are incompetent, take too much time to do things, and they ask far too much personal data that what they really need. Thanks to their laziness I lost the property.
I have never been so disappointed.

We have been using Van Mildert since last year. Absolutely fantastic service. Highly recommended.

I too would give them 0 stars if I could. I thought it was just me that thought this. They ask for so much information, it's absolutely absurd. My grandma is my guarantor. They asked for: pension p60, latest pension statement, proof of savings, proof of attendance allowance, online forms and MORE. It's ridiculous. Bearing in mind she is 72 YEARS OLD. SHE DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO TAKE SCREENSHOTS AND ATTACH THEM TO EMAILS. At every stage with this ridiculous company it was another obstacle, and then another, and then another and another. I suggest when you are looking for your rental property, find out if they use Van Mildert. If they do, find somewhere else.

Great range of clothing to choose from excellent quality and fast delivery. Would highly recommend Van Mildert.

Helped my eldest find their first rental home and the service from this company was far above expectations. Very smooth and easy process.

Amazing staff! Very Helpful, polite and patient. Extremely pleased with the service provided.

We have used this tenant referencing service for years and they are excellent. - Very efficient! Many thanks

Incompetent and lazy referencing going against fast and reliable service. Will never accept them again :(

Our referencing is done Via Van Mildert and the service is always efficient and any issues during the process are promptly discussed with us. Checks are rigorous which helps ensure we have a wealth of information to make an informed choice with regards to tenants. Would highly recommend.

We have worked with Van Mildert Tenant's referencing for the past 18 months and we have always been impressed by the way they thoroughly do their checks. We have avoided many disasters thanks to their professional approach. They are the best referencing we have ever dealt with!

Is this a joke? I keep waiting for Ashtun Kutcher to jump out of a cupboard and tell me I am being PUNKED.

I have to phone them every day (every 4 days before this) my agent uses them but I am doing the chasing to preserve my holding deposit.

I have had to push them all the way once I realised they just sat there waiting for a response from a wrong email address they had.
Generally wait 10/15 mins to get through. Staff are lovely on the phone.
Seem short staffed.

Currently going through them for referencing! You d honestly think I was applying for a job with MI5 or looking to rent a room adjacent to the Queen. I ve never known anything like it!! Any landlord I ve rented with in the past has just phoned my previous landlord to confirm the rent is paid on time, on one occasion my employer was called for a character reference but that was it. This company seem to want to know everything from how much money you earn to what size shoe you re wearing!! Absolutely ridiculous!! It s only because I ve paid good money, that I can t afford to lose, that I haven t told them to get stuffed and forget about it! I love the house I m looking to rent I just wish I didn t need to jump through hoops and prove I ve done it to get it.

Prompt and professional at all times. Would recommend Van Mildert and their services.

A bunch of ignorant idiots. They made me loose my agency fees by asking for 6 months rent in advance because they couldn't understand my self employed situation.

I would highly recommend Van Mildert when looking for a new referencing provider. The team are outstanding and regularly go above and beyond to ensure our needs our met. They are knowledgeable, honest and most importantly a pleasure to work with. We always struggled to find a company who's customer service reflected our own and I am so pleased that we are partnered with them!

We have used Van Mildert for a few years to reference potential tenants. They have always been most helpful especially when we have had a complicated applicant. They always pick up the phone and do their utmost to help immediately.

As a new landlord just compliling my portfolio, I will most definitely be looking for an agent who uses this company for referencing. After reading all of the comments about the (apparent unnecessary) rigorous checks, it is exactly what I want, as I cannot afford troublesome tenants...and want every stone unturned to assure me I get the best tenants possible!

Excellent company to deal with, always prompt with queries and customer service is amazing. A pleasure to work with. Would recommend to other agents!

Worst company ever for a tenant. So many obstacles to pass to get a reference. Takes 20 minutes every time to speak to someone and even then they don't know what's going on. We sent our application in and every single time there was some sort of issue to do with it. Now they want a gaurentaur. Avoid this rude, unhelpful, cowboy company

Thank you for helping us not renting a house. I think 1 star is too much for you ! But I really I don't think you mind that. I believe you don't look the ratings. Not you ! I hope your associate agencies that pay you money for referencing take seriously in future to co operate with you !

WARNING if you use this company expect to do all the running around between employers and landlords yourself also expect no help from their agents whatsoever also expect rude and useless service lots of head aches from pulling your own hair out countless email resends they will lose your emails find them again then lose them again honestly the worst company I ve ever had to deal with I don t understand how they are still trading AVOID

I have used VanMildert for some time now and have always found them to be helpful, friendly and have had consistently great Customer Service. Thank you

I have never experienced anything like the customer service provided by this company. We are taking a tenancy agreement via Acorn in Newcastle and have been badgered unnecessarily by aggressive reps from this agency for information and references. I quite understand every landlord's need to check references, but this is on another level altogether. My son and I have received over 40 phone calls, emails and texts even though we are being efficient at our end with providing the info they request. A simple email would suffice rather than what seems like hourly reminders to respond to them and requests to pay for references. Absolutely no way to run a business. I notice the only 5* review is a landlord!

Awful, they are working from home got told by an advisor that they were using their own laptops and pcs which then meant they had bankstatments on their own pc with the information. Shocking.

Easy to use and keep you updated. Good service and always friendly

Impossible to get hold of. They sent me a request to act as guarantor for completely the wrong person, just before close of business on Friday. I then got multiple emails and texts from them over the weekend (presumably automated) saying "we notice you haven't yet filled in our forms".

Tried emailing and phoning. Can never get through. Useless.

I have to add to the people held on lengthy queues. Staff were polite.

This is the most disturbing service I have seen in my life. This service is the main OBSTACLE for someone wants to rent a house, hassle and disrespectful!!!
I am definitely against this.
Please keep away from these agents come with this service.

Excellent and transparent - my experience has been very different to those detailed in the other reviews. I got regular updates from them and they explained that my landlady was the one holding up my referencing which enabled me to get it sorted. Would recommend

I wish I could give them a 0 star rating. I have had a horrible experience with them as a tenant. They are extremely slow in processing things and because of them people aren't able to make decisions in time. Never opt for this if you are a letting agent. They will only make your lose your possible tenants.

Great service, very fast and efficient for me and the Mrs moving into our first place together. Lydia was very helpful with telling us what was outstanding, providing a smooth process overall. We would recommend Van Mildert!

Full of Hassle and disrespect toward potential tenants.
Right after we paid the initial deposit, they ask for our combined money in the banks as well as our guarantor's bank statement. If your guarantor is employed they even ask for guarantor's boss reference letter. Since it just a one year contract to rent a 4 bedroom house and all of us have shown our financial evidence (bank statements which all have sufficient fund). Who do they think they are asking for such questions?
I would recommend to avoid this kind of time wasters, their paper work system is redundant.
Even KFC has better service.

Worst reference agency ever !!! Always ask Landlords and Agencys and if they associate with Van Mildert go somewhwere else...

We are always very happy with the service our agency receives from Van Mildert. Their platform is easy to navigate, their staff always provide regular updates / are always polite and the reports we get back are also in-depth. Would recommend to any agent looking for a referencing company!

My friends had a very bad experience with these agents. I called them and they are very rude and unprofessional .

Awful Service

They do not accept privacy or confidential information. They provide confidential information like Date of Birth to your employee when asking for confirmation of your job. Only HR when signing the contract has access to that and Van Mildert provided that in the general request to the Team Leader.

When the previous landlord is not immediately responding they chase you the whole time to reach out to your previous landlord and ask him to reply to the e-mail from Van Mildert. Really annoying; should be their job to chase the previous landlord and not calling me the whole time.

The whole process felt like bulying. Alhough I appreciate the checks that need to be done, their approach is very unprofessional.

I would have given 0 stars but alas Google does not give that option.
Most unhelpful company. Staffs are rude and it seems there only job is to make life of their curstomers difficult.

If you re retired then expect to be declined! Terrible service. I lost out to a property although I provided wage-slip style proof of monthly income from a personal pension and my total pension pot value probably exceeding some people s personal savings and yet was deemed not enough proof! The excuse I was given that I had a flexible accessible pension and a suggestion I could take it all out during my tenancy!!....absolutely atrocious lack of common sense and insulting judgement of my finances! No amount of excuses will soften my feelings of how shambolic and badly judgemental I ve been treat. I lost out on the house I was intending to move into this week. Absolutely abysmal service with no common sense!

After reading the other reviews on here, as a prospective tenant, I was expecting a proper ordeal akin to the Spanish inquisition, but in the end it actually went about as smoothly as you could hope for. I was asked for landlord's contact details, current employer details, and since I'm starting a new job in conjunction with moving house, my future employer's details. I had to fill out a form online stating my income, national insurance number, and other things you would expect (name, date of birth, etc etc.) Certainly nothing over the top. No bank statements, no payslips were needed (I assume this was all confirmed by my HR department), no documents for proof of address, no passport scans, or anything like that.

I can only assume that the people who have had issues and have given 1 star on here have some sort of additional risk associated with their situation meaning that the checks needed were more thorough. I have heard that guarantors need to provide much more detailed information, so perhaps it's related to that I don't know (I didn't need a guarantor so I can't speak to that). In total, it took 4 days from me filling the form in online to being approved. The delay was mainly due to my current landlord being difficult to contact - which I have no reason to doubt. I did have to wait on the phone for around 5-10 minutes before being answered when I rang to discuss what was holding up the process yesterday. That aside, if your income is reasonable for the property you're thinking of letting, and there's nothing 'iffy' about your financial situation (CCJs, bankruptcies, etc.) then you're probably not going to have as bad a time as the other reviews on here might lead you to think.

One of the worst companies I have ever used!! An employment reference email was sent 3 times and they claimed they didn't have it!! Avoid if possible

The worst referencing company ever. Please avoid them if you can.

Why is it impossible to get through to this company? I have been on hold for nearly an hour and don't expect to get through any time soon. I wish I had a choice about using them. If I hadn't paid a holding deposit on the flat I'm looking to rent or my moving date wasn't so time sensitive I would go somewhere else. AVOID AT ALL COST.

Really bad experience! Over half an hour on hold and they don't really have a clue whats going on. They don't inform you if you need further references, they wait for you to come to you so the process is dragged out and prolonged! Rubbish company.

Fantastic Service!!!! online service is very easy to use. Staff are friendly, helpful and keep you updated throughout every stage. I opened my business this year after 30 years and cost was very important to me, Van Mildert really do offer excellent value for money and it was so much more cost effective for me to use them in preference to doing it all myself. I would definitely rate then as a market leader having probably used every other reference agency in the past. Well Done Van Mildert.

Just been on the phone to Gordon who was very helpful and checked if my references had come through on the spot after I explained my urgency. V grateful

Absolutely terrible, require so much information that's it almost impossible to get a reference. I would honestly avoid this company as much as possible.

Very friendly and professional organisation! Always a pleasure to work with.

The only tenant referencing company I'd recommend, always polite, efficient & happy to help!

I would highly recommend Van Mildert when coming to choose a tenant referencing company, we have dealt with them for a number of years now and they have always been brilliant to deal with. We always receive regular updates for each application and the website makes it easy to track the progress, when a tenant rings in for an update. Five stars!

Amateurs! Don't understand how to assess the credit worthiness of a wealthy and financially sophisticated individual.

Would highly recommend Van Mildert. Have been professional to deal with and their customer service is excellent.

Super service, staff could not be more helpful or efficient. Made moving easy and less stressful.

Great service, quick turn around on references and a friendly team.