Man Says Apartment Approval Was Withdrawn After Asking For Landlord's References

An Australian man claimed in a viral TikTok that his approved apartment application was withdrawn by a real estate agent after he requested a reference for the landlord.

Tom Cashman or @cashman.tom on TikTok, posted one video on Monday and received more than 1.8 million views. Cashman quickly published a follow-up video and in less than 24 hours received more than 1.6 million views and 5,100 comments.

In the original video, Cashman explained his apartment search lasted for a month before one of his applications was approved. Cashman noted that of all the applications, the apartment he was approved for was not his favorite.

He explained that although he intended to look at other apartments, he wanted to ask the real estate agent a question he had never asked before.

Cashman pulled up the email exchange between him and the real estate agent named Stephanie in the video. In the email, Cashman asked the agent if the owner would provide a "landlord reference" from a previous tenant.

He said it occurred to him that he had not heard of people asking for landlord references even though he was asked for three separate references throughout the process.

"Everyone start asking for landlord references," the caption of the video read.

Cashman explained that if more people begin requesting landlord references, it could be a common practice and may help people avoid a potentially bad landlord situation.

StreetEasy, a real estate company in New York City, noted in an article that renters should research their landlords as extensively as possible before signing a lease. It is also recommended to research the building's property manager by reading online reviews about the apartment building.

In many states, complaints about landlords can be made to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Some larger metropolitan areas, such as New York City, have active watchlists that allow people to look up a building and see if the landlord was on the list of worst landlords in 2021.

In the follow-up video, Cashman explained he waited four days before following up on the email. He then showed screenshots of the continued exchange.

Stephanie replied that she didn't understand his question and asked him to clarify. He explained that he was asking if the owner would provide a reference recommending them as a landlord, written by a previous tenant.

"I've found this is an effective way to find out if an owner is good to their tenants (and it seems appropriate, as I've already provided a few references to them,)" Cashman wrote in the email.

Stephanie responded that the owner would not provide a reference because they were no longer in contact with the previous tenant and did not want to contact them.

"It is not a requirement," Stephanie replied.

Cashman then claimed that within a minute of Stephanie replying, he received a notification that his application to rent the apartment was withdrawn. He explained that although the notification stated they received a request from him to withdraw, he never sent the request.

"So in conclusion, I think asking for a landlord reference is a good idea and if we all start doing it it could become more normalized," Cashman said.

More than 5,110 users commented on Cashman's video, some to share their horror landlord stories and others to express how good of an idea this was.

"My last landlord hung a dead pigeon on a stake in my front yard," one user commented. "I definitely would like any future tenants to know that."

"I am a landlord," another user wrote. "I would happily give out references, I think some sort of score sheet would be great to make it fair across the board."

"God if I'd have been able to get a landlord reference for my current place, there's no way I'd have moved in," another comment read.

Newsweek reached out to Tom Cashman for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.