Forget putting renters under the microscope... now it could be the landlord's turn.
A national movement has started which has the potential to turn the real estate industry on its head.
A Sydney tenant who asked for a reference for a prospective landlord of a property recently, has had had his story go viral. Comedian Tom Cashman made headlines on TikTok after asking a Sydney property manager for a landlord reference. Within minutes of denying his request, Cashman's approval for the property was withdrawn.
Mr Cashman said the rental application process is so rigorous that another tenant, who recently moved to Australia from Europe, has commented that our tenancy requirements are "like applying to NASA to go to the moon".
"I think it's very telling about the power dynamic between landlords and tenants," he said.
He has asked some renters to start asking for landlord references so the process becomes a more normal one.
Locally Belle Property real estate agent Catriona Swan said she has been following the story with great interest, with many people asking her about it.
"I personally think that it's a fabulous idea to provide landlord references to prospective tenants," Ms Swan said.
"Who wouldn't want to know if the landlord doesn't attend to required maintenance in a timely and professional manner, or intends to come to the property every Sunday to weed the garden and keep an eye on things or lives next door.
"I believe there can be a power imbalance between landlord and tenants at times, and I think he's started a "movement!"
And Belle's property manager Sarah Jameson agrees, calling it is a "great idea" for landlords to provide references to tenants. But she added, she had never been asked to supply a letter and there was no national push on the issue in the company. Current rental competition was also steep with a backlog of prospective tenants.
Ms Jameson said In 2019 (pre-pandemic) there was an average of about 170 rentals available and now there was an average of 40. The property vacancy rate in January was 0.6 per cent with a high number of landlords either moving back into their properties or selling, she said. Rental prices had also risen dramatically.
"The current imbalance has been caused mainly by COVID-19 with so many people having the option to work from home and move up to the Mountains for a 'tree change'.
"The market has stayed consistently limited and I do see that changing in the near future. It's hard to say specifically what will shift the imbalance as we are living in such unpredictable times ...I'm hoping to see this imbalance change."
Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves has said the request was reasonable.
"Landlords don't have anything to hide," he told the ABC.
CEO of the Tenants Union of NSW, Leo Patterson Ross, told media recently he would like to see searchable databases published where tenants could look up prospective landlords and see if they had complaints upheld against them in the past.