Comedian Tom Cashman has rental application deleted after asking for a ...

An Australian comedian's cheeky request for his new landlord to provide a reference has backfired, but he reckons renters shouldn't be afraid to follow his lead.

Tom Cashman, a regular on The Project, decided to flip the script and ask for proof that previous tenants were satisfied living under the owner who had approved his application. 

But after exchanging emails about the request with an unimpressed property manager, Mr Cashman's application was unexpectedly withdrawn. 

He had already been approved for the studio apartment in Sydney's eastern suburbs at $380 a week before he cheekily asked for the reference.

The agent, Stephanie, apparently did not see the funny side of the request, after initially claiming she didn't understand the question.

'The owner does not wish to contact the previous tenants and it is not a requirement,' she wrote back to him.

'Good luck with your property search.' 

Then 'within that same minute' she cancelled his application, which generated an automatic notification.

'The response was a bit more intense than I was expecting,' Mr Cashman said in a video, which he posted to Instagram and TikTok.

'I thought it was a reasonable request,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'I've had good landlords and bad ones and the difference can have a pretty big impact on you.' 

He did not want to name the agency or the agent's surname because 'I'm not interested in getting anyone fired.'

'I also still need to find a home to rent,' he said to Daily Mail Australia.

However Mr Cashman admitted Stephanie might find his way into his routine at the upcoming Melbourne Comedy Festival. 

He felt the incident reveals an 'unfair power dynamic' between agents and tenants.

'Most of the time when you sign a contract you know who have some idea of who you are dealing with,' he said.