Landlords Exploiting House Crisis with Sex-For-Rent Property Deals

Now more than ever, controversial discussions surrounding sex scandals are at the height of their poignancy, and they’re not stopping when it comes to the property industry.

It has been insisted that the Government must introduce new legislation to forbid immoral practices of sex for rent deals.

Property Lawyer at Canterbury law firm Furley Page, Liz Brady, expressed her advocacy amongst the increased number of voices urging for a change in the law to put an end to deceitful landlords offering accommodation in return for sex.

Brady comments: “There have been plenty of stories in the press recently exposing the scandalous behaviour of some landlords, who are exploiting desperate and often vulnerable people seeking accommodation.

“At the moment the only action that can be taken against such landlords is a charge under the Sexual Offences Act of inciting prostitution which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.  This is not enforced as it is not directly applicable to the situation and relies on the victim tenant coming forward to complain.

“Many people, especially rough sleepers, the young or those trapped in abusive relationships, are unlikely to go to the police. The law clearly needs to be changed to protect the most vulnerable people in our society.”

“Agreeing to have sex with someone under the pressure and fear of homelessness, or in exchange for the basic right to have somewhere to live, does not equate to agreeing by choice.

“These shocking practices are on the rise in modern Britain which is shameful in a so-called ‘civilised society’.

“Websites like Craigslist are often used to advertise these ‘tenancies’. Advertisements promoting these morally indefensible practices should be banned and the websites responsible should be required to remove such adverts as quickly as possible.

“It is high time the government acted to change the law to deal with this abhorrent problem. It should be an offence for landlords to act in this manner or advertise such exploitative arrangements, and websites and other media should be prevented from advertising the ‘tenancies’. At the moment there seems to be a prevailing complacency about the whole scandal of sex for rent.”

Current adverts being exhibited are often deemed acceptable by the landlords who place them. These landlords allegedly argue that as long as the tenant is aware and accepting of this arrangement, there are no grounds upon which it can be perceived as immoral.

The most targeted demographic of these adverts are young women and occasionally men.