Offering cheaper rent for sex is “a worrying reflection” of Ireland’s housing crisis, according to the Simon Communities.
An investigation uncovered ads for properties in Limerick and Dublin, where landlords were offering cheaper or reduced rents in exchange for sexual favours.
“Only sweet, cute and charming girls” were asked to apply for one room in Sandymount in Dublin while another promised a free room for someone they could have “naked fun with”.
That’s the findings of an investigation by Ann Murphy for the Irish Examiner.
She says it creates a legal “grey area” for people who agree to this kind of arrangement:
”Coercive control is one of the areas that has been mentioned because if you’re moving willingly into a situation like this, yes you know what are going into, but do you have a choice?”
According to figures from the Residential Tenancies Board, rents grew at their highest rate since 2017 in the third quarter of this year.
Caoimhe O’Connell from the Simon Community says “sex for rent” ads are “worrying reflection” of the housing crisis:
”There are people out there who are desperate. There are people out there who are struggling to get homes, who are struggling to keep up with rents, who are struggling to get rental properties in the first place, so I think it really is a reflection of someone trying to take advantage of that situation.”
The issue was highlighted by Labour TD Ivana Bacik, when she brought the Tenants Rights Bill before the Dail in September
