'A dangerous hell': More women facing sex-for-rent demands in Ireland's broken housing market

One landlord said he wanted photos of a prospective tenant and her future housemates before giving them an appointment to view his property

The Attorney General has reported to Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien on sex-for-rent practices. At present, it is not illegal to advertise accommodation in this way. File picture

Day after day, immigrants arrive in Ireland to take up new jobs, begin studies in a new college, and start an adventure with new friends.

Central to all of that is finding somewhere to live – a new home, away from the one they left behind, in search of a better life.

One young Italian professional woman says that trying to find a room in Dublin “is like falling in a dangerous hell” after her experience.

In the past few weeks, she received offers that hinted at sex being required when replying to three separate advertisements online.

In one, the prospective landlord told her he wanted photos of her and her future housemates before giving them an appointment to view the property. He also said he only wanted females to move in and was “looking for fun to cover rent”.

Another advertiser told her he wanted someone who would share a bed with him in a property he was hoping to secure, because he wanted to half the rent for the room. When she refused the offer, he texted her to ask if she would like to be his girlfriend.

The third advertiser replied to her query telling her that a room and himself “came together” for €200 per month.

“What if there is someone more desperate than me and would accept it because of no other choice?” she said, adding that there are more people looking for rooms in Dublin than the number of rooms available.

Vulnerable foreign nationals

The woman believes foreign nationals are targeted with sex-for-rent offers because they are seen as vulnerable.

“If we come here, it is because maybe the situation in our own nation is not so good so they think we are desperate. We are looking for a better future for ourselves. We are at the start point so we are more fragile, we don’t really know people.” 

On Thursday, Justice Minister Helen McEntee told the Dáil that sex-for-rent practices are currently not illegal but said that the Justice and Housing departments are now working together to address the issue, with advice from the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher.

Ms McEntee told the Dáil, “It is not a criminal offence, I would like to see it as a criminal offence. It is appalling behaviour. It is the worst type of preying on victims and we need to make sure that we stamp it out.” 

She was responding to the chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on housing, local government, and heritage, Steven Matthews, who said sex-for-rent practices were “morally reprehensible” and said they may not even be legitimate tenancies.

Social Democrats housing spokesman Cian O’Callaghan, is a member of the same committee.

He said it is particularly worrying that a number of migrant women have been targeted as they don't have networks here to support them, as Irish people would have.

He said: “They would have less of an ability perhaps to get support, to get advice. This really needs a very fast response from government."

His party colleague, Limerick councillor Elisa O'Donovan, said she was not surprised to hear about this behaviour, given that she was subjected to a similar treatment a number of years ago.

“When I was seeking accommodation when I moved home to Limerick in 2014 I was inappropriately propositioned and contacted by landlords after viewing properties,” Ms O'Donovan said.

She said the ongoing housing crisis meant people are desperate for accommodation.

Opportunistic landlords are aware of this and are taking advantage of people in desperate situations.

“Of course, female international students are targeted in particular because there is a significant power imbalance in these situations. It is completely unacceptable behaviour by these men” Ms O'Donovan added.

A spokesman for Threshold, the national housing charity, said the lack of housing options is leaving many tenants — and people trying to access private rented housing — vulnerable and at risk of such predatory behaviour. 

Noeline Blackwell, chief executive of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said: “We would absolutely condemn any propositioning of a person on any variation of sex for rent. Any such intimidation, threat, or coercion is contrary to Irish law, which stipulates that sexual actions must be voluntary and freely given."

Women’s Aid chief executive Sarah Benson said the request for sex in lieu of rent for accommodation is an incredibly exploitative and enormously abusive tactic that targets the vulnerability of people in the rental market.

She added: “It is an enormous abuse of power trying to leverage literally the roof over somebody’s head in exchange for violating their bodily autonomy.” 

Ms O’Donovan, Threshold, Ms Blackwell, and Ms Benson are at one in urging anyone either offered or living in a sex-for-rent arrangement to contact gardaí.

However, Garda authorities have told the committee on housing, local government, and heritage, that the Garda Siochana Analysis Service has not found any incidents in relation to sex for rent.

In correspondence, the gardaí outlined that there is no specific incident type on the Pulse system, no Irish Crime Classification System crime type, or no legislative Act “that GSAS could rely upon to capture relevant incidents”; essentially, there is currently no way for gardaí to record an incident of this nature. 

The correspondence said that a series of Pulse Incident keyword searches were conducted to identify any similar incidents recorded to gardaí since January 1, 2021, but none were found. The searches included extortion and coercion, according to the correspondence.

Our investigation

The committee's scrutiny on this issue follows an investigation by the Irish Examiner in December, which revealed that properties were being offered for low or no rent in return for sex in Limerick and Dublin.

One of the properties unearthed by the Irish Examiner was a house in Newcastle West, Limerick which would be shared with the landlord. He advertised a room in his house for a single lady “with a twist”. The ad said: “Can do reduced rent for occasional fun.” When contacted by a prospective tenant, the landlord made it clear that sexual activity was required on a weekly basis in return for rent of €200 for the first month and €250 per month thereafter.

One of the Dublin properties was offered for free in return for a “friends with benefits” arrangement. The advertisement read: “Hey currently have a room to rent in North county Dublin, not looking to rent for cash but instead a fwb situation. Strictly applies to females, no males will be considered.” 

A spokesman for the Department of Housing said that both the Department of Housing and the Department of Justice are continuing to consider the advice received a month ago from the Attorney General, Paul Gallagher, “to see what action is necessary to address these exploitative practices”.

In recent correspondence to Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin, Ms McEntee, said: “I was concerned to read reports of advertisements of the kind referred to where properties are offered for rent in return for sexual favours. It goes without saying that, as Minister for Justice, I do not want to see a situation where people in vulnerable positions are taken advantage of or forced to provide sexual services.” 

Mr Ó Broin said it is now time for action on the practice.

“It’s been over six weeks since the Irish Examiner reported this scandal and given that the Attorney General has now reported to Minister Darragh O’Brien, what we need to hear is what the Minister is going to do," he said. 

The focus should not be just on the individuals who are offering such arrangements, he said, but also on the online platforms hosting the advertisements.

He said if the Attorney General’s advice is that legislation needs to be changed, there needs to be coordinated joint action from Mr O’Brien and Ms McEntee.

Mr Ó Broin added: “This is a matter of urgency. We cannot allow even one more of these ads or even one more person to be subjected to this kind of appalling behaviour and therefore it is incumbent on the minister to respond publicly and then act.” 

Recent research by UK housing and homeless charity Shelter shows that the problem is by no means unique to Ireland. That research suggested that 30,000 women in Britain were propositioned with sex-for-rent arrangements between March 2020 and January 2021. There has been no such survey carried out in Ireland.

Ms McEntee told the Dáil on Thursday that it is difficult to know the prevalence of the practice in Ireland. She said that there had been a suggestion that a survey could have been carried out by the Residential Tenancies Board but she said: “It was felt that this is a very personal and very difficult thing for somebody to respond to in a survey.” 

She added that such a survey would have been of landlords and tenants, which would not have covered all situations.

In the UK, the House of Lords has accepted an amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill which would create a new offence of arranging or facilitating the requirement or acceptance of sexual relations as a condition of rental accommodation. If the legislation makes it through the House of Commons, the maximum sentence on conviction would be seven years.

And in recent days, the UK's safeguarding minister, Rachel Maclean, said the Online Safety Bill currently working its way through parliament will include offences “relating to the incitement and control of prostitution for gain in the list of ‘priority offences’ which internet companies will need to take proactive steps to tackle”.

That legislation is aimed at user-to-user sites, “where the majority of ‘sex-for-rent’ advertising takes place”, while police are being trained in dealing the issue.