Irish Examiner view: Legislate to make 'sex for rent' a crime

Landlords are offering rooms in exchange for sexual favours in Limerick and Dublin.

Our dysfunctional housing system produces many scapegoats. Politicians, financial institutions, and developers tend to bear the brunt of the criticism.

Some of it is fair, some of it less so; the focus tends to be on the affordability of housing, but the crisis isn’t limited to those who would own their own home. 

The desperation among some prospective renters, particularly younger people, to find a roof over their head at affordable rates leaves unscrupulous landlords in the ascendancy, should they wish to resort to nefarious methods of attracting tenants.

An investigation by this newspaper’s Ann Murphy has found landlords are offering rooms in exchange for sexual favours in Limerick and Dublin.

One of the properties unearthed by the Irish Examiner was a house in Limerick that would be shared with the landlord.

When contacted by a prospective tenant, the landlord made it clear that sex was required weekly in return for rent of €200 for the first month and €250 per month thereafter. 

To put that into context, the average monthly rent being sought in Limerick in the third quarter of this year was €1,110.39.

Asked if the room was available without sexual favours, he said it was preferable to rent it out to someone willing to engage in sexual activity. He also promised the accommodation would be free if the prospective tenant became his partner.

Many politicians expressed outrage and shock, but some people were not surprised having heard it all before. 

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Following the reports in this newspaper yesterday, executive director of the Galway Rape Crisis Centre Cathy Connolly told Newstalk the practice had received similar complaints.

She said: “It is going back again to the have and have nots and people are abusing a situation where they are in a position of strength.”

That they can offer to people that are vulnerable this option to come in at a reduced rent and have sex with them.

Greens TD Steven Matthews, who chairs the Oireachtas committee on housing, local government, and heritage, will raise the issue with the committee in January. 

He said: “This is something we have to lift the lid on, and weed out this immoral behaviour.” 

Worryingly, he wants the Oireachtas committee to establish with the Residential Tenancies Board what rights or protections there are for tenants in such circumstances, echoing the views of Wendy Lyon, of Abbey Law, in Dublin, who told this newspaper legislation that criminalises the purchase of sex limits may not cover this situation.

Rents are continuing to boom across the country; the risk of homelessness is very real for people desperate to secure accommodation. 

Threshold CEO John-Mark McCafferty was right to describe this as an indictment of our housing system. 

In Britain last month, the issue was highlighted during a House of Lords debate.

Amendments to the UK bill have been brought forward, seeking to make it a criminal offence for landlords arranging ‘sex for rent’ agreements with tenants.

Contacting the gardaí is one method of rooting out the landlords preying on vulnerable people. 

Another way to tackle the problem would be to make it a crime.