‘Sex-for-rent’ landlords are caught on film

TWO landlords were caught on film demanding that a tenant half their age have sex with them in return for a free flat.

The men offered to waive the rent, cover the bills and even pay expenses if they could sleep with her regularly.

An undercover BBC reporter was told she could have a designer twobedroom flat with ‘everything provided’ as long as she had a ‘friends with benefits relationship’.

The landlord called Mike was recorded in Bristol as saying: ‘The room, the rent, all the bills, everything paid for. And I’ll even give you an allowance every week so that you feel that you’re looked after.

‘The benefit is that you sleep with me once a week.’

After finding out he was being filmed for the programme shown last night, he claimed he was ‘pretending to be a landlord’ and researching the exploitation of women for a novel.

Another landlord calling himself Tom, aged in his 60s and also in Bristol, told reporter Rachel Stonehouse that she would get free rent, gas, electricity and wifi if she moved into his flat.

When she asked if they had to have sex, he replied: ‘I’m getting embarrassed now. Do what you want, and if you want to make love, make love.

‘Give it a week or two if you’re not ready straight away. But at the end of the day, yes [sex is required].’ Tom refused to respond when he was told he was filmed by the BBC for the news programme Points West.

Offering accommodation in return for sex is illegal. However the BBC investigation revealed several examples on classified advert site Craigslist offering free rent in exchange for sex.

One man offered a double room ‘in return for your booty’ in a ‘simple, no-hassle business deal’. Another said a tenant could pay £1 a month for a double room in return for sex.

‘I am looking for a female lodger, possibly rent free, depending on services offered,’ he said. ‘Please reply with pic and a bit about yourself.

‘I have a high sex drive and have no limits. Therefore (and this has worked over the last year) I am thinking of a couple of evenings a week where you surrender to me.

‘Sometimes we will role play. You must like sex and be adventurous. On the other nights of the week, we would be like any other people sharing a house.’ One woman told how, in return for free rent, ‘one guy expected me to sleep with him but also have group sex with a lot of his friends. It’s not worth it.’

Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Watson, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: ‘ It’s worrying that in this day and age anyone believes it to be appropriate to advertise accommodation in return for sex.

‘Sexual exploitation is wrong and I’d encourage anyone who has been affected by it to report it to the police.’

A recent YouGov poll for the housing charity Shelter found that 140,000 prospective female tenants had been propositioned in the past year alone.

One was sent a text offering her a flat if she performed ‘very explicit sexual acts’. Another told how her landlord came into her bedroom each night and refused to leave. A third said the owner made a sexual pass at her as his wife slept upstairs.

‘Room in return for your booty’