Preyed on by the sex for rent landlords
EXPOSED: How the pandemic has left women vulnerable to men touting rooms in exchange for sexual favours – helped by an internet giant
THOUSANDS of women are being exploited in a growing ‘sex for rent’ scandal during the coronavirus pandemic, the Daily Mail can reveal.
Predators are taking advantage of young women by advertising for ‘free’ lodging, in exchange for taking part in sexual acts.
American billionaires behind US website Craigslist are profiting from the exploitation of vulnerable young British women.
Men use the site to target university students – with some even specifying they seek ‘Oxbridge’ or ‘first class’ graduates.
Research from the charity Shelter suggests 30,000 women in the UK have been propositioned with explicit ‘arrangements’ since March. The arrangements are illegal and those convicted can be jailed for seven years, but there has never been a prosecution. Our investigation reveals:
Disgusting adverts are posted every day from across the UK – with a surge posted during the last national lockdown;
More than 20 men contacted by undercover
‘Exploits and enslaves young people’
reporters posing as a 21-year-old student offered free accommodation in exchange for sexual acts;
An HMRC worker, a former member of RAF Support Command and a retired builder made disgusting propositions for a ‘free rent’ agreement;
Shameless Craigslist bosses have ignored letters from MPs and Government ministers asking them to stamp out the problem.
Labour MP Peter Kyle last night accused Craigslist of behaving like ‘pimps’ and demanded the ‘squalid practice which sexually exploits and enslaves young people’ be stopped.
‘Just because they are frappuccino-drinking tech gurus doesn’t hide the squalid way they are making their money,’ he said.
‘These predators see every crisis, both personal and public health, as an opportunity for exploitation. These people shouldn’t be free to advertise their crimes, they should be before a jury answering for their crimes.’
Mr Kyle is calling for a change in the legislation
to make it easier to prosecute offenders who are currently ‘laughing at the law’. Landlords who offer tenants rent- free accommodation in return for sex are committing a criminal offence under Section 52 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
A YouGov poll commissioned by Shelter asked 1,266 private renters in England whether they had been propositioned by a landlord. A total of 0.7 per cent said they had, and Shelter says that suggests 30,000 female private renters were offered ‘sex for rent’ arrangements between March and September. It comes after research in 2018 found 250,000 women in the UK had been offered free or reduced rent in exchange for sexual favours over five years.
A quick search for ‘free rent’ on Craigslist brings up pages of sordid offers across university cities, including Oxford, Bristol and Brighton. Rogue landlords also operate in villages and towns – with disturbing ads in Kent, Wiltshire and Devon.
In a shocking example of brazen exploitation, one advert offering sex for rent was titled: ‘ Has Covid- 19 stolen your future?’ Another, based in West London, advertised for an ‘eager to please and eager to succeed university student or recent graduate who may have found herself without accommodation... because of the pandemic’. The men, often over the age of 40, predominantly target women between the ages of 18 and 25.
Posing as a 21-year-old student, Mail reporters said they had lost their job due to Covid, could no longer afford rent and needed a place to stay.
All of the men immediately requested pictures. After sending pictures of their face, reporters were repeatedly asked for ‘full body’ photos as well as their height and bust size. Disgusting predators also asked whether they had a boyfriend and if they were ‘open-minded’. Many began sending disgusting messages outlining their expectations.
Via WhatsApp video calls and Zoom, reporters spoke to three men who gave them a tour of the accommodation. They included developer Fredrick Allard in Tidworth, Wiltshire, who said he expected naked massages in exchange for a room in his sixbedroom semi-detached house.
HMRC worker David Price, 28, offered a room in his flat in a trendy part of Edinburgh in exchange for sex ‘once or twice a week’. And former RAF Support Command member Lyndon Savage, 55, said the reporter would be sharing his bed and that he enjoyed ‘pleasure’.
Craigslist, a classified adverts website founded by Craig Newmark in 1995, hosts hundreds of disturbing posts. Mr Newmark, 68, who is thought to be worth £1 billion, stepped back from managing Craigslist in 2000, handing over the reins to current chief executive Jim Buckmaster.
Mr Buckmaster, 58, is a ‘social anarchist’ who used to grind his own soybeans to make tofu. Despite being worth more than £1 billion, he paints himself as a man of the people: riding the bus to work and wearing flipflops to business meetings.
The issue of ‘sex for rent’ was raised by Mr Kyle three years ago. In 2018, the Crown Prosecution Service issued revised guidance on ‘prostitution and exploitation of prostitution offences’ to include ‘sex for rent’ cases. The guidance suggests such arrangements could be committing the offence of causing prostitution for gain under Section 52 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
But under the current legislation, victims must be legally defined as prostitutes, adding a deterrent to vulnerable individuals who may be reluctant to come forward over fears it will adversely affect their futures.
Nick Dent, criminal defence lawyer at Kingsley Napley, said he doubted there will be any successful prosecutions under the existing legislation. He said: ‘If people want this to be criminalised and investigated and prosecuted then I think it probably does require a specific statutory offence which makes it clear that that’s what the purpose is.’
While platforms such as Gumtree tackled the issue as soon as it was brought to their attention, Craigslist is yet to respond to requests to stop hosting criminal posts.
The firm, which employs about 50 people in its San Francisco headquarters, is thought to be worth up to £7.5 billion. It makes money by charging a small percentage of users to post adverts, while keeping the service free for the majority. In 2010, the New York Times reported Craigslist was set to earn £23 million from sex-related revenue that year – nearly a third of its estimated annual sales of £80 million.
Shelter’s Polly Neate said: ‘Private renting is deeply unstable but the impact of the pandemic means many more people, especially women, are facing serious financial hardship. This makes them vulnerable to exploitation. Sexual harassment by landlords is a gross abuse of power.’
Craigslist, Mr Newmark and Mr Buckmaster did not respond to requests for comment.
‘Sex once or twice a week’