Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
DISGUSTED
Mum’s shock at vile messages
A man posing as a landlord offered a Canterbury mum reduced rent in return for topless photos, in a shocking text exchange.
In a viral post, Georgia Linehan shared the scandalous messages she received while hunting for a home in Whitstable. After finding a light and spacious-looking house in Regent Street that interested her, she texted the supposed landlord for more details.
When she asked how much the monthly rent was, he said “£695”.
Miss Linehan replied: “That’s perfect, OK, I’ll have a think and get back to you in a couple of days.”
But the man then cryptically responded: “There is a option to reduce rent if you wanted to”. Miss Linehan asked: “Oh really how?”
To which he said: “I own a modelling company a few of my tenants work for me doing boob work so basically. [sic] Breast pics for 2 pics the rent gets reduced by £200 x”. Miss Linehan shared a screen shot of the shocking exchange on Twitter, writing: “That’s the last time I try and find a house on Gumtree”.
The post has garnered more than 34,000 likes and 2,700 retweets.
One outraged responder branded the man “disgusting”, while another said “this is horrendous, in today’s society women still getting this!” Rosie Duffield, MP for Canterbury
and Whitstable, said: “Absolutely awful. I know Georgia and I will be getting more details!”
In another tweet she addressed the anonymous texter, writing: “Whoever you are, this is not ok. As you are so close, why don’t you just #Getinthesea?!” Some responders suggested Miss Linehan should have accepted the offer, to which she pointed out the man’s Gumtree listing is likely to be a scam. “Can I just say everyone saying ‘she’s mad for not taking this deal’ I highly doubt this man even owns a property,” she wrote.
The property photographed is a two-bedroom terraced house listed for sale online, with an asking price of £375,000. The owner of the property has since confirmed the Gumtree listing has been fabricated and the home is not available to rent. Gumtree says any similar incidents should be reported immediately to its dedicated safety team, as it bids to make the online platform “as safe as possible”.