Some landlords still seeking sex for rent, says National Women’s Council

Some landlords are continuing to seek “sex for rent” arrangements “without any concerns”, the head of National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has said, as the organisation called for legislation outlawing the practice to be prioritised in advance of a general election.

In a statement, NWCI said it would call on the Government and Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to prioritise the legislation outlawing sex for rent exploitation at a briefing in Leinster House on Tuesday.

The organisation said it would highlight its report which found this kind of exploitation is widespread across the country and is highly gendered.

The report, published in May, found that marginalised women, including those experiencing homelessness, migrant women, and women fleeing domestic violence, were most often affected by this kind of exploitation.

Landlords were making adverts online that were “intentionally ambiguous and ill-defined” but which had “key characteristics” including an absence of photographs of the property, no advertised rental price, declaring the rental price as negotiable, and in some cases stating they seek “submissive women who would like to trade in return for lodgings” or that they were “open to offers in return for favours”.

“Our understanding is that this [practice] hasn’t stopped,” said NWCI director Orla O’Connor on Monday. “As long as the housing crisis continues, where people are vulnerable, and where there just isn’t enough available accommodation, then this will continue. The fact that there isn’t any legislation to make it a criminal offence makes it much more difficult for people.”

She added that some landlords continue to seek sex for rent arrangements “without any concerns” due to a lack of legislation.

The report in May made nine recommendations on how the problem should be tackled by the Government, including bringing adverts under the remit of the Online Safety Commissioner and that the Department of Justice legislate to bring renters in licensee agreements under the Residential Tenancy Act, to give them greater legal protection.

Speaking in advance of the briefing to Government this week, Ms O’Connor said that women in housing precarity were being “forced to choose between sexual exploitation and homelessness … This dire situation is facing women across the country, rural and urban, yet despite repeated promises from Government, there is still no legislation in place to tackle this abhorrent form of exploitation.”

The Coalition had been on notice about this issue “for years now,” said Ms O’Connor and legislation to tackle it was due to be included in the Sexual Offences and Trafficking Bill.

“That Bill has now come and gone, and still there is no solution for these women. Budget 2025 provided little reassurance that the housing crisis will be tackled in any meaningful way and this is the underlying context in which sex for rent exploitation can happen,” she added.

Limited housing options were leaving people with “little choice but to accept housing that is unsuitable or substandard,” said Ann-Marie O’Reilly, national advocacy manager at Threshold.

“It can also put some of the most vulnerable at risk of exploitation by unscrupulous actors. There is a role for legislation in protecting people from such exploitation, however ensuring access to secure, good quality and affordable housing for all members of society is the only sure way of protecting the most vulnerable,” she said.