The National Women’s Council (NWCI) has encouraged the implementation of a specific crime targeting landlords involved in “sex for rent” deals in their report. The report, released on Thursday, provided nine proposals for how the Government should address the rental market’s sex for rent issue in Ireland.
The NWCI suggested expanding the authority of the Residential Tenancies Board to assist tenants who are being harassed and demanded that the organised crime be categorised as a sexual offence under newly instituted laws. This measure will distinguish these cases from sex purchase laws and shun the stigmatisation and underreporting experienced in different regions.
User-to-user platforms that serve as outlets for sex for rent ads should be brought under the watchdog scope of the Online Safety Commissioner, the report stated.
Additionally, the Department of Justice has been urged to legislate protections for renters under licensee arrangements encompassed in the Residential Tenancy Act, while the Department of Housing Heritage and Local Government should widen the scope of the Residential Tenancies Board to address sexual harassment in rental accommodation.
Penalties are recommended for social media sites that fail to filter potentially harmful content promoting such arrangements.
With the need for large scale research into sex for rent occurrences in Ireland, NWC called upon the new domestic, gender-based and sexual violence agency, Cuan, to undertake this task to evaluate the problem’s size, potential mitigation measures, and support for affected victims.
The report also identified subterfuge used by landlords promoting these exploitative arrangements, who often compose vague ads to avoid being detected and moderated. Common tactics can involve the exclusion of property images, lack of a set rental price or presenting it as negotiable, failure to pinpoint the exact property location, or specifying a certain type of tenant – frequently females, paired with a desired behaviour.
Ads have been found that target “submissive ladies willing to barter for accommodation” and “women who aren’t fond of partying.” These landlords are also willing to negotiate terms in exchange for so-called favours. Some even requested photographs or physical descriptions of the prospective tenants.
The report’s author and Violence Against Women Officer for the NWC, Feargha Ní Bhroin, stated that this exploitative practice known as sex-for-rent is heavily biased towards, affecting women the most.
The exploitation is “humiliating, belittling, and demeaning,” according to Orla O’Connor, the director of the National Women’s Council. O’Connor mentions that the most marginalised women, such as those facing homelessness, female migrants including refugees trying to escape the Direct Provision system, and women experiencing domestic abuse are the most affected demographic. These practices are occurring nationwide, as she pointed out.
Nonetheless, O’Connor expressed concern for the stark deficiency of thorough research surrounding the true extent of this form of sexual exploitation.