A Fine Gael senator has called for questions on ‘sex for rent’ to be included in the annual survey of the rental sector, reports The Mirror.
This is due to concerns about the number of landlords offering free accommodation to women in exchange for sexual favours
The incident was exposed by the Irish Examiner two years ago and re-publicized last month by RTÉ Prime Time Investigates Expose.
Fine Gael Senator Tim Lombard has urged the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to include questions about sex for rents in its annual survey to determine how widespread the problem is.
Corkman said the UK had issued a subpoena for evidence of sex for rent between April and June this year, asking tenants to report their experiences.
“There is clearly a specific part of society where sex-for-rent has become a recognised part of looking for rental accommodation and that is completely unacceptable. Vulnerable tenants are being targeted,” Senator Lombard said, reports The Mirror.
“The RTB introducing questions on the prevalence of sex-for-rent in Ireland into its annual survey may also help remove stigma surrounding reporting sex-for-rent propositions, as the UK survey allowed for victims to report their experiences without having to disclose their identities. In 2021, it was deemed that the RTB annual survey was not an appropriate way to gather this sensitive information as their survey is conducted face to face, so the inclusion of an online survey would help address this issue,” he added, reports The Mirror.
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