A flat in Cork city has been offered rent-free online in return for sex twice a week with the landlord. Stock pic

Free rent for sex twice a week with landlord; Shocking advertisement for Cork city flat

A FLAT in Cork city has been offered rent-free online in return for sex twice a week with the landlord.

The property in The Lough area was posted online on Wednesday in a classified advertisement site, run by a foreign registered company.

The advertisement said: "Looking for a female tenant who's into sharing their body twice a week for payment."

The website offers a wide range of advertisements, including property for sale or rent, fashion products, personals, motoring, and job listings.

When contacted by The Echo, posing as someone interested in taking up the offer, the advertiser said the property had its own bathroom, central heating and shared kitchen in the main part of the house.

He said: "I expect nothing other than satisfaction twice a week."

He continued that nobody has much money these days and that it is a "good idea, if everyone is an adult".

He added: "Nothing forced and only mutual".

Edel Conlon, the southern regional manager of housing charity Threshold, said: "Threshold would advise not to consider any such arrangement and report the matter to An Garda Siochana."

During the communications, the advertiser later said the property was taken by someone else.

The advertisement comes just months after Solidarity People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger raised an incident in the Dáil about a woman who was told by her landlord that she could stay rent-free in his property in Dublin if "we agree something".

Solidarity People Before Profit TD Mick Barry said the advertisement was a concern.

He said: "The housing crisis and Government inaction have really exacerbated the power imbalance between landlords and tenants.

"High rents put tenants in a vulnerable position and scandalously there are quite a few landlords who are prepared to exploit that in this fashion.

"It's probably no accident that this case relates to an area where lots of students seek accommodation and struggle to pay high rents.

"The case shows the urgent need to tackle the landlord/tenant power imbalance by bringing in real rent controls which reduce rents across the board."