Rightmove deletes reduced rent property negotiating “special favours”

A property in Birmingham was listed on Rightmove on 25 July, which offered a “reduced rent” of £23 per week, in exchange for “special favours to be discussed”.

The two bedroom terraced house on Mill Brook Drive, Longbridge, Northfield is furnished. According to its description, it was “available to female student close to Longbridge station which is 20 minutes to Selly Oak station”.

The advert was found by Rosh Rashid, who is a student looking for a two-bedroom property in the area. She posted a screenshot of the property on Twitter, so that “others are aware”.

She told the Press Association: “I just can’t believe Rightmove allowed it to be advertised in the first place.”

The property website told Birmingham Live that any letting business that wanted to advertise on the website undergoes a “strict vetting process”.

They responded on Twitter: “As soon as we became aware of the text in this listing we immediately removed it from the site, as it is obviously unacceptable.

“We have spoken with the agent advertising the property who have confirmed that they’re carrying out a full investigation.

“We’re carrying out a full review of this agent as this is clearly unacceptable and in breach of Rightmove’s terms.”

In January, a YouGov poll conducted by Shelter, a housing charity, found that 250,000 female tenants were asked for sex by their landlords over the past five years, including 140,000 women in 2017.

One woman said she had received a text from a landlord after a flat-viewing, which said that she could have the apartment for free if she “performed some very explicit sexual acts with him”. Another said her landlord “made a pass” at her “while his wife was asleep upstairs”.

Earlier this year, an ITV journalist exposed a landlord for offering free rent in exchange for “weekly” sexual favours. Such agreements are illegal under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which criminalises prostitution.