A housing crisis in France has given nasty landlords an opportunity to trade property for sex. Apartment owners are advertising rentals "contre services" — or "against services." Some of the services accepted include creative ways of offsetting high rent, such as agreeing to maintain the apartment. But, other scum lords are creating lease terms that include illicit sexual services. Oh mon dieu!
The BBC uncovered some of the raunchy advertisements, which include: "Sex twice a month;" "open in spirit and elsewhere;" "Flat in exchange for libertine services." When property costs are so high, and finding affordable housing near impossible, tenants, young and poor, are sometimes left with little choice but trade their bodies for roofs.
Do these agreements amount to sex between consenting adults? I tend to see them as exploitation of the vulnerable. The debate is similar to that surrounding prostitution. Should sex be a commodity that can be traded on the open market? For those who are desperate, is it the only asset they have left?
Lanvin
Sofa Workshop
Prada
I am so glad I have never been in a position where I would consider this kind of trade.
1Amen Kia! That's nasty and degrading.
2WAIT!!!! STOP THE PRESSES!!!! You mean that a socialistic society does not work? That it helps create a class system? You are KIDDING me!
3This is exactly why I wil never live in a country with ancient politics.
4This probably happens in NYC as well. Good housing in big cities is hard to come by, and there will always be nasty people taking advantage of others...I don't think it has much to do with the political system in France.
5This DOES happen in NYC. I have seen many postings on Craig's List and was emailed these types of propositions when I was apartment hunting here.
6bethany, I live in New York. Not one of my friends have been asked to have sex to rent a room or an apartment. Other then the slummiest of slums would this happen.
I have also lived in San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and never had this problem nor have my friends.
7Oh and when I say slums, it is not city specific. It could be anyone of them.
8Yikes, I think that's horrible and definetely exploitation.
9Hmm...well these men who emailed me propositioning sex in exchange for a room had apartments in the east village, Soho and the upperwestside (and my friends have experienced the same- again through craig's list). I wouldn't consider these areas slums...
10If the cities i mentioned are doing this, which they very well could be, just myself have not experienced it. It really goes back to my original statements as these are very socialistic cities with a huge two tier class system.
11NYF, we seem to be commenting at the same time. I will retract my statement that it happens in the slums. As I have said above, I have not experienced it nor have my friends.
12I live in NYC and I've heard of apts being used for drug packing & selling points.
13Consenting adults. Nobody has to rent a place where the landlord wants sex in exchange. If you choose that over something else, you are actively making a decision.
And in re: to prostitution, I think legalizing it would make the women a lot less vulnerable in an industry that can be very unsafe.
14popgoestheworld- I think I agree (although I admit it really is an ongoing battle in my head...by legalizing it aren't we are condoning the act of prostitution?). However, the truth of the matter is, some men are going to do this regardless of legality. By legalizing prostitution, we give the women a chance to unionize and earn some protection.
15so wrong.
16If you agree to those terms than go ahead and write that poon check. If you dont want to sleep with your landlord (heavens knows any one i have ever had looks like jabba the huts heavier brother) than dont do it.
17You know what, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the comments today.
18
Caterpillar!
19There you go Mandy!
20IT happens in every single country, sad but true and it's nothing new and certainly not as shocking as the BBc would paint it. Go onto craigslist and check out the ads.
21Nyara, I actually am when I get home. I am so curious now. What section are they under?
22Wow, that's a bit disturbing.
23"Scum lords"--love it!
It's disturbing to me, but then again, so is prostitution. *shrug* There will always be both nasty exploiters and the desperate.
Oh, and I agree--you can find landlords proposing deals like this right over here on Craigslist and elsewhere. I've had it happen as well (I mean, encountering this kind of proposition in exchange for a place to rent), in San Diego.
24if you go under housing i think you can stumble across these things, my best friend is in the US and she got an offer and she was like no WTF??
25I wonder if there is a way to punish those landlords... I remember when craigslist got sued over the fair housing act not being followed... shouldn't something like this be punishable as well?
I guess its harder to prove..
26"ancient politics"? Damn, I actually feel offended! What do you mean by 'ancient' exactly?
Anyway, I agree with what most people said - that's not an every day thing, and does happen in a lot of other countries.
And I agree it's absolutely disgusting, but it's not really like they were forced to accept it.
27nyara, I am on a mission now!
28The BBC have joined up with the Daily Mail to produce yet another program for the moral soapbox spotters.
Makes a change from the BBC knocking the Chinese.
Tell you what BBC, why dont you go back home and look for the same problem in 'Old Blighty'? Im sure you can find it.
How many prostitutes murdered in the UK last year?
29Craigslist has similar ads
30This is going to sound naive, but I've never heard of this...
31Craigslist has it? Ugh. I've had a few landlords, and I can most definitely agree with the prior "Jabba the Hut" comment!
I wonder if it's awkward, having to 'pay'. Does one just walk into an office and strip down? Or how do you know when you've paid 'enough'?
Maybe I don't want to know...
That is horrible!! On a lighter note, that is a cool picture.
32Wow. Perhaps Ashly Dupree can move to France and start over.
33Geez, thats just wow. If I ever ran into that problem having to trade sex for a place to live I'd just say forget it I'll live in a tent at a park somewhere (much cheaper and less of a price to pay if you know what I mean).
34I guess you'd run the risk of sex diminishing in value over time since it's getting routine...
35On a random note: I saw that building in Paris when I was there last year (or at least another one with the same covering). It was to cover the building as they were renovating it (instead of gross orange tarp), and was really cool!
36Um, or maybe I was just looking at the picture too early in the morning and didn't realise what it really was :S Oops
37Tinseltoe and cine_lover, I live in Paris and much like several other cities in the US, there are things that work and things that don't.
It's actually more affordable to buy an apartment in Paris than New York, and if you rent it out, the income will pay for the mortgage -which is becoming a lot more difficult to do in the US.
Most of my American friends who live in Paris now had trouble finding apartments, but none were propositioned or have any "special" arrangements. I'm American, and found my apartment on Craigslist a few months before I moved, with no propositions or other weird conditions.
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