A sleazy dad who tried to let a room for free in exchange for sex is today exposed after a Daily Record probe into lowlife landlords.
Divorced Steven Anderson told our female reporter, “I won’t treat you like a piece of meat,” after she responded to an online advert for his flat.
He was just one of several men we found touting for female “rent-free” flatmates despite a pledged crackdown.
We went undercover to lay bare the depraved tactics used by would-be landlords targeting vulnerable Scots during the pandemic.
Anderson, 45, responded to our message through US classified ads site Craigslist within nine minutes – telling us he was offering his spare room in return for “sexual favours” no more than “twice a week”.
He told us a woman from Edinburgh, whose job had been affected by Covid, had been due to move into the flat in Uddingston, Lanarkshire but the deal fell through.
During a video call, self-employed Anderson told our reporter: “I don’t want to be disrespectful or treat somebody like a piece of meat and don’t want you thinking someone is going to be clicking their fingers and saying, ‘You do this’ but I would know if you weren’t comfortable with it and I wouldn’t want to do it either, you know, force somebody into doing something.”
He then asked: “Are you happy to do something a couple of times a week? If you’re not, you’re welcome to stay until you find something.
"I’m not that kind of person.”
When our reporter revealed her identity he hung up the phone and has not responded to our request for comment.
Thousands of Scots are believed to be targeted in this way every year but no one is believed to have been convicted.
Police Scotland detectives yesterday vowed to thoroughly investigate every report from those falling victim to the sex-for-rent landlords.
And charities are calling for tougher action from the Scottish Government to clampdown on the adverts.
