Sex for rent is one of the most disturbing byproducts of the current housing crisis.
Landlords are seizing on the desperation of vulnerable youngsters and forcing them into the sordid world of exchanging sex for somewhere to stay.
The scale of the problem is incredible.
At least 250,000 young women in the past five years were offered a rent-free place in return for sex.
Today we bring you just a selection of some of the disgusting practices of these landords.
They make their sordid offers on the listings site Craigslist.
And the prospect of a seven-year prison sentence does little to deter them.
As the housing crisis deepens this situation will only get worse.
We need a sensible approach to tackling this problem.
First of all, prospective tenants should be made aware of what to do if approached like this.
Is this a police matter? Or local council? Who regulates the private housing sector?
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This grey area needs to be tightened up immediately.
Also crucial is regulating sites like Craigslist.
There is a growing danger about the unregulated nature of these listings sites.
Of course they are useful for information and offers.
But they need to be safe.
And that means a layer of protection. The technology exists to automate this process.
Simply by recognising some keywords, any advert could be red-flagged and taken down.
It would take a small investment – a fraction of the revenue these firms make. Craiglist brought in more than £800million last year.
Putting aside some of that revenue to protect the vulnerable and end this grubby trade is the right thing to do.
