‘I’m not a pervert’: Sex-for-rent landlord tells all in controversial TV interview
CRITICS say he exploits vulnerable women. But this man insists he is not doing anything wrong — and is just “looking for fun”.
A MAN who offers women free board in exchange for sex has appeared on television to insist he isn’t a “pervert”.
The UK man appeared on Britain’s ITV’s This Morning program with hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield to defend his controversial arrangement.
On the show, the man, referred to only as “Simon”, claimed his offer wasn’t illegal and that the women were willing participants.
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The man, who is divorced with children, including a young daughter, admitted to having three “relationships” with women who had responded to his online ads in the past.
“I’m not a pervert. It’s a relationship, but it’s an arranged relationship,” he said.
“I’m seeking an arrangement. I’m very honest about what I say.
“I’ve been married, I have a family but I find that modern relationships don’t work.”
The father said he was regularly contacted by teenage girls, who he then usually refers on to social services.
He said he wanted someone closer to his own age and said he wasn’t interested in “vulnerable” people.
“It’s an arrangement between two adults, I’m not looking for a 16-year-old,” he said.
“I want someone of my own age.”
Simon said his children knew about his unorthodox relationships and insisted he was just “looking for fun”.
He told the program he spent several days with a new applicant — without any sexual contact — before deciding if they could move in, and that the arrangement helped women improve their lives.
“More than a fully-stocked fridge, I offer them a life. I have had three long-term partners that have all had their own businesses, their own family, they are still in touch with me. They still all talk to me,” he said.
The interview was aired in response to an investigation which claimed 250,000 women in the UK had been offered free or cheap rent in exchange for sex.
Presenter Holly Willoughby suggested these types of arrangements were against the law.
“When someone offers accommodation in return for sex … they are causing another person to have sex in return for payment. A breach of the sexual offence act provides a maximum sentence of seven years,” she said.
It is a sentiment echoed by former Justice Secretary David Lidington, who in 2017 said rent-for-sex arrangements could breach the Sexual Offences Act.
“An offence is committed when a person offers accommodation in return for sex, as they are inciting/causing another person to have sex with them in return for ‘payment,’” he said in a letter last year.
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