Ooh la la! French landlords take payment in kind

19 May, 2008, 06:26

Landlords in Paris are offering reduced rent for apartments in exchange for sex. Hard-up students are being targeted and some are taking up the lease agreement.

The sex-as-rent phenomenon looks to be on the rise in France. Some link it to the French housing crisis. Property prices in Paris have soared in recent years, making it impossible for many people to afford accommodation.

Amongst those hardest hit are students. They are targeted by these sorts of proposals.

The “De Particulier a Particulier” weekly rental magazine features apartments measuring 10.2 square metres that cost as much as €600 a month. For many flat hunters publication day – Thursday – is a day of dashed hopes.

A militant housing rights pressure group calls itself Jeudi Noir – Black Thursday. The group’s members are fighting for a fairer housing policy for students.

“It’s terrible that we have to spend more than half or even three quarters of our income for accommodation – the most basic need. What’s worse is that now students are having to resort to paying with their bodies. How far is this going to go?” Leila Chaibi form Jeudi Noir asks.

Cash-strapped students continue to search for ways to make ends meet. According to some estimates, as many as 40,000 students in France prostitute themselves.

Laura D. was a modern languages student. But despite a part time telesales job she couldn’t afford to pay her rent or food. She scoured the internet for another job.

“All you need is the internet and money troubles and you end up looking at those sorts of ads. When I first came across them, I was surprised. I turned off the computer and a few days later, as I was still in a desperate situation I replied to one of the ads telling myself just this once,” Laura recalls.

One thing led to another. At 18, Laura found herself working as a prostitute.

“Since the man has the money, he’s in a dominant position, so he keeps pushing the boundaries and trying to abuse the initial agreement. You can find yourself being subjected to horrible and violent things,” Laura says.

Laura D. has written a book about her experiences, ‘Mes Chers Etudes’ (‘My Dear Studies’).

Dear in more ways than one. In it she asks a client for a laptop as payment. He subjects her to a sadistic and violent sex game.

Neither her family nor her friends know about the double life she was leading. She hopes her book will raise awareness of the desperate situation some people are in. She doesn’t want other students to fall into the same trap.