www.lesswrong.com/posts/wg5YpAofgbEg587d2/don-t-take-bad-options-away-from-peopl...
1 correction found
The UK, where I live, bans people from having sex with their landlord as a form of rent
This overstates UK law. In 2023 the UK did not have a simple blanket ban on all consensual 'sex for rent' arrangements; prosecutors relied on prostitution/exploitation offences that only apply in particular circumstances, and the Home Office was still consulting on whether a bespoke offence was needed.
Full reasoning
The post presents UK law as a straightforward ban on "having sex with [your] landlord as a form of rent." But the official UK sources describe a narrower and more conditional legal position.
The Home Office's 2023 call for evidence said sections 52 and 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 "may apply" to sex-for-rent cases and were "not originally designed to address this type of behaviour." It explicitly asked whether there was "a case for change to the criminal law" and invited responses from people involved in sex-for-rent arrangements, including those who engaged in them "in an informed and consensual way" and those who exchanged sex for accommodation "without overt persuasion, deception or coercion." That is not how the government would describe a simple across-the-board ban.
The CPS guidance is similarly conditional. It says section 52 covers sex-for-rent only where a property owner causes or incites prostitution, and adds that "if the arrangement was at the instigation of the (prospective) tenant or where there was no significant power imbalance particular scrutiny of causation or incitement is required." In other words, the relevant offences target specific exploitative/prostitution-related conduct, not every instance that could be loosely described as consensual sex in lieu of rent.
So the post's wording is materially inaccurate because it compresses a factually nuanced legal position into a categorical claim that the UK simply "bans people from having sex with their landlord as a form of rent."
2 sources
- Exchange of sexual relations for accommodation ('sex for rent'): call for evidence (accessible) - GOV.UK
The Home Office wrote that sections 52 and 53 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 'may apply' to sex-for-rent, that these offences were 'not originally designed to address this type of behaviour', and that it was seeking views on 'whether there is a case for change to the criminal law'.
- Prostitution and Exploitation of Prostitution | The Crown Prosecution Service
The CPS says sex-for-rent cases fall under section 52 only where a property owner 'causes or incites prostitution' and adds that if the arrangement was at the tenant's instigation or there was no significant power imbalance, 'particular scrutiny of causation or incitement is required'.