Melbourne, Feb 15 : Taking advantage of Sydney''s rental crisis, some men are placing online advertisements offering women free rooms in exchange for sex.

Targeting desperate women looking for somewhere to live, the zero-rent ads are becoming increasingly common on popular `share house' rental websites.

There have been numerous complaints about the ads, which some website users have dubbed `offensive', but they do not breach policy guidelines for sites such as flatmates. com. au

A statement on flatmates. com. au says that if the site were to impose a ban, the ads would merely go underground, making the process unsafe for women.

One advertisement offering free rent for a female to "share a room'''' was placed by a 32-year-old Auburn man calling himself Atiq.

Atiq told The Sunday Telegraph he was looking for a relationship with a woman in a "clean'''' one-bedroom unit.

"Yes, I am alone and the rent would be free. I am looking for a girl to share my room and, yes, in the same bed,'''' News. com. au quoted him, as saying. (ANI)