Websites hosting adverts for such offers are being urged to tackle the problem.
As young people and the low-paid are priced out of accommodation, particularly in south-east England, 'sex for rent' adverts have sprung up online.
One classified advertising site, Craigslist, carried more than 100 such listings in a single day, a BBC investigation found.
A female student who answered one of them said she felt it was her only option.
She added: 'He took me into his living room, got me drinks, and then after that it was just straight upstairs … He would do what he wanted, forcefully, and I just sort of went along with it.'
Labour MP Peter Kyle said classified websites should stop allowing the adverts or Parliament should intervene.
'If [websites] don't stand up to this and then accept their responsibility, I will be pushing for legislation to do it for them,' he said.
A string of charities have backed his calls for a crackdown.
Mel Potter, of the Brighton Oasis Project for women, said: 'It's something that potentially can trap someone and put them at risk of violence and abuse.'
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