Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a young male homosexual prostitute.

1895		M. Beerbohm in Hyde Oscar Wilde (1977) 343: It was horrible leaving the court day after day and having to pass through a knot of renters [...] who were allowed to hang around after giving their evidence and to wink at likely persons.
1897		O. Wilde letter Jan.–Mar. in Holland Complete Letters (2000) 720: I stated that [...] I would readily consent to be ‘blackmailed by every renter in London’.
1960		G. Westwood A Minority 208: Rent, renter n. A male prostitute.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 143: In Britain, a gay girl is not a lesbian but a whore, and a gay whore is a renter or (as in the U.S.) a hustler.
1999		Gaymart.com Queer Sl. in the Gay 90s 🌐 Rent/Renter – Term used in the 1800’s to early 1900’s, for a gay man who charged a fee for sex. Another term for a hustler.
2002		(con. 1981) W. Self Dorian 38: You consume so much, Wotton, it’s like having elevenses with a high-class bloody renter.
2010		W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 66: [T]he term rental box was used to describe [...] any itinerant male prostitute.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 297/1: rent, renter, rent boy a male prostitute.