We present a new approach for the mechanically consistent modelling and simulation of fluid-structure interactions with contact. The fundamental idea consists of combining a relaxed contact formulation with the modelling of seepage through a porous layer of co-dimension 1 during contact. For the latter, a Darcy model is considered in a thin porous layer attached to a solid boundary in the limit of infinitesimal thickness. In combination with a relaxation of the contact conditions the computational model is both mechanically consistent and simple to implement. We analyse the approach in detailed numerical studies with both thick-and thin-walled solids, within a fully Eulerian and an immersed approach for the fluid-structure interaction and using fitted and unfitted finite element discretisations.