A social housing tenant in Amsterdam faces eviction and has been fined €7,500 for renting out his home to tourists using the Airbnb website.

The tenant was also ordered to pay €10,000 for the costs of the research into the illegal holiday letting.

The case was brought by rental housing agency Rappange which argues that sub-letting social housing is illegal. In addition, neighbours had complained about the nuisance caused by the Airbnb holiday makers.

Rappange’s lawyer Floris Havelaar told the Parool the sentence should serve as a warning for other social housing tenants who are renting out their homes illegally. ‘This not what these homes are meant for,’ he told the paper.

Havelaar’s law firm Van Diepen Van der Kroef has another 35 cases under investigation and a second case will be presented to magistrates on Thursday.

Amsterdam city council has agreed people can rent out their homes via Airbnb for a maximum two months a year but not if they live in social housing.