The fines which Amsterdammers have to pay if they are caught wrongly renting their house to tourists are disproportionately high, the Council of State has ruled.

The highest Dutch administrative court said the fines which Amsterdam city council levies if people are caught breaking the rules, do not take sufficient account of the difference between private and commercial rentals, whether or not it was a first offence or the scale of the offence.

This lack of nuance is important, the court said, because the fines in Amsterdam are relatively high. The city has now been told it cannot issue any new fines until it has drawn up a new, more equitable regime.

The case was brought by an Amsterdammer who had been fined €11,600 for renting her home out to five tourists. The maximum allowed by the city is four.

The court did say that the woman should be fined because she had broken the rules, but that €2,900 was a more appropriate amount, given the scale of the offence.

The city introduced a holiday rental permit scheme in July 2020, with the requirement to register each visit with the city and an annual limit of renting out a private home for 30 nights a year.

Last year the court ruled that Amsterdam was wrong to ban holiday rentals in parts of the city centre because it had failed to look at alternatives.