MADRID – Tourist flats popular with raucous holidaymakers who make local residents’ lives hell face being shut down after a groundbreaking legal ruling in Spain.
The landmark ruling closed 10 tourist flats in one of Spain’s top tourist destinations because guests’ loud, drunken and destructive behaviour violated the right to privacy of a family in the same block. The ruling could lead to similar cases being brought in future, the lawyer in the case has said.
A judge in Madrid ruled that the flats in the famous Plaza Mayor in the city centre must close because the “illicit and unsanitary” behaviour of visitors caused the family stress, anxiety and sleep deprivation.
The family, who have children aged three and six but cannot be named, suffered because tourists were causing vandalism, vomiting and having sex in the block’s communal areas.
The flats on the famous square were told to shut because of the ‘illicit and unsanitary’ behaviour of visitors (Photo: Julian Elliott Photography/ Getty Images)Miguel Ángel Rubio, the lawyer who represented the family, said the case had prompted a flood of reaction from other residents in Madrid and lawyers across Spain.
“We have used a specific route, arguing that the family’s right to privacy has been violated,” he told The i Paper.
“[Since then] I have not stopped receiving calls from other residents who have the same problem. In some cases, people who have the same problem, call the police and they fine the flat owners. But when a company which has 40 tourist flats in Madrid is fined €16,000 (£13,798) this is a small amount of money for them.”
Locals demonstrate against tourist overcrowding in Barcelona (Photo: Paco Freire/Sopa via Getty)The ruling, which was made public this week, comes as Spain faces a series of protests over excessive tourism, which critics blame for raising housing prices.
“Madrid has become a drunken theme park,” said Mr Rubio, where tourists rent holiday lets to party.
square WORLD Tourist flats now make up a third of houses in Spain's holiday hotspots
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The family contacted Mr Rubio two years ago after all efforts to address the problem with the city council and the owners of the flats had failed.
He said the family had tourist flats above their home, one below and more tourist flats near their bedrooms.
The judge wrote in her ruling: “The constant noise, the breaking of shared fixtures, filling of the lobby with suitcases at all hours, the presence of shopping trolleys filled with towels and other cleaning items for the multiple tourist-use flats, thus impeding the movements of neighbours have been duly proven and are not isolated incidents.”
She noted it was also proven that there were cases of using the common areas for sexual relations, multiple police visits and vomiting in the courtyards.
The judge ordered the closure of the flats and awarded damages of almost €39,000 (£33,700).
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