Seville council can cut off water supply to illegal tourist flats, court rules

Six properties disconnected in past year but there are thought to be 5,000 unlawful apartments in Spanish city

A court in Seville in southern Spain has ruled that the city council is within its rights to cut off the water supply to illegal tourist apartments.

Over the past year the city has disconnected the supply to six illegal apartments. Three owners appealed but the judge, mindful of neighbours' complaints about noise, accepted the council's argument that the apartments were not the owners' residences.