The battle by Amsterdam council against property owners illegally renting rooms to tourists appears to be paying off, city officials said on Wednesday.

The number of closures of illegal hotels fell by 10% in the first half of the year, and this shows the crackdown ‘appears to be paying off’, the city said in a statement.

In the first half of this year, officials handed out 71 fines to people who did not register the lets or who had illegally rented out their property. A further 77 fines were given to property owners who had illegally rented out their property to multiple occupants.

The number of complaints made to the council hotline fell to 1,394 from 1,572 in the 2017 first half.

‘This decline is partly due to the fact that fewer buildings are being bought by investors hoping to cash in on illegal rentals to tourists,’  Laurens  Ivens, the alderman for housing, told the Telegraaf.