British tourists face the nightmare of being turned away from rented holiday apartments in Spain this summer after the authorities introduced steep fines for owners who illegally let their properties.

Flat owners on the islands of Majorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Fomentera will be slapped with fines of up to 40,000 euros (£36,000) if they are caught renting their properties to tourists.

The new fines, which came into force this week, have terrified many homeowners into withdrawing their properties from the tourist market immediately.

Travel agents or websites caught promoting flats to rent on the islands, such as Airbnb and HomeAway, face even bigger fines of up to 400,000 euros (£360,000).