UK tourists in Spain see holiday turn into nightmare over £859 charge each

UK tourists in Marbella have seen their holidays descend into a nightmare after a £859 charge. UK holidaymakers staying in Marbella on the Costa del Sol have turned up at a villa to stay after paying £859 - 1,000 euros - per guest.

But they were left heartbroken when it transpired the man they had rented the villa from didn't even OWN it. The owner of the property has now spoken out and claimed he was not aware it was being rented out by a tenant.

He said he only realised he was being taken advantage of when he came across an online advert featuring his home. In a report by the Antena 3 channel, a lawyer said his client had found the property on offer on Idealista, an online platform for property on rent and sale.

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He said: "My client saw the offer through the Idealista portal, saw the advertisement for the property for rent, contacted a real estate agency and they put him in contact with the man who we thought was the representative of this property.

"He provided keys to the house, documentation, we understood in good faith that he was entitled to rent the property." The lawyer went on to claim that the tenant had signed a lease contract and that the villa would be his home - in a blow to holidaymakers.

However, the maintenance man has been accused of having added that "when [the tenant] was not living there he was going to put it up for vacation rental to have more income, pay the rent and obtain a profit", the lawyer went on to say.

The lawyer claimed there may be up to 60 people caught up in this rental incident. The two lawyers believe "both their clients have now become victims of a fraud".