The owner of a world-famous Airbnb with a 25-foot shark sticking out of the roof has hit out at a local decision to enforce its closure.
UK resident Dr. Magnus Hanson-Heine has lost a planning appeal from Oxford Council to stop short-let accommodation being used for the quirky property known as Shark House.
He claimed he had not received a single complaint from neighbors and was being targeted by the council as a “test case” to shut down AirBnbs in the city.
And he has now urged visitors to “come while you can” and vowed to continue “as long as we can”.
Hanson-Heine’s father, Bill Heine, had originally built the sculpture without formal planning permission from Oxford City Council in 1986.
For the past five years, he has let the property out on Airbnb for short-term stays — but received notice from the council to close after a member of the public complained about the change from residential use to short-term let use.
Hanson-Heine has now been told he must stop using the property as a short-term rental by March 11, 2025 – a move he believes will damage Oxford’s tourism industry in general.
“The Shark House is a major tourist attraction, not just an ordinary family home. It was a pleasure to be able to open it up for members of the public to celebrate it with us, and I will continue to do so for as long as I can,” he said.
“I have yet to hear any complaints from our neighbours, even during the planning appeal, and the inspector found no such harm in his decision,” he continued, while also noting there were “mostly five star ratings”. from the guests at his estate
“Some elements of the council have just used this as an excuse to score a few cheap political points by going after a local landmark at the expense of the public,” he said. Â
“This does nothing meaningful to help people looking for homes, and after March all they will have done is rob people who want to experience this part of Oxford’s history from the inside.
“Oxford’s tourism and accommodation sector will be significantly poorer for it.”
Hanson-Heine called the inspector’s decision “unfortunate” and suggested that “advertising on platforms such as Airbnb does not necessarily constitute a change of use” under current guidelines.Â
“People renting and sleeping in a house is a proper use of a house, and class C3 covers a wide range of uses, including many work-from-home businesses. People don’t just have to agree with bureaucrats who seek to create and follow their interpretations of the law by threatening people,” he said
“These are people’s homes and livelihoods and if the council wants to control who can stay in them then they should go and buy their own.”
He also criticized politicians who use their “existing failures as an excuse to grab for more personal power”. He called the move “a disgrace”, adding that short-term rentals “are not the cause of the housing crisis”.
“I guess my message would be ‘Come while you can,'” he added.
Two years after it was originally built, Oxford City Council refused retrospective planning permission before the then Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine intervened to allow it to remain.
Bill Heine died in 2019 at the age of 74, and his son Hanson-Heine reignited his late father’s battle with the authorities when he protested its addition to a list of cultural assets.
In the latest fight, Hanson-Heine appealed the “change of use” decision with the National Planning Inspectorate and said it would remain open to visitors until it was forced to close.
Over the years, the property has also become a tourist attraction in Oxford, with visitors coming to see the Jaws-like creature crash head first through the roof.Â
It has also secured good reviews from guests with a rating of 4.86.
The listing says the home can sleep up to 10 people with prices for a two-night stay up to $2,537.
“Where properties have changed from being residential to short-let businesses without planning approval, we take enforcement action,” weighed in Councilor Linda Smith, Oxford City Council’s cabinet member for housing.
“We live in one of the least affordable places to live in the UK. There are around 800 fully let properties in Oxford, and we need them for people to live in, not holiday accommodation.
Hanson-Heine previously spoke of his fears that adding the house to a heritage estate register was “a stepping stone” towards its listing – meaning more planning controls
The inclusion of a building or site in the register does not impose any additional legal requirements on owners.
But Hanson-Heine said he was adamant he did not want it added to Oxford City Council’s list of important heritage sites.
“My father always resisted giving any definitive answer to the question of what it meant,” he said. “It’s designed to make people think for themselves and decide for themselves what art is.
“But it was anti-censorship in the form of planning laws specifically.”
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