Homeowner with 25ft shark sticking out of roof lists 4-bed on Rightmove for extortionate sum.. after BAN from Airbnb
A HOMEOWNER who has been ordered to stop renting out his house which has a massive “shark” jutting out of the roof has listed it on Rightmove for an extortionate fee.
Magnus Hanson-Heine has been told to cease short term lets at his property.
The 25-ft great white sculpture has made a splash with Airbnb-ers renting his Oxford property.
The quirky installation has become a must-see landmark for visitors to the historic city.
But now councillors have told him to stop the short term lets after a complaint was made.
He appealed to the planning inspectorate but lost, so the lets must cease on March 11 next year.
Mr Hanson-Heine said he had no choice but to put his property on the market for long-term renters, priced at £6,000 per month.
The shark was installed by his journalist father, Bill Heine in 1986 as a protest against the US bombing of Libya and a statement against nuclear weapons.
After inheriting the terraced property in 2019, Mr Hanson-Heine started renting it out for short lets.
Mr Hanson-Heine claims he is being “unfairly singled out” by the council. Oxford council are trying to reduce the number of holiday homes to make way for new residents.
He told the Sun: “I was so shocked when my appeal didn’t go through. There was only one complaint about the Airbnb making the street busy, but we have parking out of the back. We were so sure that it would all be fine.
“It seems to me that they are doing this as a politically cheap way to look like they’ve done something about the housing issue.”
“There are something like a thousand Airbnb properties in Oxford, and they have only really targeted me.
“When this started, I only got a letter from the council telling me I wasn’t allowed to use it as a holiday home anymore.”
“They constantly do things like this, it doesn’t feel my property anymore, I think they believe they own it, they even listed the building without me knowing, there was no communication.
“It seems weird to stop a house from being a holiday home when it is literally a tourist attraction.
“I don’t quite get why they want to do this to me. I don’t know what my dad would have done but I know that he wouldn’t have liked it. I think he would have complained.”
Mr Heine created the project with his friend in 1986 without planning permission.
Neighbour Peter Pitt, 76, remembers the shark being put up.
He said: “There was no planning permission, no one knew it was being put in, just one day they came down with all these big machines, including a tractor.
“We saw that they were putting holes in the roof before that day, but we assumed it was for roof lights or something, not a massive shark.”
The piece was put in as a form of protest against state sponsored wars, specifically focusing on the war in Libya. Its intention was to represent a bomb exploding into a house.
Mr Hanson-Heine said his father purposely didn’t apply for planning permission as a form of protest against it too and believes they “might have done this to me to be petty back.”
He went on to say: “This has really become what I remember my dad by, and I come in every week just to water the giant number of plants he’s kept, I don’t know what I am going to do with all of them, I want to keep the house how it is. I am praying that is the end of the restrictions they put on me.”
Living opposite the property is 71-year-old university lecturer Peta Fowler, who “loves” the property,
She said: “I love it. Everyone loves it. On the weekend all you see is people lined up just waiting to take photos with the thing. It brings so much happiness to everyone.
“If it ever gets taken down, I would be one of the first to sign a petition against it.
“My grandchildren are seven and ten, they are just obsessed with the shark so much, it has become a magical part of their childhood.
“I have been around the area since Bill put it up, it is safe to say I couldn’t imagine the street without it. Even the shops around here are all full of mugs and pads and postcards of Bill’s shark.”
The Royal Standard, the pub next to the famous shark house reaps the benefits of the tourist magnet, according to 34-year old manager James Patten, who said: “It would be a shame to see it turn to long-term letting.
“All the guests from that house come down for all their meals and drinks, so we get a bit of business from it.”
“It also is just such a big icebreaker with the guests and the staff, it is a big part of Headington, I mean it is odd you know – I live in Bristol, you are used to seeing wild and whacky things, but this is just another level this building.”
The Sun has approached Airbnb and the council for comment.