Oh my! A shark let’s rent
The owner of a world-famous Airbnb is fighting a local zoning decision to enforce its closure. UK resident Dr. Magnus Hanson-Heine has lost a planning appeal from Oxford Council to ban the use of short-let accommodation for the quirky property known as the 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 AirBnb’s in the city. And he has now urged visitors to “come while you can” and vowed to continue for “as long as we can.” This home has an astonishing 25-foot shark sticking out of its roof. Hanson-Heine’s father, Bill Heine, had initially constructed the sculpture without official planning permission from Oxford City Council in 1986. Since then the building has been a tourist site and one of the highlights of living in the neighborhood.
For the last five years, he has been renting the property out on Airbnb for short-term stays — but received notice from the council to shut it down after a member of the public complained about the change from residential use to a short-term let. Hanson-Heine has been informed he must stop renting. A move which he believes will hurt Oxford’s tourism industry overall. “The Shark House is a major tourist attraction, not just a regular family home. It’s been a delight to be able to open it up to members of the public to celebrate it with us. I’ve yet to hear any complaints from our neighbors, even during the planning appeal, and the inspector found no such harm in his decision,” the owner said. While also noting he had “mostly had five-star reviews” from guests to his property.
“Certain elements of the council have just used this as an excuse to score some cheap political points by going after a local landmark at the expense of the public,” he said. “This does nothing meaningful to help people looking for homes, and after March all they will have done is to rob people who want to experience this piece 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 doesn’t necessarily constitute a change of use” under current guidelines. “People renting and sleeping in a home is the proper use of a home, and C3 class includes a wide range of uses, including many work-from-home businesses People shouldn’t simply comply with bureaucrats looking to make up and prosecute their own 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.”
Biting humor
Arguing with strangers online is like wrestling sharks,
Even if you win, it was a really stupid thing to do.
If a shark approached you at sea, you can gently push it away only twice,
Once with each hand.
News just in, a honeymooner killed in a shark attack off the Perth Coast. The man had been married very recently. A police spokesman said,
“Fortunately the man did not suffer too much as he had only been married 5 days.”
A shark could swim faster than me, but I could probably run faster than a shark. So in a triathlon, it would all come down to who is the better cyclist.
December 17th Birthdays
1974 – Sarah Paulson, 1974 – Mille Jovovich, 1969 – Laurie Holden, 1987 – Emma Bell
1994 – Nat Wolff, 1894 – Arthur Fiedler, 1978 – Manny Pacquiao, 1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven