House Raffle

JS5

I saw a House Raffle in the Metro this morning. Search for "Win a Country House" for more details.

Is this a scam, what are the downsides if you win, will you have to pay Stamp, Taxes?

Oakdene

JS5 wrote: »

I saw a House Raffle in the Metro this morning. Search for "Win a Country House" for more details.

Is this a scam, what are the downsides if you win, will you have to pay Stamp, Taxes?

No its not a scam, the property is on the market for £650k (assuming its the same one I read an article on earlier) but the owner is trying to sell to prevent reposession & is looking to raise £500k through raffle sales. If he doesnt receive a suitable offer by a specified date he will (as long as he's sold 250,000 tickets by then) pick a lucky winner.

Hermia

I think all the ones I have seen in the past did not sell enough tickets so they withdrew the house and just had a prize draw with the money raised as a prize. I'd love to know if any of these raffles worked out?

Oakdene

Hermia wrote: »

I think all the ones I have seen in the past did not sell enough tickets so they withdrew the house and just had a prize draw with the money raised as a prize. I'd love to know if any of these raffles worked out?

Me too but to be honest I'd have a go for £2

G_M

Sounds like a great scheme to pay off the mortgage arrears and get to keep the property..........

Cynical? Me???

principlecounts

He's created a lot of publicity on this, so it's worth a shot. Like everyone says, a better chance winning here than the lottery.

MegaBloc

Entered the " Win Your Dream Home " raffle for the house in Glasgow over three weeks ago. On their website they clearly state on both their payments section and under the receipts section you will get notification your payment and application has been accepted within 48 hours. Three weeks go by and nothing, even though I answered their simple question correctly. On their Terms & Conditions section they state : The Promoters will not be liable for any loss suffered by an Entrant as a result of incomplete entries or failed computer communications or for any loss suffered as a result of use of the Website.
The Promoters do not accept responsibility for entries which they do not receive due to failures in computer systems, other malfunctions, high Internet traffic, hardware failure, software failure, server faults or any other reason. In theory using these Terms & Conditions they could eliminate most, if not all entries. In addition to this, we found a Surveyors Report dated 03-06-2016 floating about on the internet regarding the same property. The report indicates the property needs a lot of money spent to to put things right. It has rising damp, rot and roof issues. Also the property has had ground movement problems in the past and presently to the rear of the property around the garage and shed area. These raffles clearly need to be regulated and a system put in place that only allows an independent accredited body/organisation to run these raffles for the property owners at a reasonable capped fee. Not to would be an open invitation for all sorts to potentially deceive.

davidmcn

MegaBloc wrote: »

In addition to this, we found a Surveyors Report dated 03-06-2016 floating about on the internet regarding the same property. The report indicates the property needs a lot of money spent to to put things right. It has rising damp, rot and roof issues. Also the property has had ground movement problems in the past and presently to the rear of the property around the garage and shed area. These raffles clearly need to be regulated and a system put in place that only allows an independent accredited body/organisation to run these raffles for the property owners at a reasonable capped fee. Not to would be an open invitation for all sorts to potentially deceive.

Gift horse / mouth etc.

In Scotland I presume the Home Report still needs to be made available anyway?

Unless it's actually a net liability (e.g. you inherit the responsibility for decontaminating the whole neighbourhood or rebuilding a listed building) I don't see the big problem.

Running_Horse

I was under the impression the government was shutting these down a few years ago for breaking gaming laws. Has something changed?

hazyjo

Don't forget the actual costs of buying a house, especially if you already own one cos of stamp duty, etc. You may be able to get a mortgage on it (if they don't make you wait 6 months) or on your current property, if you have one, to release some funds, but if you weren't looking to buy, can you afford it? Know I couldn't!

davemorton

Running_Horse wrote: »

I was under the impression the government was shutting these down a few years ago for breaking gaming laws. Has something changed?

They have to now put an element of skill into it now, so get round this by asking an easy question. The house in question was won by a lady a few days ago.