A property developer is having a second attempt at selling a home it renovated through a raffle, this time enlisting the help of TV presenter Denise van Outen.
This process has been controversial in recent years with home owners attempting to sell their own properties often with little success and in some cases falling foul of Gambling Commission and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) rules.
But developer Misuma, run by Marc Gershon, has checked this competition is compliant and has a snazzy marketing video fronted by van Outen.
Competition entrants can buy a raffle ticket and answer a question to be in with a chance of winning a two-bedroom ground floor flat in Kentish Town, London, worth £500,000.
All legal fees will be paid and the developer is considering adding more cash to the winner that would cover furnishings as there is now no Stamp Duty to pay.
There are catches though.
The flat will only be awarded if a minimum of 140,000 paid tickets – costing £5 each – are sold.
That would give the developer a sold price of £700,000 at a minimum.
The runner-up would receive £10,000 and there is a £5,000 cash prize for third place.
If fewer than 140,000 paid tickets are sold, the first place winner will receive 60% of all the ticket sale value, second place would get 1.5% and third would get 0.75%.
Gershon will also donate 10% of all ticket income to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
It isn’t his first attempt at raffles.
Gershon tried to sell a four-storey house in Kentish Town worth £2.1m last year but didn’t sell enough tickets so awarded a cash prize and still donated to the hospital.
He said: “We learned a lot from the first round to improve our prize draw and make sure we are giving away homes and not just large cash prizes.
“We have opted for a lower value, low running cost brand new apartment.
“This is one of three that have been built from a total renovation of a large town house in Kentish Town by Misuma Ltd.
“We have lowered the ticket price, starting at just £5 and also added a free postal entry as well as making the qualifying question somewhat easier.
“We have again made sure through legal advice and discussion with the ASA that both our competition and our adverts are fully compliant with the UK Gambling commission rules and advertising standards that are expected of us.
“In fact we go above and beyond what most other companies do to ensure all our clients can clearly see our headline terms and conditions.”
The competition closes on December 31 2020.
Comments (14)
These scams are so cool. You either sell a property for 40% more than it is worth (which almost never happens) or you withdraw tens of grand in “marketing expenses” (basically just kick backs to yourself). But as with all lotteries, they are just a tax on the stupid. With property lotteries they are a tax on the VERY stupid. Love it!
James,
A scam is where you are trying to trick someone into buying something where they really don’t understand what they are getting into.
Our prize draw is very clear for all our entrants to see how it works, what the terms are and what it is costing. Are we looking to make a profit, yes of course we are, we are a commercial business like you are I assume. Are we trying to raise money for an amazing charity at the same time, yes we are. So if all our customers know this, and choose to have a go at winning a home for a fiver, and they accept all the above. How exactly is this a scam ?
Even the National Lottery makes a profit for the company that operates it !
AlwaysAnAgent,
We are sorry you fell this way. And we agree, repetitive gambling can become an issue. We have taken many steps to ensure our clients do not get caught up in this cycle, with ticket spend limits, gambling aware links on the site and full disclosure of all our terms in easy to read formats.
Whilst we are a commercial business and do not hide from the fact, we also have a long term goal of raising large amounts of money for Great Ormond Street in the process of giving away homes as prizes for very little individual cost to our clients.
Gambling has a real dark side, including 100s of suicides each year, broken marriages and bankruptcies. Sadly, it’s the “have nots” who get sucked in where bigger prizes are up for grabs.
This isn’t pleasant or charitable m, in my view, and it’s clear who the real beneficiary is.
Have any of these raffle ticket to win a house ever successfully been completed. Always seem to be pulled as not enought tickets sold or the fall foul of the ‘gaming’ industry rules.
In the early years many did fall foul of UK gambling rules. However in the last few years companies and individuals such as ourselves have made sure that we operate correctly withing UK Gambling law, consulting with the Gambling commission and taking extensive legal advise. Please find a list below of recent successful house prize draws that have awarded the property as the prize.
We aim to be adding to this list in December and also raising over £70,000 for Great Ormond Street in the process.
Information supplied by Loquax below.
https://www.loquax.co.uk/win-a-house.htm
Win Grafton Farmhouse – Home Winner
Closed: 31st May 2020 – Cost: £2.00 (Free Entry) – Tickets Sold: ???
Grafton Farmhouse is the prize on offer in this Win My Dream Home competition. For just £2 you could potentially become the owner of a stunning six bedroom farmhouse, set on approx 3 acres of land.
More Details
Tramway Path – Home Winner
Closed: 31st May 2020 – Cost: £2.00 – Tickets Sold: 200000
This is your chance to win a newly refurbished 3 bedroom house based in London. The owner aims to sell around 200,000 tickets. If insufficient tickets are sold then a cash prize will be awarded.
More Details
Win A Country Home – Home Winner
Closed: 10th February 2020 – Cost: £2.00 (Free Entry) – Tickets Sold: ???
The first win a house of 2020 offers you the chance to win Shrubbery Farm in Shrewsbury. For just £2 a ticket you could own a beautiful property in the heart of the English countryside.
More Details
Win A Feckin House – Home Winner
Closed: 1st December 2018 – Cost: £100.00 – Tickets Sold: 8000
The prize for this competition is a 4 bedroom semi-detached house in Castle Park, Termonfeckin worth over €280,000 in the Republic of Ireland. Tickets cost €100 and 8000 tickets are available.
More Details
Win A Country House – Home Winner
Closed: 1st August 2017 – Cost: £2.00 (Free Entry) – Tickets Sold: 450000
Launched in 2017, this was your chance to win a six-bedroomed Melling Manor near Kirkby Lonsdale, valued at over £800,000. Marie Seager from Warrington was announced as the winner in August 2017
More Details
Dear LondonRealtor,
We can assure you and all the readers that our competition is genuine and we would not be in official contracted support of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity if we were anything less than 100% honest and transparent in what we do. Please have a look at the website and the full terms and conditions as well as our previous winners page for more details.
What a load of complete b*llocks!
We’ve had one near us feature on TV and all over the place.
Win a million pound house, which was on the market for £1.3m last year… then I think £1.1m now basically, can I get enough fivers to get £1m minus the commission…
I can see some lucky person ******** themselves in year two when the Council Tax is due…
Ric, I think you are refering to the OMAZE competiton. They are a very large company but are very unclear as to what % they donate to charity ! We donate 10% of all ticket sales straight to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity from each and every ticket sale. Our terms are crystal clear with no ambiguity so all our thousands of entrants so far know exactly what we do and how we do it. Good luck if you enter. And the council tax on our apartment prize is pretty low to !
Hi there…. I am being specific in my comments to the one near us for sure and more the laughable fact it couldn’t sell it at £1.3m, £1.1m and therefore highly doubtful it should be brandished “Win a £1m home…” ( I suspect it might have ended at about £900k ) I think “Win a Home” might have been safer… that said, win it and sell it would make sense.
No issues with these… but I stick by the person on a average or lesser annual salary may have a few restless nights in the Million Pound Pad when the Council Tax bill comes.
Good luck with yours though… (genuinely as an amazing cause)
@Ric.
I think you and I are on the same wavelength on this one.
What I think would be interesting to see is the exact address, a Red Book Valuers approved floor plan, planning documents, title history etc etc..then we can all make our own decisions as to the perceived value. Something tells me it won’t be the advertised price.
[Sentence removed as it breached posting rules]
LondonRealtor,
All the details you are asking for are on the website and available from local searches should you wish. The value is actually understated and based on 3 separate local estate agents valuation of over £500k within the last 3 months.
We do not charge any fees to Great Ormond Street, and all our terms for prizes are clear and unambiguous both on the main site pages, FAQ sections and terms and conditions. We supported Great Ormond Street in Round 1 of the competition and they would not officially associate themselves as they have with Round 2, with anything other than a draw and company that is 100% open, honest and transparent.
Might I suggest you have a good look the website before making judgements about us and our choice of charity we support and have supported for many years.
Ric,
Thank you for your further reply. And we hope to give restful nights to our winner with no mortgage worries and manageable bills as too.