WinAbode: new property raffle website promises buyers a London home for less than the 'price of a coffee'

WinAbode launches today with a three-bedroom, £700,000 Dalston flat, which it says could be won for just the cost of a £2 raffle ticket. 
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An online property platform promising aspiring homeowners the chance to win a house for less than the cost of a cup of coffee launches today.

Called WinAbode, and billing itself as “the UK’s first property competition platform”, the website has been set up in the wake of a rash of property auctions from sellers despairing of achieving a decent sale price for their property on the open market.

The first property offered on the website is a three-bedroom home in Dalston, which WinAbode says is worth £700,000 – but could be won for just £2.

The property is on the ground floor of a modern development offering almost 1,000sq ft of space including a large living area, dining area, outside space and lots of storage.

As with previous property raffles, after buying a ticket, competition entrants must answer a question correctly in order to enter the raffle, so as to differentiate the competition from a lottery, which it is illegal to run for personal profit.

They will then be entered into a randomly selected prize draw.

If the minimum number of tickets to cover the value of a seller’s home is not sold, a cash prize will be offered instead.

Are property raffles legal?

  • If not run correctly, property raffles can land sellers in trouble with the law
  • The Gambling Commission oversees competitions that could be classed as property raffles
  • It is legal to run a competition for profit so long as there is an element of skill for participants
  • This is why property raffles often require entrants to answer a question
  • Many rafflers have run into difficulties with the Commission if the question is deemed too easy to answer
  • Raffle entrants should also be wary of scams
  • Most schemes state that if not all tickets are sold, the winner will receive the cash raised from sold tickets minus ‘expenses’ (which can be a significant percentage of the profit)

WinAbode will also offer 10 per cent of their 12.5 per cent fee to homelessness charity Centrepoint.

"We see WinAbode as a really positive new outlet set against the backdrop of the UK's housing crisis,” said Richard Blaiberg and Sam Park, Founders of WinAbode. “We want to offer everyone the chance of owning their own home.”

WinAbode says the only potential cost to the prize winner will be if the transfer of the property exceeds £1,500 plus VAT, and crucially, there is no stamp duty payable on the prize.

WHY WOULD A SELLER OPT TO RAFFLE THEIR PROPERTY?

The owners of the Dalston home were keen for a "hassle-free" sale, with no chain or mortgage lenders to deal with.

Independent property advisor and commentator Ed Meads says a property raffle could also help London sellers secure a better sale price in the current market.

"You’ve only got to look around at the success of online gambling, bingo and lotteries. Anything that taps into that psyche is likely to yield them a better result than selling on the open market, because there’s quite a lot of uncertainty around at the moment with Brexit, the Budget and stamp duty.

"But, this is only going to be appealing when people are struggling to sell. In the current market it would probably work best on certain properties in London's Zone 1, 2 or 3. But once you get outside London and the South East, there’s a lack of stock and prices are going up so I can't see why you'd bother."

Mead does caution that an unsuccessful raffle could put a negative dampener on a prize house. "If you don't shift your property in the raffle, it won't look like a very attractive option to potential buyers if you try and sell in future."