Tempting for a tenner? Win an Islington warehouse flat worth £1 million for the price of a festive cocktail

Win the one-bedroom Islington flat for the price of a cocktail. 
12 March 2020

An Islington property restorer is offering aspiring London home buyers the chance to win a £1million flat in Angel for the price of a festive cocktail.

Elaine Marsh is selling £10 tickets to win her redeveloped 1,000sq ft loft-style apartment in a converted print works because “the central London property market has stalled”.

Marsh purchased the property a decade ago for £370,000 and has recently had it valued at £1million.

Usually property raffles require an element of skill to comply with Gambling Commission rules but Marsh says that her prize draw, which does not feature an entry question but does offer a chance to enter for free, has been created in accordance with legal advice.

Beautiful homes that have been raffled

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The one-bedroom flat has a 35ft reception, kitchen and dining room with a bespoke French oak staircase leading to a bedroom with a feature wall of mirrors and a bathroom with cast iron claw foot bath and separate walk-in shower.

“It was a restoration project but it was a bit of a fantasy one so I did it up like a hotel suite,” she says.

“I bought the flat in 2007 and planned to do it up and sell it, then the financial crash happened so it became a very desirable corporate let instead. Last year I thought I might try and sell it and then Brexit happened – I haven’t been too lucky with my timing, so I’m being a bit creative with the raffle idea.”

If Marsh manages to sell 250,000 tickets to reach her target of £2.5million she will donate £25,000 of the prize draw to Shelter.

There are also three runner-up cash prizes of up to £10,000 each and two business class tickets to Sydney, Australia.

A cash prize alternative will be offered if a minimum number of tickets is not sold by the closing date of June 20, 2018.

Bespoke: the oak staircase running between the duplex's two floors

Entries must be paid for by UK bank transfer, so only people with a UK bank account can enter.

HAVE ANY PROPERTY RAFFLES BEEN SUCCESSFUL?

Marsh was inspired to raffle the flat by Dunstan Low, who offered his Georgian manor house in Lancashire as a prize with tickets costing £2.

He sold £890,000-worth of £2 tickets for a chance to win the £845,000 property, so the idea worked for him.

In August, a finance worker from Warrington won the house having bought £40-worth of tickets. She has now put the house up for auction — with a reserve price of only £350,000.

IS IT LEGAL?

Gambling Commission rules say that anyone thinking of “raffling” a property must be sure their scheme counts as a competition rather than “a lottery”. Running an unauthorised lottery can lead to a year in jail and a £5,000 fine.

Warehouse-style: the flat is in a converted print works in Angel, Islington

A lottery requires buying tickets and getting lucky. To comply with gambling rules, a property raffle must be a competition requiring some skill on the part of the entrant. This is why property raffles require entrants to answer a question as well as buy a ticket.

The Gambling Commission may take a dim view of a question that is too easy. There must also be an opportunity to enter for free, so most property raffles allow one free postal entry per person.