The rental market has become so dysfunctional that the winner of a £120,000 Raffle House cash prize asked to remain anonymous as the money was not enough to get her on the housing ladder and she was worried her landlord would increase her rent.

It meant, instead of the joyous response you might expect, the winner’s first reaction was to fear her landlord would use it as an excuse to increase the rent on her SE England home. She told Spencer he had put it up every year for the five she’d lived there and had made it clear another rise was on its way.

This was undoubtedly the most bizarre reaction I’d ever had from a prize winner.”

Spencer said: “This was undoubtedly the most bizarre reaction I’d ever had from a prize winner and suggested to me that the UK’s housing market must be well and truly broken if someone who has won a six-figure sum is still worried about how they will pay for their housing costs over the long term.

“One would think that a £120,000 prize could only improve one’s housing prospects, perhaps even be enough for a deposit on a place to buy. Instead, this winner was concerned about having to find a new place to live.

“Having since looked at the most recent statistics, her reaction seems somewhat understandable. According to Zoopla, the number of properties available to rent has dropped by 24% since 2019, leading to an average of 21 people competing for each property.

“In this context, it’s little wonder she wanted to hold on to her current home.

Market broken

I started this company because it seemed to me the property market was broken in terms of buying homes; it now seems the market is in just as bad a shape when it comes to rentals.

“Let’s hope things can be turned around before we have to start offering a place to rent as a prize.”

Read more about raffle competitions.