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As another house raffle vendor gives up, are these competitions losing their appeal?

Vendor of luxury £3.2 million house tried to raffle his home for four months but has now instead listed it with Fine & Country.

Nigel Lewis

raffle house

A vendor in Portsmouth has listed his property for sale with an estate agency after deciding not to sell his luxury property via an online raffle, highlighting how difficult it can be to sell properties through this route.

The owners of Winton House, which is now on the market with Fine & Country, had been offered for £10 a ticket in August.

Before that the owner, local businessman Akhtar Siddiqui, had attempted to sell the five-bedroom luxury house for £3.2 million via another estate agency, but removed it from the market in July, and set up the raffle.

He had bought the mansion in 2009 and spent three years renovating the property and its grounds, moving in during 2012.

In July Siddiqui told a local newspaper that it was the success of previous house raffles around the UK and the recession brought on by Covid that spurred him on to try a raffle.

Covid issues

“As a business owner I like to do things outside of the box,’ he said.

“Over time I’ve seen quite a few articles online about people raffling their houses off and I really like the idea, so I decided to do the same.

“I also think it’s a good option to move forward with because of the current climate.”

But his raffle was abruptly cancelled recently and, although tickets sales were meant to continue until December 22nd, Siddiqui has now refunded all those who paid for a chance to win the property, and is now trying once more to sell it via an agent.

Neither Siddiqui or Fine & Country will say why the raffle was cancelled. But it is likely not to have sold enough tickets; at £10 a ticket the raffle will have had to sell 320,000 to achieve the house’s previous sale price.

In February Trading Standards was given a role in policing house raffles.

December 9, 2020

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