More than 80% of UK homeowners rank selling a home as the number one most stressful life event. Beating organising a wedding or starting a new job, the property buying and selling process is the number one fear inducer. However, it should be remembered that many people are relating their experience to a traditional estate agent. At SOLD.CO.UK, as a trusted and leading online estate agent we aim to make the move as stress free as possible.
Today there are a variety of alternative property selling options available to people and one of these is house raffles.
What is a house raffle?
Did you know that you could land your dream home for just a few pounds? Many people, sick of their home sitting on the open market for months are selling raffle tickets. The prize? Their house. Essentially, punters can buy a raffle ticket to win the property and, if their ticket is picked, the house is theirs. For sellers they have avoided the need for an estate agent and the new property owners has secured themselves a bargain house.
Property winners may even dodge stamp duty fees. HMRC state that, for raffled homes, Capital Gains Tax is based on the open market value on the date of attaining the property. This means if the winner was to sell their new home shortly after acquiring it there would likely be zero Capital Gains Tax to pay.
Can I raffle my house legally UK
Property raffles are by no means mainstream in the UK. They are very much considered an outside of the box venture, typically used on properties that are expensive or quirky that could struggle to sell otherwise.
Raffling your home is not illegal, but it does have its pitfalls. Let’s say you have a home valued at £300,000. To secure the £300,000 you desire you would have to sell 60,000 £5 raffle tickets – selling 60,000 is not an easy feat.
One example of an unsuccessful property raffle occurred in 2018. A Scottish castle, valued at £2.7 million, was raffled off by the owners. However, only £77,000 –
Legally speaking, those opting to go down the raffle route will need to hire a solicitor to ensure everything is permissible. The Gambling Commission released a warning in 2007 that some property raffles have gone against gambling laws. These raffles are known as illegal lotteries because the act of selling a ticket to win from a draw is, in the eyes of the law, classed as a lottery. Therefore, applying for a license from the Gambling Commission and adhering to their regulations is paramount.
There are ways of altering property raffles to avoid a lottery. Some are donating money from the property sale to charity whereas others are asking people to answer a question before purchasing a ticket, turning the lottery into a competition. However, it should be remembered that the world of house raffles is still new and has grey areas.
I don’t want to raffle my house
Property raffles certainly aren’t for everybody and they have limited success. Fortunately, at SOLD.CO.UK, we offer a complete selling service with different routes to help you sell your house online. All options are fully managed by our expert team and with SOLD, you sell your house for free. You can always discover the value of your property with our house value calculator by postcode if you’re considering selling your home to discover the best route for you.
