Get your hands on a £650k home – for price of a beer

BY TOBY PORTER

toby@slpmedia.co.uk

There was a time when you couldn’t have given away a place in Brixton for love or money.

But things have come full circle, because the area is now so fashionable that tens of thousands of people have paid £5 for a raffle ticket to win a home there.

And there’s still a month to go before the deadline to get your hands on what would be a life-changing bargain – for about the price of one beer.

Benno Spencer, who launched the Type dating app, has launched a unique opportunity for young people trying to bridge the property gap to own a fancy new home in Ashmere Grove, Brixton, whose asking price is claimed to be £650,000.

The London entrepreneur’s new start-up will regularly raffle London properties, with tickets costing £5 each time.

The swish refurbished one-bed flat has an open-plan living area, and outdoor area. One lucky entrant will be handed the keys in exchange for the price of a cheap lipstick.

His company has confirmed that the deal is legally watertight, after 11 other similar raffles were shut down by the Gambling Commission and local councils as site owners failed to comply with regulations. Raffle House says it has spent nearly a year working behind the scenes to ensure that its raffles are completely legitimate, meaning no entrants will be left disappointed.

As long as a minimum of 150,000 tickets have been sold by the closing date, the keys will be handed over, meaning entrants are about 1,000 times more likely to win this property than they are to get lucky in the EuroMillions.

And if the total number of tickets sold does not reach 150,000, there will still be a winner, albeit not of a house. The disappointed non-house-owner will still get cash prize of £1,000.

Benno said: “I had the extreme privilege of getting onto the property ladder at a time when it was a far more accessible for first-time buyers.

“Now, it’s become basically impossible for young people to afford their own place in London, so the Raffle House platform will be a fun and affordable way for people to do just that.

“The market is broken and this start-up intends to level the playing field.

“This isn’t a one-off punt because I need to sell a flat. This is the beginning of a new property platform, with new houses coming on every few weeks.”

To enter, visit www.raffle-house.com.