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Local agent cautions use of property raffles

To raffle or not to raffle? Liverpool agent Bluerow Homes warns of jumping on the property raffle bandwagon.

A local estate agent is urging the public to use caution when using a property raffle to sell their property.

The property raffle trend, which has hit headlines of late, has caused uproar for Gambling Commissioners. The trend sees vendors sell their homes via the sale of a mass amount of raffle tickets.

In turn, the trend has raised anxieties for those who are ploughing money into these property raffles, as scams are common.

The trend is appealing to those who are facing a crisis when trying to sell their home as the seller has the opportunity to obtain a higher figure than what they would achieve through a standard sale.

Helen Griffin-Booth, director at Bluerow Homes, a sales, lettings and investments agency has raised concerns over the trend.

She says: “With more and more of the public opting to use this new form of property selling, which involves paid input from the public, it is so important that sellers are aware of the potential risks involved.

“It is legal to host a competition providing there is a hint of ‘skill’ required on the entrant’s behalf – the competition question needs to be fairly challenging. When the competition is too easy, rafflers have been known to run into problems with the Gambling Commission, not to mention fraudulent scams competitors may experience due to the lenience of rules associated with entering.

“Many schemes declare that if all of the purchasable tickets are not sold, the winner of the raffle will then gain from the money raised from the sold tickets, minus expenses – which can be a significant percentage of the profit.

“With the trend becoming increasingly accepted within the property sector; I urge both home owners and potential rafflers to be wary of whom you are liaising with. I also hope to see more protocols executed in this new means of trade-off in the near future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Hannah Fowler .