http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5080721/You-win-490-000-London-flat-just-5.html
You can win your own £490,000 two-bedroom London flat for just £5 (with a bottle of champagne thrown in by the young couple who are raffling it off)
Jack and Charlotte Smith have been trying to sell their third-storey flat in Greenwich for the past ten months
Despite reducing the price twice, they have had no buyers so have decided to offer it as a competition prize
Winner will get the flat, stamp duty of up to £13,000, legal fees up to £1k with VAT and a bottle of champagne
This £490,000 two-bedroom flat in east London could be yours for £5 - with a bottle of champagne thrown in by the young couple who are raffling it off.
Jack and Charlotte Smith have been trying to sell their third-storey flat in Greenwich for the past ten months.
Despite reducing the price twice, they have had no buyers so have decided to offer it as a competition prize.
The couple decided to raffle off their two bedroom property in Greenwich after struggling to find a buyer for ten months
The flat was built in 2008 and has two bedrooms, bathroom, open plan kitchen and lounge and a full-length balcony.
It is a short walk from Greenwich station and close to the famous Cutty Sark and National Maritime Museum.
Mr Smith, 29, who works as an IT server specialist, said: 'We’ve had the flat on the market with two agents for ten months, but we’ve had no interest.
'There are a lot of new builds at the moment which have first time buyers and government schemes, so we’ve decided that we’d take a risk and try a prize competition.
'We reduced the price two or three times. It was initially £490,000 but eventually went down to £465,000.
'We’ve done a lot of research, got legal advice, and done market research on the question you have to ask, because it has to be skilled to comply with the Gambling Commission’s regulations.
‘I know there are a few other raffles out there making a lot of money for people, but we didn’t just want to do that, so we’re covering everything - the flat, stamp duty, legal fees and donate £50,000 for charity.’
The couple said they were struggling to sell the property due to the Brexit effect and because of the number of new build developments within Greenwich which have Government schemes and incentives
A donation of £25,000 will be made to Thrombosis UK after Mrs Smith’s father, Tony Pierce, died aged 56 from a pulmonary embolism which stemmed from deep vein thrombosis.
They will also give £25,000 to SUDC UK, a charity that deals with sudden unexpected deaths in childhood after a family friend’s toddler, Rex Gooden, died at just 22 months old.
The couple are hoping to sell £130,00 tickets at £5 and have sold 2,000 in the first two weeks.
Mr Smith said: 'Our friends think it’s an unusual idea, but considering how the market is at the moment, they think it’s a good one.
‘We haven’t decided where to move to because don’t know when the raffle will end, so we’ve moved back in with our parents for now.’
The competition runs until January 26, with a winner being announced a week later.
Mr Smith said: 'We would like to give somebody the opportunity to own a flat in London mortgage free, London is one of the most expensive places to buy a property and there are many people struggling to save for a deposit.
‘It would be an incredible feeling, handing over the keys to the flat and them not having to worry about a mortgage.’
To have a chance of winning the flat, punters have to correctly identify a famous ship from a list of four choices - The San Salvador, The Golden Hind, The Cutty Sark, and the Flying Cloud.