Six years ago, Daniel Twenefour was on the brink of bankruptcy after failing to find a buyer for his home in Mitcham. Sale after sale fell through as Covid restrictions froze the housing market. The property, which Twenefour had bought and renovated using savings and a bridging loan, was near a tram stop, which deterred lenders from offering mortgages to interested buyers. The bank demanded the return of his £370,000 loan and threatened to seize his personal assets.
Twenefour describes the time as an “absolute nightmare”, which left him searching for ways to clear his debt, even if it meant losing his deposit and the cost of renovations. “I was desperate. I just wanted to get the loan off my back,” he says. He decided to raffle the house at £2 a ticket. Providing he sold 200,000 tickets, he would have enough to clear his loan and pass on the house to a new owner with the stamp duty and legal fees paid.
From desperation to a new career
Ticket sales were slow to start with. Londoners are dubious of anything that sounds too good to be true, but eventually Twenefour raised enough money to give the house away as planned and fully cover his costs. The move, borne out of desperation, sparked a new career as the creator of property prize company Tramway Path.
Drawing on his background in tech project management and property, Twenefour, 35, launched the house giveaway company with the help of his brothers Jay, 41, and Will, 40, who both still work full-time in their respective industries.
How the raffle model works
Property raffles are often linked to glossy trophy homes with flash amenities that cost a fortune to run — nice on paper but hardly affordable for many ticket buyers hoping a lucky punt might get them a foothold on the housing ladder. Questions have also been raised about how many homes are actually handed over to winners, rather than a percentage of ticket sales being offered as a cash prize — usually after hefty marketing costs have been deducted.
Twenefour says that the Tramway Path model is different in that winners can choose whether to accept the property or choose a guaranteed cash prize to buy something more suitable for them. In their current draw, the choice is between a three-bedroom home in Bexleyheath valued at £650,000 or £500,000 towards an alternative property, an amount which Twenefour says does not depend on ticket sales. “They need to be able to choose the place they believe they can call home,” says Twenefour. “We’re not expecting a winner from Manchester to uproot their entire lives and move down to London.”
Properties are selected by area, proximity to local transport links and condition — usually recently renovated or mid renovation. They have a minimum of two bedrooms and, ideally, come with parking. The purchase is under way at the time of the draw so winners can decide to take ownership of the featured property or choose somewhere more suitable.
What to look out for
As prize competitions are not regulated by the Gambling Commission, it can’t provide advice on whether a competition is safe to enter but advises caution. A property raffle must either be a competition requiring some skill on the part of the entrant — often by way of answering a question correctly at the point of buying tickets — or competitions can be classed as a free draw provided that some of the entries are free. The free route must be no more expensive to achieve (i.e. via post or a paid text number) and no less convenient than the paid entry route. Make sure stamp duty, any additional tax and legal fees are paid for by the seller.
The brothers have given away 20 homes so far, with 13 winners now living in London. The rest are spread across Essex, Kent, Wales, Cumbria and Bristol. The road hasn’t been without its twists and turns, and occasionally the brothers have had to use their own money to make up the shortfall between ticket sales and the property price or promised cash prize. The cash prize needs to be put towards the purchase of a home, says Twenefour, but if a winner chooses a property which costs less than the prize amount then they are transferred the remaining balance.
The aim is to raise enough through ticket sales to pay themselves, their team and their marketing costs, which Twenefour says can be as much as half the value of the home they’re giving away. Previous winners have included one Londoner who has just started searching for their own home to buy with the cash prize; another Londoner who moved into their raffle home in Surrey and was featured on Channel 4’s My £2 Dream Home; and a software developer apprentice who bought a two-bedroom garden flat on the same street as his parents’ home in Elephant and Castle.
The current draw, for a three-bedroom house in Bexleyheath valued at £650,000 or £500,000 cash towards the cost of another home ends on September 14. Tickets start at £10 for 10. The winner is chosen using random.org, a platform which selects a ticket number at random, in the presence of an independent solicitor and livestreamed on social channels.
Ongoing uncertainty in the housing market has dampened sales momentum and it’s easy to see why sellers and first-time buyers may turn to raffles. But while the idea of getting on the property ladder for less than a round of drinks holds obvious appeal, the reality is that property raffles are a gamble at very low odds. A bit of fun, best approached with caution and a hefty dose of realism.
