Owners Of £2m Kensington Flat Refuse To Hand Over Keys After Making £227k In Raffle

It's become somewhat of a 'thing' raffling off your house, hasn't it? I mean, what happened to bundling all your tat into the airing cupboard, getting an estate agent round, having a few pictures taken and going down the traditional route of selling your place like everyone else?

Admittedly, it seems to have become a way to build interest for young, first time buyers who would never in their wildest dreams be able to spend a cool couple of mil getting on the property ladder.

But even so, it would seem that people are becoming bored of these schemes because when property developers Jonny Jackson and Harry Dee began selling £10 ($12) raffle tickets for their £2,000,000 ($2.5m) flat in Kensington, London, they only reached £227,000. Ouch.

Gatsby Property

Now, the pair have declined to hand over the keys to the two-bedroom property after failing to sell the 200,000 tickets which meant they would meet the valuation price. Which is kind of awkward...

Jonny and Harry, both 28, admitted that (sadly) they only raised 11 percent of their target, reports The Sun.

So, what's their plan now? Well, they have decided that instead of winning the £2m property they will hold a prize draw in which the winner will receive £53,500 ($67,900) meaning they will keep the remaining £173,500 ($220,200).

Gatsby Property

The Sun adds that the pair want to use £120,000 to cover their costs for VAT, marketing and legal bills and whatever is left will be 'reinvested' into a new property raffle business.

Jackson told The Times: "This was explicit in the terms and conditions.

"It was always going to be a bit of an uphill struggle to get to £2 million. We set up to do things differently, which I admit was slightly naive.

"We've looked at where we fell apart, and we have concluded that the main problem was the cost of the property. It was a very expensive flat."

Gatsby Property

However, buying agent Henry Pryor told the same newspaper: "If you want to play games then sell raffle tickets. If you want to actually sell a property then sober up and retain an expert to do it for you.

"I am struggling to think of a single redeeming feature about this."

Topics: UK News, News, Property, UK

Rebecca Shepherd

I'm Becky - a journalist at LADbible. I graduated with a First Class BA in Journalism before going on to cover criminal court cases, medical tribunals and breaking news for the national media - which inevitably and eventually became as glum as it sounds. Can often be found rocking a bag for life - which I made a 'thing' way before Rihanna. You can contact me at [email protected]

@RJShepherd94