One to be launched on Wednesday is offering an £8.5 million luxury apartment block in London while another in Devon is offering four luxury apartments worth £1.7 million. Each claim to be the UK's biggest ever property competitions.
MIA Developments Ltd is aiming to make 200,000 tickets available for those who want to have a chance of winning the 11 apartment block and says it will donate £600,000 of the proceeds to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity.
It is calling it the 'biggest free prize draw in the UK' but to take part you need to buy an MP4 player for £60 to receive 'free entry into the prize draw'.
In Devon, Cliff Rawlinson is selling 45,000 tickets at £50 each in the competition for the new luxury apartments at Church Park, Wolborough Heights, South Devon, set between Dartmoor and the coast.
The idea came from estate agent Stephen Beasley who says that the winner can do anything with them – live in one, sell them, or even rent them out for an estimated annual income of around £60,000.
'These are four stunning properties in an amazing location. But the current state of the property market has seriously hampered saleability. Desperate times call for desperate measures and the competition was born,' he said.
'This kind of competition could set a new precedent for developers caught out by the slump who desperately need their investment back,' he added
Up to £50,000 of money generated by ticket sales will be donated to Help for Heroes, the charity that supports UK military personnel wounded in service. It is being overseen by law firm Kitson Hutchings.
Such competitions are controversial and cannot be operated for private gain, hence the involvement of charities. Attempts by desperate property owners to sell their homes in similar competitions have proven legally difficult. A couple selling £25 tickets with the chance to win their £1 million property in Crediton, Devon, have had to postpone the competition after the Gambling Commission launched an investigation last week.
'Home owners considering such schemes as an alternative to selling their house risk committing a criminal offence if they cross the boundary and stray into offering an illegal lottery. We already have questions over the legality of a small number of existing schemes and are in contact with the organisers,' said the commission's deputy chief executive, Tom Kavanagh.
