Georgian pile raffled because Brexit and stamp duty deter buyers

A Georgian mansion described as an oasis of seclusion and including a lake with 2,000 fish is being raffled by its owners - because they say Brexit and stamp duty have created a housing market which means their home is unlikely to sell.

Having struggled to sell the Dancers Hill estate - which is 14 miles from London and includes four acres of land as well as the six bedroom, six bathroom house with a gym, wine room and cinema - the vendors are now charging £13.50 a ticket online, including a £1 booking fee.

The draw will be made on Christmas Day by the owners, named in the Daily Mail as Melanie and Nigel Walsh who have lived in the property for more than 25 years. It failed to sell conventionally.

“In a difficult property market that is in a malaise, Brexit, Stamp Duty all added to the pot. A creative approach was needed” say the couple.

The property is reportedly valued at north of £5m and, as is customary with such raffles, the organisers say that if an sufficient number of tickets are sold then a cash prize will be offered instead.

Raffles of properties have been notoriously unsuccessful in recent times, very rarely selling enough tickets for the home itself to be awarded as a prize.

Many raffles have fallen foul of gambling legislation and just last month the company Raffle House Ltd was deemed to have placed misleading claims in some of its online promotional material according to the Advertising Standards Authority.

You can see the Dancers Hill raffle here.