Couple selling ex-council house for a £1 after buyers struggled to get mortgage

A couple have decided to raffle off their three bedroom home for £1 to help people get on the property ladder.

Jennifer and David Matthews, both 51, were renting out the ex-council house they own in Skelmersdale until they decided to put it on the market with an asking price of £110,000. But when an interested buyer struggled to qualify for a mortgage, the couple decided not to sell it via conventional channels and raffle it off instead.

Jennifer told the ECHO: “I didn’t want to keep it for myself, I wanted to sell it. I put it on the market and two separate people came around and wanted to buy it.

“I said ‘yes I’ll give you the asking price’. They went to get a mortgage and the application failed. I felt really mean on them.

“I thought ‘what can I do? I’ll raffle it off and let someone win it for £1.’ It is life-changing.

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“The amount of messages I’ve received saying ‘this would change my life’. Me and my kids are living in rented accommodation, the rent has doubled from £495 to £900.”

Jennifer has sold more than 10,000 tickets in the raffle so far, with each ticket priced at £1 each. It’s not the first time Jennifer and David have raffled off a property. They previously raffled off their five bedroom detached house near Addlington in Lancashire, and a Ferrari, in 2020 due to Jennifer’s incurable heart condition.

Jennifer said: “The raffling off of my five bedroom house was a success. However, I had to come off social media because we got death threats. People got fanatical – when they didn’t win they thought it was a scam.”

Despite the difficulties Jennifer and her husband faced when raffling off her first home, they have decided to raffle off another property to help others get on the property market. Jennifer recently renovated the three bedroom house which has a new kitchen, bathroom, carpets and flooring throughout.

Jennifer has chosen not to share external photos of the house or its specific location within Skelmersdale, due to safety concerns following the last raffle. According to Raffall’s terms and conditions, a minimum of 145,000 tickets need to be sold for someone to win the house.

If less than 145,000 tickets are sold, the winner will receive 50% of the money generated from ticket sales. If the host achieves their minimum ticket target and fails to provide the prize, the winner will receive a share of the compensation amounting to 75% of the ticket revenue. All compensation payments are guaranteed and paid directly by Raffall.

You can find the full listing of the raffle here.

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