By Gillian Ellison

Last updated at 16:17, Wednesday, 29 October 2008

A CLEATOR woman is hoping to beat the credit crunch – by raffling her house. For just £12.50, people have the chance to win the property, valued at £105,000.

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Sue Wickwar liked the idea after hearing about others doing the same. And from today (Thursday) the 10,000 tickets go on sale.

Statistically, Sue said there is more chance of winning the house than winning £10 on the National Lottery.

The two-bedroom fully-renovated property at 26 Kiln Brow (two terraced houses knocked into one) went on the market in July but only had one viewing. “It should have been snapped up but I definitely think the credit crunch is kicking in and I think people are also having trouble getting a mortgage,” said Sue, of Moor Row.

“This is a chance for someone, hopefully in Cumbria, to get a nice sized family home with no hidden costs.”

To be in with a chance of winning log onto www.houserafflecumbria.co.uk. The website gives a description of the property and details on how to enter the competition by answering three questions and how to pay.

The plan is to run the competition for between four and six months. “But if people embrace it then there is no reason why we cannot do it more quickly and look at a Christmas draw,” said Sue.

Originally from Barrow, Sue is considering relocating to London where she lived for many years before moving to Whitehaven nine years ago.

Sue, a self-employed driving instructor, also sings and plays guitar around the local pubs including The Brook at Cleator, The Manor House in St Bees and The Central in Egremont.

If successful, the draw will make £125,000 to cover the house price as well as costs such as solicitors’ fees and running the website. So the winner will be handed the keys and the deeds and will not need to pay any other costs, she said.

“If the target figure isn’t reached then we will take out all the running costs and the pot of money left will be raffled as a cash prize.”

She says she has made sure that all pitfalls have been avoided and ensured the house raffle is legal by asking competition questions which require the competitors to exercise, skill, judgement or knowledge and do not – as it does in a lottery – rely wholly on chance.

She contacted the Gambling Commission to get all the guidelines.

The name on the winning ticket will be the new owner of the house, so if buying a ticket as a present, people need to make sure the correct name is on the ticket.

Two per cent of profits from the raffle will go to the Great North Air Ambulance.

First published at 15:49, Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk