There has been a spate of ‘win a property’ competitions recently as homeowners look for increasingly creative ways to offload their house during the credit crunch without losing out on price – but now, one New Zealand couple has fallen foul of the law by attempting to do just that…
This relatively new phenomenon has come about as a result of the credit crunch and is happening all over the world – including the UK, the USA and now New Zealand.
Check out TheMoveChannel.com’s news story of October 17th which tells the story of a UK couple attempting to flog off their house by selling raffle tickets at £25 a pop. The lucky winner would then walk away with a £1 million home.
But, as unique an idea as a property lottery or raffle may sound, there are strict laws surrounding the process, as a New Zealand couple have found to their detriment.
Estate Agent Brad Maxwell and his wife Janet were attempting to sell their £227,225 property in Redwood, Christchurch, on New Zealand’s South island by auctioning it on the Internet.
They were asking for interested buyers to pay around £38 to access the auction and they would then get a chance to win the house. The Maxwells had calculated that selling between 5000 and 6000 seats would bring in the price that they wanted for their home, and only then would the online auction run.
But the process was stopped in its tracks when it was discovered that the auction amounts to illegal gambling and people were urged not to enter.
Internal Affairs’ Gambling Compliance Manager Debbie Despard said, “Under the Gambling Act 2003 the auction was illegal on several grounds.
“There is a huge element of chance in this so-called auction in which people pay to participate.
“It is also online gambling, which the Act defines as remote interactive gambling. Gambling with prizes exceeding £190 can only be conducted by societies raising money for authorised charitable purposes but this sales scheme is conducted by a private person for personal profit and cannot be licensed by the department.
“Also, any sale and purchase agreement arising out of such an auction would be on shaky ground because the Gambling Act says contracts relating to illegal gambling would be illegal for the purposes of the Illegal Contracts Act 1970,” added Ms Despard.
The home owners are trying to find a way to continue with their plans and said, “This is a genuine auction. We are not here to rip anybody off.
“The intention of this exercise is to sell the property at market value,” said Mr Maxwell.
That’s the problem with gambling – win some, lose some.
For more information on New Zealand properties and the market in general, please visit http://new-zealand.themovechannel.com/
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.
For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:
Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650
