A few months after announcing their Cheltenham House property raffle, Tim and Zoe Bawtree have re-launched their competition. Worth up to £850,000, the top prize up for grabs is the innovative Cheltenham House. The house, which was featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs, was dubbed the ‘Underground House’ because of its eco-friendly, subterranean design.

The announcement follows the legal setback faced by the couple running the widely publicised Oldborough Retreat competition. Despite selling out two months early, Brian and Wendy Wilshaw opted to postpone the Devon property competition based on feedback from the Gambling Commission. In addition, a number of other online UK property competitions were cancelled, postponed or re-launched in the last few weeks due to concerns surrounding their legality under the Gambling Act 2005.

The original format of the Cheltenham House competition required players to answer a single question relating to the Cheltenham Cup, before purchasing a £25 ticket. Given its similarity with the Oldborough Retreat competition, Tim and Zoe Bawtree opted to re-launch their competition to avoid any similar complications.

According to the statement on their website today, “Due to the Gambling Commission raising concerns and advice from law firm Walker Morris we are launching a new competition with Spot the Frisbee. All entrants from the old format will receive a voucher which will allow you to enter the new competition, or request a refund.”

‘Spot the Frisbee’ is based on the popular ‘Spot the Ball’ competition format. Spot the Ball is usually based on a ball-based sports photo in which the ball has been erased from the scene. Players are asked to use their judgement to determine where the centre of the ball should be. The winner is usually picked based on the opinion of a panel of experienced referees. The Cheltenham House competition format requires players to determine where the centre of a frisbee should be based on a family photo.

According to the lawyers advising the Bawtree couple, this type of entry route allows the Cheltenham House competition to be free of regulation, as it is not considered a lottery by the Gambling Commission.

Andrew Woods, partner at Walker Morris, states: “After reviewing and corresponding with the Gambling Commission on behalf of Tim & Zoe, we were of the option that although the Bawtree’s competition required skill and knowledge to enter the competition, there are currently no test cases to decide how difficult the skill or knowledge has to be. […] it was better to launch a new competition with a format that has been used by many others for many years.” A video statement by their lawyer Andrew Woods is also available directly on the website.

In addition to playing Spot the Frisbee, players are also required to answer a tie-breaker question used to pick a winner should two or more players end up in first place. Players are asked to answer the question: “What appeals to you about the Cheltenham House?” in up to 22 words. The runner-up prize for the competition is an Aga oven, worth around £4,200. The third place prize winner gets 3D Grand Designs software, worth £199.99.

The couple are hoping to sell up to 49,000 tickets at £25, which would raise a total of £1,225,000. According to their press release, costs relating to offering the property prize and running the competition would total £1,185,000, yielding a profit of £40,000 for the couple. These are broken down as follows:

• House value: £745,000
• Furnishings: £50,000
• PayPal fees: £40,000
• VAT: £170,000
• Charity donation: £115,000
• Stamp duty: £36,000
• Competition/marketing legal fees: £24,000
• Conveyancing: £5,000

It is worth noting that VAT has been included in the price of tickets. Depending on who is running the competition, this may not always be required. If one is organising a competition for private purposes (as opposed to a commercial competition) it may be possible to reduce the price of tickets accordingly.

Our recent article on this subject provides a more detailed explanation of the costs involved with running a property prize competition compared to a traditional sale. PayPal transaction fees are based on the overall value and duration of a competition, together with the number of transactions involved. Conveyancing fees can vary depending on who is providing the service, and whether other legal costs have been associated with this expense. Our analysis assumed a lower amount for conveyancing and excluded certain other costs related with running the competition.

Based on the number of tickets sold so far on the Cheltenham House website and the degree of media coverage achieved, it appears that this property competition has succeeded in attracting strong interest from the public. As we have yet to see any legal precedents for what is deemed a skill competition (versus a lottery) in the UK, it will be interesting to monitor how the competition progresses over the coming months. We wish the couple the best of luck in their endeavours, which could help to raise lots of proceeds for their chosen charity, Teenage Cancer Trust.

What do you think? If you are intending to start your own property competition or considering playing yourself, we would be interested to hear from you. Do you plan of running a similar type of Spot the Ball prize competition, or will you feature a different entry route for players? Given the attractiveness of the prize, do you think the Cheltenham House competition has a good chance of succeeding?

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Re: Bawtree couple re-launch Cheltenham House property competition

Fair enough, they're right to make sure they don't face the same issues as the Devon property couple. It seems to me the couple are taking a practical and conservative approach to make sure they can actually pick a winner in the end.

Just read this on their website:
"Current Prize Fund if Target Not Reached by 19th March is £51,000 to the lucky winner. This is calculated after VAT, Charity Donation and Costs have been deducted."

Janet , 12 Feb 2009

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Re: Bawtree couple re-launch Cheltenham House property competition

@ Janet

I think we're all looking forward to seeing a house competition close successfully - with a winner officially announced.

Even if they don't end up selling all the tickets, the prize fund already amounts to a considerable sum of money, which will have also raised proceeds for their chosen charity.

Team Win House , 12 Feb 2009

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Re: Bawtree couple re-launch Cheltenham House property competition

Looks like they've sold 4413 tickets so far. I don't see them giving away the house by the 19th but someone will win at least £64K according to their latest news!

worth a punt?

Current Prize Fund if Target Not Reached by 19th March is £64,000 to the lucky winner. This is calculated after VAT, Charity Donation and Costs have been deducted.

Richard , 08 Mar 2009

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Grand Designs

5286 tickets sold so far, this is ending soon I think?

Cash Prize £77k and Rising! - 16/03/2009
If we don't meet our Goal in terms of Ticket Sales the Main Prize will be a Cash Prize. This currently stands at £77,000 and rising fast......

not a bad prize even if it isn't the house

Eva , 16 Mar 2009

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