Property Competitions
The current weakness in the property market has led many people to consider selling their home through 'house competitions'.
Whilst this may seem an appealing idea it is fraught with difficulties both in relation to the legality of the scheme and also with the prevention of money laundering.
The Gambling Commission is aware of 20 such schemes and has 'questions over the legality of a small number'.
If success in the competition is down to chance, the scheme will be a lottery and illegal unless it complies with stringent conditions. (Mostly involving charity exemption).
Success in the competition must require an element of skill, judgement or knowledge to be legal.
It must be a genuine competition.
The difficutly is that there is no clear guidance on what is needed to pass the 'skill, judgement or knowledge' test.