RAFFLES

Is it legal in Spain to sell your property via a raffle ? We are getting desperate and it is just a thought.

I remember a story recently of someone trying that, and coming unstuck because they didn't have the necessary gaming licence.

..........and another where they didn't sell enough tickets and had to return all the ticket money. They were well out of pocket after the cost of licence, solicitor, printing and distributing tickets, paying commission to the agents and repatriating the money.

There are laws in place.  There is a case of an agent in Madrid who got a lot of publicity about his raffle and sold huge amount of tickets, only to later find that he was breaking the law and had to return all the money.

You would need to run it past a lawyer really.

Justin

our friends in uk are doing it, , I think they have covered everything legally but to overcome gaming laws they have had a photo of the family taken outside their house throwing the keys in the air. The photo is then put on a grid and you have to enter the competition to spot the keys (like spot the ball) and answer 3 easy questions, the answers can be found on internet. They have also included a large donation to charity out of the ticket money, Chris Tarrant is one of the people involved, hope this helps,  Their house is worth over 3,000,000 pounds,  Gill

Thanks for your replies, I think it,s a no-no then, falling foul of the law in U.K. is one thing , but  don,t think I will meddle with Spanish laws! I will have to think about a drastic reduction in price.

I saw a recent item in the news recently about a couple who are selling their shop in Almuñeca this way. My understanding is that they are Spanish. Let me see if I can find out a bit more.

Here is the item, it was on an email newsletter from an estate agent. I include the Spanish which might be useful for searchning for more information on the search engines.

The owner of a beach front supermarket in Almunecar, Granada province, intends to put the property in a raffle because she can't sell it. The propety has been for sale for some months without any sensible offers being made, so it will be raffled in July, with 6,000 tickets at 100 euros each on offer.
Supermercado Rifa 

El propietario de un supermercado de primera línea de playa en Almuñécar, provincia de Granada, tiene la intención de poner la propiedad en una rifa, porque no puede vender. El Propety ha estado a la venta de algunos meses sin sensato ofertas realizadas, por lo que será sorteado en julio, con 6.000 billetes de 100 euros cada uno ofrece.

The real problem is with taxes involved as if the house is bought at  100 €,  Notary public deeds will have to show the legality of the transaction through a gaming company with full licenses and taxes paid.