‘I’m raffling off my £370k London flat with £5 tickets – I want to help the next generation afford a home’

In the midst of the UK’s housing crisis, a woman from London is attempting to help people get on the property ladder by running a £5 raffle where the top prize is her £370,000 two-bedroom flat.

Gina Sapsted, 36, has owned her flat in Tottenham, north London since 2015. In order to buy the flat, which is located 500 metres from the Tottenham Hotspur football stadium, Gina saved for five years while living with her father and purchased it through a shared ownership scheme.

Now, a decade later, she wants to sell the flat to move in with her partner – and she saw an opportunity to help someone who otherwise might not be able to afford to own their own home.

“I personally have entered a few competitions in the past, like the Omaze house draws … But the housing crisis has got so bad, people don’t necessarily want to win mansions on a cliff. Actually, just having the stability of a two-bed flat in London would be absolutely game-changing,” Gina told PA Real Life.

“I think there’s enough people out there that need a prize like my flat that it’s worth doing.”

Gina, who works as a data analyst, said she saw an article about the concept of house raffles in summer 2025 and thought: “You know what? This sounds like the kind of side quest that I can really get involved in.”

She was already thinking about selling her Tottenham flat in order to move in with her partner, but was put off by the “huge costs” and hassle of selling her home in the traditional way.

Plus, “knowing the struggles that people have in order to afford properties”, she thought it was “worth a shot” to run a competition where someone could hold the winning ticket for just £5.

According to the government’s UK House Price Index for January 2026, the average property price in London is £554,000. Assuming a 10% deposit for a mortgage, the average first-time buyer in London would need to have saved £55,400 in order to get on the property ladder.

“I only managed to buy this property because I could stay at home for five years after graduating and save a deposit, and then also, as a single woman in my mid twenties, I bought this because it was shared ownership. That’s the only reason I could do this,” Gina said.

“So many people don’t have that, and because I have the ability to come into this in an affordable way, now a bit of me feels like I have a little bit of responsibility to society to see if I can do something to help the next generation.”

Gina’s flat is located just metres from Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium, which not only hosts the football team’s home games but also concerts throughout the summer. It sits mid-way up a modern, high-rise block, and has “amazing views – I can see everything from Ally Pally to Crystal Palace to Canary Wharf, The Shard”.

“I’ve got the entire skyline of London, basically,” she said.

In addition to being in with a chance of winning Gina’s fully furnished flat – which is worth £370,000 – those who enter with a £5 ticket could also win £10,000 cash and two tickets to a music event of their choice at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with BTS, Bad Bunny, System Of A Down, Zach Bryan and Gorillaz all set to take the stage this summer.

If choosing the property prize, the winner will take over the remaining lease term of 88 years on the property and will be subject to the leaseholder agreement, including payment of service charges and ground rent, which Gina said is currently £289 per month and £150 per year respectively.

Alternatively, those who would rather have a cash prize to go towards a home in the area of their choice could select a prize of £300,000.

Five per cent of all ticket revenue will also be donated to homelessness charity All People All Places, while another 5% is being reserved to support a first-time buyer who ends up purchasing Gina’s flat, if the flat is not chosen by the competition winner.

Hosting the competition through Raffall, an online platform for hosting and participating in legally compliant raffles and competitions which provides a secure and transparent system, Gina has ensured the process is safe and fair.

Raffall manages the ticketing, payments, money and the decision of who wins the competition, and Gina said it is “their entire domain to ensure that these things are done well and robustly and safely”.

If Gina does not hit her target of 116,000 tickets sold, and therefore does not cover the costs of making her home the prize, Raffall will allocate a prize pot to a winning ticket.

She first tried to run the competition in late 2025, and while she did not sell enough tickets to give away her flat, the winner got a jackpot of £158,000 after buying three tickets – enough for a deposit on a flat of their choice.

“Fundamentally, I’m not here to become a millionaire off this, like not even close,” Gina said, adding that there is really “nothing in it for me” – she potentially has no profit from the competition if the minimum ticket target is met and the winner takes her flat.

“I just want someone to get a great prize, a life-changing prize, and for me to not have to go through estate agents – and to try and do something in a way that is a bit of a feel good story.”

To find out more, visit raffall.com/415819/enter-raffle-to-win-2-bed-london-flat-or-300k-cash-hosted-by-theflatraffle.