Win a property! French sellers get creative

Following the foiled attempt by an Ardechois couple to organise an online tombola in order to sell their house in July, a French author has come up with a novel competition (pardon the pun) to win his apartment without falling foul of French gambling laws.

As medical bills mounted following their son’s serious road accident, the Ardechois couple put their house up as the grand prize in a raffle, selling tickets for €50 each via a dedicated website gagnernotremaison.com. However, it is illegal to sell property by lottery in France, with such activity carrying a maximum penalty of two year’s imprisonment (Loi 21 Mai 1836) and the couple were forced to cancel the competition.

Now novelist Jules Ambroziak may well have found a way to circumvent the law. Ambroziak has set up a competition whereby entrants buy a pdf copy of his latest short story Le Voisin de la rue des Eclarlartes online for €50. To win the 80m2 apartment on the outskirts of Paris, valued at €425,000, entrants must answer three questions on the story. The first person to email the correct answers after midnight on the 30 September will be declared the winner.

In an interview with Le Figaro, Ambroziak explained: “I launched the competition website on Tuesday after I read about the plight of the couple from Ardeche. Apparently, they had already sold 6,000 tickets.”