Lucky punters who won million-pound homes in £10 raffles have revealed why they promptly sold up. Some of the Omaze Million Pound winners from across the UK say they were crippled by problems despite loving the luxury – forcing them to put their homes on the market.
Others gave up the massive properties – and lifestyle that accompanied them – to help their struggling families out with cash. And now some of the punters have opened up about their decision to get rid of the mansions – which many Brits could only dream of owning.
Majority of Winners Sold Their Prizes
MailOnline reported that of the 14 mansions recently won just three are still live in. A whopping 10 have been sold and one is being rented out.
Why They Sold
One of the winners who made the call to sell up was Uttam Parmar, 58. He and wife Raki, 53, bagged themselves the stunning property in Cornwall in August last year. Uttam said: "We are selling it and not keeping it as a holiday home. If we could afford to keep it we would. It is beautiful. But we are looking to buy some land or a smaller property instead."
Meanwhile, dad-of-five Glen Elmy also is said to have put his Omaze home on the market. He walked away from his new "James Bond-style" coastal property in north Devon after just three days over fears it was crumbling into the sea. The dad has since reportedly asked draw organisers Omaze for equivalent cash instead – and now it has been claimed many of the 14 winners so far have put their prize homes up for sale.
Foundry worker Glen, from Walsall in the West Midlands, won the five-bedroom Stealth House overlooking Combe Martin Bay in the Omaze Million Pound House Draw in October 2021. He said at the time: "We absolutely love the house – if I could have designed one from scratch, it would look just like this." But it was claimed by neighbours that he moved out after just three days when he discovered the property was at risk of coastal erosion.
Using the Winnings to Help Family
Grandmother June Smith also decided to put her new home on the market. The 74-year-old landed the massive six-bedroom, three-storey home as part of the Omaze Million Pound prize draw. She initially said she would keep the waterfront home "for a while". But she has since decided to sell, saying she wanted to "use the money to help all my children and grandchildren with the next chapter in their lives".
In London, Marilyn Pratt, 70, sold the £2.9million home in Fulham, west London, eight months after her Omaze win in April 2021. Marilyn said she wanted to give financial help to her two daughters and grandchildren.
Other Winners Who Sold Their Prizes
Other Omaze homes which have since been put up for sale include a £2.5m clifftop property in Kingstown, near Deal in Kent. It had been won by a West Midlands couple, Jade and her unnnamed partner, last autumn.
A £2.7m converted 18th century farmhouse in nearby Crook, just outside Kendal, was won in January by 59-year-old widower Grant Carson, from Glasgow in Scotland. The six-bedroom home was put up for sale in June.
Widower Ian Garrick, 58, scooped a £1m four-bedroom home in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, in 2020 then almost instantly sold it for £1.15m – and neighbours say it has since been sold again.
Meanwhile, parents-of-two Darren and Mandy Wordon from Bath in Somerset are said to have listed for sale the £2.5m property in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, which they won in 2021. Despite having celebrities like Jeremy Clarkson and the Beckhams as neighbours, other locals said the property was "built in a valley that floods every year".
MailOnline also said 73-year-old&nbsoan Havenhand&nbsnever moved into her £3.5m modern mansion on the outskirts of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. The grandmother from Taunton in Somerset won the six-bedroom Cotswolds home in June last year but it was sold in recent months, neighbours say.
The Omaze mansion now being rented out to AirBNB visitors is £3m Post Knott Lodge in Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District, Cumbria. It was won last April by NHS IT worker Catharine Cawardine, 59, of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. The six-bedroom, five-bathroom home is booked up for the next two months, with three-night midweek stays costing £7,000.
