Omaze Scandal

[purpleparrotthe]

Posting for traffic

Omaze has finally been exposed

www.itv.com/news/anglia/2025-02-28/omaze-prize-draw-mansion-worth-6m-is-in-breach-of-planning-rules?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2jZqia0uO7neodni1dmNcaYYd3jiIZVYuoKzyIbnZS6VLJfcDrsZmOu_o_aem_QgAZXdxO1A10RZC7kVFRqw

This is hardly a massive scandal.

If people win they've only paid a tenner or whatever.

If I won a property and didn't like it I'd just auction it on.

The OP hasn't returned to their thread for almost 24hrs, so it looks like it was a drop and run and it hasn't gone as well as they expected it to. Perhaps they are the anonymous complainer to planning. Perhaps they have an axe to grind with Omaze, the developers, someone or something.

I buy Omaze tickets and so the OP's clickbait title had me worried for just a minute. Posting for traffic? Posting for attention and scaremongering, more like it.

It is not ideal, but there is no 'scandal', there is no 'exposed'. Like many other Omaze supporters including on the regular MN threads, I've known about this planning issue for a while and I'm not overly concerned. If I'm lucky enough to win the Norfolk house, like most people we could easily do without the tennis court if needs be. The swimming pool would be more of a disappointment as we have a severely disabled child and a pool would be wonderful for them. I've earmarked some of the £250k cash element of the prize to enclose it with a glasshouse or some sort of shelter in keeping - subject to planning! - so that it could be used for physio and relaxation year-round. Whatever, if anything, the planners decide needs to happen, I'm sure Omaze will work with them to find a solution and that the process won't cost the winner a penny.

I know the area too and I like it. I don't mind if local businesses aren't as photogenic as some people would prefer, especially second home and holiday let owners. Local people are just living their daily lives and have a crust to earn, they're not there to look naice for tourists.

I think the headline to the thread is defamatory and wrong and should be changed.

For me, the huge amount raised for charity is very important. I take your point about donating the cost of entry to charity instead of buying an Omaze or lottery ticket, but I have a different plan. If, for example, I won the Norfolk house, I'd like to open up the tennis court, pool, garden and house at times to families like ours with a severely disabled child or young adult. I know just how difficult it is to have nice, relaxing places to go in our situation, where you will be made to feel welcome, comfortable and safe, especially in busy places or at busy times like the tourist season. Similarly a large lottery prize - some of them are ridiculously large - would mostly be given to charity. I like the thought that our own lives would be improved, yes of course, but I also like the idea that we could do an awful lot for close friends and good causes.

Like previous posters, I thought that the properties always had a catch. One was in a known flood risk area, another struggled with insurance for a different reason. Hence, Omar buying them cheap enough to make the draw profitable.
The new Scottish one looks amazing; I wonder what the catch is there?

There's always a catch, they're houses that would never actually sell for close to the advertised value. I'd still happily win one - just sell it for a bit less.

I think it’s pretty scandalous to offer a property in contravention of planning laws.

I am not surprised, I was highly doubtful that that property would have been given consent in the position it is in, looking like that. In a AONB, they usually demand local building materials / local style etc.

I can't believe it's only got 3 bedrooms 😳

Yes and you have to pay council tax, water rates, heating and electricity. You'll be bankrupt in the first month of living there.

The scam is a lot of the properties that they have on offer are shit show houses. One property was on a cliff. I am surprised no one knew this scam?😩

It's not a scam. You just need to take the valuations with a large pinch of salt.

Putting a house forward for a competition that's on a cliff sounds like a scam to me. It will never sell and a lot of the properties that they offer are properties that struggle to sell. You can win one good luck selling it.

It's only a scam if they advertise it as anything other than a house on a cliff. It was clearly a house on a cliff.

They didn't know it was on a cliff until after.

This thread could win a prize for the "Most Moronic Title".

I have an Omaze subscription (just £10 a month), and am amazed at how many people love to moan about it. It's a raffle. If the draws were rigged, or if the houses were uninhabitable, I could understand; but the constant posts about how they vett winners are plainly wrong (persistent, but wrong) and the moans that the houses are somehow not up to scratch are quite amusing.

If you get a house for £10 and then find that it doesn't have the perfect view, or that you'd prefer extra bedrooms, you are still going to be well in profit if you sell it. If you think it's below your expectations before buying a ticket, well, it's optional - just skip a month.

I like some better than others, but there doesn't seem to be a consensus on which are more popular - some posters love ones I'm less keen on, and I love some that aren't as popular. I guess that comes down to lifestyle and geography - I don't want to live in London, for instance, but that's obviously a popular choice for most people. I really don't want a gym, tennis court or pool, but others do, so🤷‍♀️

Depending on location, I would either move in and live there, stay for a year or two and have lots of visitors then sell it, or just put it on the market straight away and give the money to my ACs. With some of them I harbour fantasies about running writing retreats (eg the one with the stables that could be converted) but on the whole I'm not interested in working, or I could do what I do now from home. If I decided to move in, I'd sell my house and use the money from that plus the £250k to live on for as long as it lasts. If it runs out, I could still sell up and be better off than I am now. Why the need to drag the whole thing down? It's harmless.

I've never before heard of Omaze, thought this thread was going to be about one of the new rip off wonder slimming drugs that people believe the NHS should fund :-).

Nothing to expose.