British couple raffling Cyprus villa, some of proceeds to go to charity

 A British couple from Somerset in England is offering their Paphos villa as a prize in a raffle with 10 per cent of hoped-for receipts going to three different charities in the UK. Villa owner Joseph Moretti said that for £2 a ticket, entrants only have to answer a question online for a chance to win. He and his wife Fi, want to raise £400,000 to support three charity causes; the RSPCA, the National Autistic Society and Freddy’s Fight for Life, a charity established to help a four-year-old. The couple wants to help raise the £100,000 needed for the child’s surgery in the US to remove a fibroma from his heart, according to the Somersetlive website. on the website, Moretti said they couple had bought the Paphos villa in 2012 and have spent every summer on the island since. “We are reluctantly parting with it as we need to realize the funds for a new venture,” they say on the website. “Instead of selling it the traditional way, we thought we would do something a bit different, and allow anyone the opportunity to own their own property in this beautiful country – whilst helping some worthy causes in the process, Moretti told Somersetlive. The raffle is open until February 1, 2018 but will be moved forward if they have not met their target of £400,000 goal. They hope to sell 200,000 tickets to cover the value of the property and all associated purchase costs, such as stamp duty, land registry tax, purchaser’s legal fees, and to complete any last minute jobs to ensure the house “is as perfect as possible for the next owner”. No more than 200,000 tickets will be sold and the raffle will be closed at that point, according to the terms and conditions. If the maximum number of paid entries to the Competition is not reached by the closing date, the proceeds will either be deemed sufficient to award the villa as a prize at the discretion of the promoters, or the remaining funds will be allocated as a cash prize to a winner after the deduction of any expenses plus a charitable donation of 10 per cent of funds raised. The winner of this Competition will be chosen at random by software, from all valid entries received and verified by the promoters, and in the presence of independent witnesses and a solicitor. The villa in the Paphos village of Kathikas is described as having three double bedrooms, three bathrooms and an open plan ground floor and a pool.