Owners of a £2 million flat in London are refusing to hand it over after making only £227,000 from a £10 raffle.

Property developers Harry Dee and Jonny Jackson were warned they would have to sell 200,000 tickets to reach the valuation price.

Instead of giving the keys to the winner, they now want to give £53,000 in a new prize draw and keep the rest for themselves.

The two owners say £120,000 of the money they’re keeping will go towards legal bills, VAT and marketing expenses.

The pair who run Gatsby Property say the rest will be ‘reinvested’ into a new property raffle business, The Times reports.

The fully furnished two-bedroom home, in South Kensington now lies empty, seven months after the raffle was announced.

Mr Dee, 28, from Beverley, East Yorkshire and Mr Jackson, 28, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, now don’t know whether to sell or rent the flat.

Mr Jackson said their right to keep most of the money is ‘explicit in the terms and conditions’.

He admitted ignoring warnings that it would be a challenge to raise enough money to cover the ‘very expensive flat’ which is close to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Mr Jackson added: ‘It was always going to be a bit of an uphill struggle to get to £2 million

‘We set up to do things differently, which I admit was slightly naive.’

The pair say they now want to set up a new raffle scheme with developers where they can ‘guarantee giving away a property every month’.

The contest, in which entrants had to answer a simple question to enter, was held on competition website Cadvius – Latin for windfall.

Buying agent Henry Pryor said: ‘If you want to play games then sell raffle tickets. If you want to actually sell a property then sober up and retain an expert to do it for you.

‘I am struggling to think of a single redeeming feature about this.’

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