Weston-super-Mare couple raffling home for £3 'failed by technology'

Leoni Webb and Declan Garrett are married and have seven children from previous relationships

A couple who tried to raffle their four-bedroom home for £3 a ticket say they have been "failed by technology".

The owners had hoped to raise the funds to upsize with their seven children after being refused a new mortgage.

But after selling only 19,680 tickets for the £350,000 Somerset house, the family will instead award a £44,000 cash prize to one ticket holder.

The website which hosted the raffle said it had extended the deadline after the site crashed amid "crazy" demand.

Raffique will release 75% of the paid-for ticket sales as a cash prize as per its terms and conditions if all tickets are not sold.

Leoni Webb, 35, and Declan Garrett, 38, whose house is in Worle near Weston-super-Mare, said they were told by four mortgage lenders they had "affordability issues" because of the size of their family.

The four-bedroom home in Worle was valued at £350,000 and the winner would have had legal costs and stamp duty paid

Ms Webb said: "We knew that we were going to be able to sell quite a lot of tickets.

"We executed our plan perfectly but we were failed by the technology at the last minute.

She said there were "hundreds of thousands of people logging on at the same time" to try and buy a ticket and the site crashed.

Despite not reaching their goal, Ms Webb said the raffle had been "a good idea" and she would do it again, although it took "a lot of work" over four months.

'Place of acceptance'

"I've been up and down but I'm now at a place of acceptance. It's OK," she added.

The family now plan to extend the home to "make it work" for them size-wise, starting with plans to create a bigger dining room.

Ms Webb said they had "such a positive response from people that have come forward with ideas" to help them.

"It's been really great," she added.

The family are now looking at adapting the home they already live in

Although the owners will receive no money from the deal, Ms Webb said: "I still stand by the idea behind it - we absolutely could have done it."

Raffique, which will keep 25% of the proceeds from the raffle, said it was in contact with the couple and had "reimbursed their costs".

A spokesperson said the site's infrastructure was being evaluated and the draw for the cash prize will take place on Thursday.