Man sells house in web lottery

An unemployed Spaniard unable to pay his mortgage and desperate to sell his apartment, has resorted to an internet lottery in a bid to offload his property and his debt.

Miguel Marina Rodriguez, has set up a dedicated website for his Madrid flat which he bought in 2005. He needs to sell 64,000 tickets on his website to obtain his €320,000 (about £252,000) valuation.

Mr Rodriguez was forced to put his apartment on the market in April but has been unable to find a buyer, a situation worsened by the global property downturn.

After a sleepless night he turned to the internet.

"The idea was simple, I divided the price of my apartment into five-euro parts... For each five euros, you have the chance to win the apartment," he said.

Already over 1,800 tickets have been purchased and the draw will be carried out when the full complement is taken up.

The internet lottery winner will take the property free of any mortgage commitments, solicitors' fees or tax.

In March Web User reported the case of an Australian man who put his entire life's contents on eBay for one Australian dollar (about 50p).

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