IF YOUR house won’t sell, raffle it. An ex-soldier and his wife, fed up with waiting for a buyer for their French chateau and keen to raise money for a business venture, are to give the house away as a prize in an online competition.

Patrick Rosney, 43, bought Chateau d’Andrivaux in the Dordogne five years ago. He put the property on the market last July, with agents valuing it, he said, at up to £890,000.

Now Rosney is planning to sell tickets to win the chateau at £45 each and, if there are enough takers for the tickets, two sports cars — a Jaguar XK8 convertible and an Aston Martin DB9 — will also be on offer.

The 16th-century property has failed to shift, despite its 11 bedrooms and 105 acres.

Rosney, originally from the Wirral, said: “We often feast on boar because I allow hunters to use the land . . . and I’ve seen a stag on the front terrace.”

The chateau, which is also described as a mas, or large manor house, was overhauled in the 1930s and has a swimming pool, ancient walnut staircase and large terraces.

Rosney said he and Jacqueline, his Panamanian wife, had substantially restored the property after buying it for £300,000. The couple’s five children like to cycle through the vast rooms.

Rosney plans to launch the competition today, with the winning draw made in August, by which time he hopes to have sold tens of thousands of tickets.

So as not to fall foul of laws regulating gambling, the competition is not strictly a raffle. It will have a competitive element, including a cricketing spot-the-ball, said Rosney.

He has engaged Fabien Cordiez, an English-speaking French lawyer based in Nice, to oversee the “sale” of the chateau.

Andrew Gregg, a Bristol-based lawyer with expertise in French property law, said that exchanging properties in France using internet competitions was a largely unexplored area of the law.

“You’re taking a bit of a punt, but if you’re a gambler, you might want to have a go,” he said. “But you would want to make sure it was all compliant with building regulations and there’s not an airport or bypass on the way, or other claimants coming out of the woodwork.”

The house sits in an idyllic spot beside the River Isle, and Rosney is offering it furnished.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor