A single mum living in a council house who was registered homeless just a few years ago was left stunned after winning £500,000 to put towards a five-bed mortgage-free pad.
When Angelika Wisniewska purchased her £5 ticket in a property raffle, she didn’t hold high hopes of winning.
Now, the 34-year-old – who is mum to Cornelia, 10, and Ella, eight, is the proud owner of a five-bed house in Carlisle and finally has the “freedom” she’s always craved.
Angelika entered the Tramway Path, prize draw, after seeing other people win homes through the London-based property business.
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She spotted the draw while on the way back from the dentist with the kids, when an ad popped up on Facebook as she was handing her phone over to her eldest daughter, and she decided to enter on a whim.
“I’ve never won anything [before] – maybe a pound in a scratch card,” said the mum, who is originally from Poland but has been living in the UK for the past decade.
“We were joking that one day we were going to win a big, big jackpot.”
Speaking about her family’s living situation before the win, Angelika, a hairdresser, explained that after splitting with the children’s father, she had to move in with her sister.
She said: “I was basically homeless.
“I registered myself as a homeless person to the government and within a couple of months they offered me a house where I could live with the kids.
“It’s just the council house, [they] are not the best.
“The whole – over two years – journey of refurbishing the whole place took a lot out of me.”
The mum entered the raffle towards the end of last year, purchasing a £5 ticket online and was stunned to win the huge prize draw.
Tramway Path has previously given away three apartments in one go worth £500,000 in Bristol city centre, as well as several other homes across the UK.
The company is run by three brothers, Daniel, Jay and Will Twenefour, who are determined to shake up the property market.
Their latest draw was for £500,000 cash, to go towards securing the lucky winner their dream home.
For Angelika, this has meant scoring a five-bedroom home to raise her daughters, mortgage-free.
The home, which has a separate utility room and two living rooms, comes with a large garden and plush new bathroom – but also offers the opportunity for a modern revamp throughout.
She said: “It didn’t even cross my mind [that I’d win].”
Angelika added that it was the “most rewarding” thing she’d ever done, aside from having children.
One of her priorities when house hunting was finding a property with enough room to create a sensory space for her daughter Ella, who has autism and is non-verbal.
In a sweet clip of the brothers chatting with Angelika and her children after the win, the mum shares the big news with the girls, who seem thrilled with the prospect of having their own bedrooms.
When asked what impact the huge win has had one them, Angelika says simply: “Freedom.”
Describing her ideal home prior to purchasing it, she said she’d like a home with “character with solid foundations”.
She shared the news with her sister after winning the prize fund and plans to surprise the rest of her family once she has settled in to the home.
Luckily, she has since found the perfect pad, and is busy turning it into a home for her and her girls.
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