I won the £4,500,000 Omaze London house — goodbye, studio flat

When Roger Cana entered the prize draw for an Omaze house worth £4,500,000, he spent just £35 on his entry – and now that he’s won, he’s ended his ‘unlucky’ streak.

The 37-year-old father-to-be and his 33-year-old wife Shalini have scooped the Georgian townhouse, which is in the heart of the capital on London’s South Bank – as well as a £250,000 cash prize to help them get settled in.

The four-bedroom, five-storey property has uninterrupted views of The Shard, an iconic London landmark that, 12 years from its opening, is still visited by up to 6,000 people each day.

The house itself is steeped in history. Outside the front, there’s a ghostly Take Courage sign which has faded over the years, a subtle hint to its links to the former Anchor Brewery.

The couple currently rent a studio flat in Hayes – and now have the choice of moving in, renting it out (which estate agents estimate would accrue between £8,000 and £10,000 per month) or selling up to become instant millionaires.

And they’re already leaning towards staying here to build their family home.

Ahead of welcoming their baby boy in September, the couple had been saving for a deposit to buy a house – but now, that’s no longer necessary.

‘I’ve always considered myself quite unlucky, as I’ve never won anything before this, but I guess I can’t say that anymore,’ Roger says of his win.

When he found out he’d won, it was ‘just another Friday.’ All day, he’d been working hard – and then he received an email from Omaze telling him that he’d ‘won something.’

The next thing he knew, they were at the door – and when they broke the news, Roger and Shalini ‘couldn’t believe it.’

‘My legs were shaking, and my knees went wobbly. We were in total shock,’ he adds.

‘We had a bottle of champagne in the house, so we popped that open and got cooking. We always celebrate good times with good food.’

When they called their families, they initially thought the pair were ‘joking’ – but when they came around from their ‘disbelief,’ they were delighted for them.

As soon as Roger saw the house for the first time, he got ‘butterflies.’

‘The furnishings are beautiful, which is great for us as we don’t have much of our own because we live in a studio flat,’ he shares.

‘We could probably move here with all our belongings just packed into an Uber, maybe we’d get an Exec now though!’

Before his big win, Roger had entered every single Omaze prize draw in London – and now, the memory is ‘up there’ both with his wedding day and finding out they were pregnant.

‘It’s definitely the best baby present ever. We’ll raise our son in one of the nicest areas in London, it’s just unbelievable,’ he says.

‘We’re normally used to seeing the neighbour’s laundry from our back garden, but now we’ve got views of The Shard.’

Ever since Roger first moved to the UK from India eight years ago, he’s dreamed of owning a property here.

‘I work in hospitality, but now someone else can bring me the champagne for a change,’ he says, adding that all they needed was ‘£35 and a big slice of luck.’

‘This has changed our lives forever – our baby’s future is now more secure than we could have ever imagined. It’s the best feeling in the world. Even our baby’s babies will be sorted.’

They’ll also be able to bring their family over to visit the UK for the first time – and Roger looks forward to them marking ‘a stay in style.’

‘No sofa beds or 3-star hotels for them,’ he concludes.

‘The sign on the house says ‘Take Courage’ and I believe there is a message in that for us about our future – it’s very special.’

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