NormanH

This is one site which explains it (in French) http://www.empruntis.com/financement/guide/pret-relais.php

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article3716586.ece

http://www.paris-sorbonne.fr/fr/spip.php?article3731

I wonder if you can win on this. Think about it like this: A foreigner arrives, buys a property which is not for living in permanently, only as a Holiday home, and then starts to put everybody's backs up by trying to change arrangements which have gone on happily for ages. I can see that it is irritating for you, but have you thought about how you appear to the locals? I don't know about France, but I know it wouldn't have gone down well in rural parts of the UK

There is an interesting 'dossier' in le Figaro at the moment about prices http://www.lefigaro.fr/immobilier/2008/04/09/05002-20080409ARTWWW00375-special-immobilier-o-va-le-marche-.php