Although This Story,

was first published in 1995,

I have only just found it and thought it interesting, it appears that in France it is common when you wish to purchase an apartment to pay the owner who is living there a rent until He or She dies, the apartment then becomes the property of the buyer who paid the rent, the term used is "en viager," or "for life," the elderly owner gets to enjoy a monthly income from the buyer, who gambles on getting a real estate bargain, provided the owner dies in due time, upon the owner's death, the buyer inherits the apartment, regardless of how much was paid, there is a catch however, Andre-Francois Raffray thought he had a great deal 30 years ago: He would pay a 90-year-old woman 2,500 francs (about $500) a month until she died, then move into her grand apartment in a town Vincent van Gogh once roamed, but this Christmas, Mr. Raffray died at age 77, having laid out the equivalent of more than $184,000 for an apartment he never got to live in, and the bad news for the family of the now deceased Mr. Raffray is that his descendants have to continue to pay the rent until the now 120 year old tenant dies, a case of buyer beware!