UK television programs about France

UK television has a lot to answer for when it comes to providing accurate information about buying and owning property in France.  I got this e-mail yesterday:

I was watching a programme on tele and it said if you have a property in
France and rent it out for holiday lets.  It said even if you just let it
to your favourite Aunty for 50 pence you must inform the authorities.  If
you don’t you will be liable to be penalised and will receive a heavy fine.
I wouldn’t know who to inform if I get any rentals from my internet
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I’m sure that they were talking about paying income tax on any revenue generated by renting your French property.  And so you should.  Not that everyone does.

My issue with this is that the information was presented in a way that made this woman think she has to tell someone every time she rents her flat. 

There have been a raft of programs in the past 4 years about buying property in France.  They seem to be rerun fairly regularly.  Programs that show people buying property for a song.  If you sell real estate in France you can always tell when the programs have run because you start getting enquiries from people who have a 100,000 euro budget and are looking for a renovated 3 bedroom house with a garden in the Aude. 

How hard would it be for the producers to add a disclaimer to their programs?  "Real estate prices in the Aude have risen significantly since this program was made in 2001"  They could just run it as a banner across the bottom of the screen a few times during the show.  It would save a lot of frustration and disappointment.

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