It may be some people’s dreams to buy a castle, but it can be a nightmare if you get one for free. “It is a very heavy load for people who inherit a castle,” laments Marie-Henriette de Montabert, 74, whose family has owned Chateau de Boucard, south of Paris, since 1720. She lives alone on the ground floor of a tower retrofitted with a kitchen, bath and heat. “All of the castle owners have the same problem — how to save your castle.”
About 90 per cent of the country’s chateaux — everything from castles to large manor houses — are not maintained properly because their owners cannot afford it. One owner concludes: “What’s the use? Should we keep this place for nothing? It’s not making my family happy. They can’t help it. It’s anachronistic to live in a place like this.”

Link