Chalet in the Alps for 200,000 euros?

If you get your skates on you can pick up a 235 m2 chalet at the foot of the ski runs in Grand Bornand for 200,000 euros. The fantastic wooden chalet. valued at 600,000 euros is due to go to auction on the 11th of June at the the Annecy High Court (tribunal de Grande instance)

There has to be a catch, you are probably thinking. The building, dubbed the “chalet of horror” by the local paper (The Dauphine Libere) is the former residence of the Flactif family. Xavier Flactif, a local estate agent, his wife and their three children were brutally murdered in April 2003 by David Hyotat, a jealous neighbour. Hyotat had put it about that the Flactifs owed money and had fled the country. Forensic experts found blood patterns consistent with a violent crime in the chalet and Hyotat was the prime suspect. He got life following a trial in 2006.

The chalet has been closed by court order since the crime was discovered. There has apparently been quite a bit of interest in the auction. No doubt another local estate agent wishing to palm it off on some unsuspecting foreigners. Don’t worry about the blood. David Hyotat and his ex did a pretty good job of cleaning the property.