I'm willing to bet that this "lease arrangement" is also designed to
prevent
a family who has just been given a new house from immediately selling it off
for the money.

I suspect the homeowners have to sign a contract with ABC before going on
their vacation that, among other things, grants the show permission to alter
or tear down their house. I imagine there is language in that contract
which establishes who is responsible for payment of taxes, utilities,
maintenance, etc. There must surely also be a clause in there about the
minimum amount of time the family must wait before selling off any of the
assets.

You'll notice than on some shows there will be a ceremony at the end in
which the contractor or some other benefactor either presents the family
with a substantial check to offset the cost of maintaining the new house or,
in some cases, pays off their mortgage. It appears to vary according to the
needs of the homeowners. Therefore it is likely that the producers do
sufficient research to be sure they avoid leaving the family in a financial
predicament that would come back to haunt the show with negative publicity.

Something similar happened with Oprah Winfrey's famous car giveaway. She
filled her audience one day with deserving individuals and surprised them
all by giving each one a brand new Pontiac but soon thereafter stories
started appearing in the news that not everybody could afford the taxes on
those cars so some of the recipients were going to have to sell the cars and
others initially refused to accept them. It was a potential embarrassment
so her staff did some scrambling and eventually got General Motors to bump
up the prize to include paying the taxes for each winner.

Lee

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_________________________________
Lee Gordon
http://www.leegordonproductions.com