Police raided an Avonhead house and found several elaborate cannabis grow rooms inside. (Video first published in June 2018)

Police have uncovered a high-end cannabis growing operation worth several hundred thousand dollars inside a three-bedroom home in a middle-class Christchurch suburb.

Acting on some information received by the Offender Prevention Team, police found the "cannabis warehouse" – believed to have been running for up to five years – and about $200,000 worth of the drug growing inside on Tuesday morning.

Stuff was given a tour of the nondescript home on Staveley St, Avonhead.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Police believe the operation could have been going for up to five years.

"This is quite a bizarre one," Acting Sergeant James Van Eerden​ said.

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The house and garage had been fully converted for the operation, with all the carpet gone. The living room was like a jungle, with fake ivy and fruit over the walls and the ceiling. Ornamental animals including elephants and leopards were scattered in the foliage.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Police tore down the garage door soon after they arrived at the house on Tuesday.

Each of the rooms was filled with marijuana in various stages of growth, except for the homeowner's bedroom. In one of the other bedrooms, which had been converted into a seedlings room, was a set of typed instructions for the various stages of growing cannabis.

"The house is a tip and he's living in squalor, however the operation is quite sophisticated," Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Ford said.

"He's got a reasonable cycle going and there's evidence that he's selling or distributing that end product to the community."

DAVID WALKER/STUFF The seemingly ordinary three-bedroom house contained several elaborate cannabis grow rooms.

Police tore down the garage door soon after they arrived at the house on Tuesday, and found the second half of the operation. About 110 cannabis plants were inside, along with several extractor fans, timers, and a filter running through a rubbish bin.

Ford said it appeared the 54-year-old homeowner was the main cultivator, but it was not yet known whether anyone else was involved in the operation.

Van Eerden, who estimated the monthly power bill would be as much as the yearly bill for most homeowners, believed the operation had been going for about five years.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Ornamental animals and fake ivy is strewn through the living room.

"You can tell this is experienced."

About 20 police staff spent the day examining the house.

"We did think it would be big, but not like this. We don't see this sort of thing every day," Van Eerden said.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Cannabis is growing throughout the garage.

Ford said the homeowner had been charged with cultivating cannabis and possession of cannabis for supply. He is due to appear in the Christchurch District Court later this week.

A neighbour, who had been living on the street for about two years, said she had only seen the man who lived there a handful of times.

"I walk past that house all the time. I didn't notice anything."

DAVID WALKER/STUFF Police raided the Avonhead home about 8am on Tuesday.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF About $200,000 worth of cannabis has been found at the property.

DAVID WALKER/STUFF The house contains several elaborate cannabis grow rooms.