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A landlord bought a townhouse for £450,000 - then found it was piled five feet deep in tons of stinking rubbish after 40 years of hoarding.

Mehmet Koch, 33, thought he had picked up a bargain when the rambling property in Finsbury Park, north London at an auction without checking it out inside first.

But when he opened the door he discovered the four storey property’s 10 rooms were piled high with books, children’s toys, clothes, newspapers and old furniture.

Mr Koch, who bought the house - which used to belong to an elderly couple - with his brother Abbas, said: “There was no running water, no electricity and no gas. I thought I was having a nightmare, I have never seen anything like this before.

“We had come to see the property from the outside but the couple who live here would not let us in so we never saw inside, When we saw it, we just felt sorry for the people who lived here. I mean, how could anyone live like this in the 21st century?”

The 33-year-old said: “We just saw it and thought, ‘How the hell are we going to clean this up?’ We were just shocked.

“The house had been lived in since the 60s by an elderly couple, now in their 70s.

“I just had no idea what the inside of the house looked like. It’s a massive revelation.

“This was the first I saw of how bad it was as she never used to open the windows.”

However, angry scenes were sparked as workers began the clean-up operation after throwing everything into the front garden without arranging for a truck to collect it.

Islington council served notice on the landlords and the mess has since been removed.

Police were also heard rebuking locals after they started stealing items from the front garden of the house.

One neighbour said: “It’s shameless. It’s like stealing from a dead body. She was a lovely old woman and those are still her things.”

The woman and her husband are now said to be living in sheltered accommodation in the area.

The Koch brothers, who own about 10 premises as part of Kaya Properties, are now planning to turn the house into flats if they gain planning permission.