It has exhausted avenues to resolve a rubbish issue in a David St, Caversham, house owned by a compulsive hoarder and is going through the courts to recoup costs.
The "regrettable" decision resulted in the property going on the market last month, council environmental health team leader Ros MacGill said yesterday.
The property, owned by Kenneth Gray, had been cleaned by council workers 15 times since 2003, at a cost of between $1000 and $3000 each time.
It is understood Mr Gray is now living in his car.
Rodents and rotting food had been found inside the house and under the Health Act the council was required to clean it.
"If it's a nuisance, we are obliged to clean it out. It's very, very difficult for the neighbours. It's quite offensive from a smell point of view," Ms MacGill said.
Each time the council cleaned the property, it informed the owner it was entitled to recoup costs. However, numerous attempts to get payment had failed, as well as attempts to force him to maintain his property.
Ms MacGill said the decision to recoup costs was not taken lightly and the council was acting in the interest of ratepayers and neighbours.
Advertisements for the property say it is for sale "as is where is" and "no internal viewing will be available".
Despite these terms, "amazing interest" had been shown in the two-bedroom brick townhouse, Cutlers real estate agent Bob Griffiths said.
It went on the market last weekend and will go under the hammer on April 16 "complete with the rubbish".
Mr Griffiths had no idea what the property would sell for but did not expect it to be near its capital value of $160,000.
About 20 sets of particulars for the auction had been handed out already and, despite describing it as "an absolute shambles", he believed the property was popular because "it's a bit of an icon".
Residents of David St will hope for a quick sale as one woman, who did not want to be identified, referred to it as "the dump".
The owner of the property referred to his rubbish as "recycling", she said.
She felt sorry for the council workers who cleaned the house. They wore white suits, gumboots and face masks. One came out of the house dry retching, she said.
