Lawyer Jay Lovely, acting for house owner Ken Gray, said yesterday he was concerned by an implication the sale included the chattels in, and around, the house.
Mr Lovely could not be specific about what the chattels comprised, but they were generally "those items on site which are resting on their own weight".
"Of concern is the fact that people who will be attending at the auction may think that the junk on site is included in the sale - it is not."
Mr Lovely could not say what Mr Gray intended doing with it.
The house is being sold as a result of action taken by the Dunedin City Council to recover legal and cleaning costs of more than $50,000.
The council has arranged 15 "clean-outs" of the property in the past six years and considers it has exhausted avenues to resolve the rubbish issue at the house.
In a letter to the editor yesterday, Dunedin resident Stuart Spurr described the decision to sell Mr Gray's house as irresponsible.
"I would suggest by taking his home from him, the problem is only being compounded, not resolved," Mr Spurr said.
"What is our city coming to when we see someone into the street, so to speak?"Mr Gray is understood to be living in his car.
Mr Spurr said when contacted last night he did not know Mr Gray, but felt putting him out of his house was "just pushing the problem into another neighbourhood".
