The 56-year-old’s body lay undiscovered inside his apartment after he died in the autumn of 2013.
Shocked neighbours in the Madrid neighbourhood of San Blas told police they knew he suffered from liver problems but claimed the last time they had seen him he was leaving by ambulance and they presumed he had died in hospital.
A locksmith forced entry to the third-floor flat after accompanying court officials armed with the eviction order – and it was then they discovered why he hadn’t been keeping up with his mortgage payments.
The death of the former Telefonica worker, who lived alone and has been named only as Augustin, is being investigated by police but there is no initial evidence pointing to a violent death.
A neighbour who asked not to be named told Spanish daily El Mundo: “I think they came round asking after him from the bank one day but we don’t know what happened.
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“They had disconnected the water and electricity but obviously no-one had ever thought he might be dead.”
Another said: “Augustin was ill but we thought he had died in hospital. The last time we saw him alive was in 2013 when an ambulance came to take him away. We never saw him again.”
Local reports said none of the neighbours – apart from a woman living on the same floor as the dead man – had noticed a tell-tale bad smell that might have indicated something was wrong.
His postbox was full with unopened mail left over the years when the shock discovery was made.
It was not clear today if a post-mortem has already taken place.
Police were unable to make any immediate official comment this morning/yesterday morning (THURS).
The area where the dead man lived is near to a park called Parque El Paraiso – Paradise Park in English.
It is the largest park in the San Blas neighbourhood, which is in the east of the Spanish capital and includes the district of Samancas where the flat was.