The hoarder who’d rather live in his ute than clean his house

HOARDER Ralph De Masi owns a million-dollar property, but it’s full of rubbish and he can’t live there. His solution is not to clean it up.

News. Melbourne Magistrates Court .Ralph Demasi junk yard guy from East Malvern .picture :Andrew Tauber

HOARDER Ralph De Masi says he is resigned to living in his ute after admitting he cannot clean two properties in East Malvern.

Mr De Masi, who is reputed to have a multimillion-dollar house with one of the city’s worst front yards, told Magistrate Donna Bakos he was expecting to be kicked out of the properties, which are owned by his parents, next week after his mother told him to "burn in hell".

Mr De Masi was last month given 30 days to clean up the mess, but today told Ms Bakos he could not get through it "I got through a fair bit but not as much as I though I would," Mr De Masi said.

Ralph Demasi outside court. Picture: Andrew Tauber

Rubbish at the property. Picture: Ellen Smith

Stonnington Council lawyer Matt Sherwell told the court if the properties were not cleaned up by January 2, the council would move in and bill the owners $3000.

Mr De Masi said he would have to live in his ute with his three dogs, which he said were like humans.

Mr De Masi escaped conviction after promising to be of good behaviour for 12 months.

Furious neighbours say they are at their wits end, describing the state of the junk, which includes car bonnets, scrap metal, discarded appliances, drums and old pieces of furniture, as ‘Australia’s worst front yard’. The mess even flows onto the nature strip.

Just a few doors down from the $1.4m property, a vacant block is littered with piles of junk from the same man, who also stores garbage in three vehicles on the street.

The court earlier heard Mr De Masi was taking the junk to a local scrap yard where he was getting $25 a tonne for it.

The mess includes car bonnets, scrap metal, discarded appliances, drums and old pieces of furniture.

Originally published as The hoarder who’d rather live in his ute than clean his house