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Govt rejects anger over dead man unnoticed for 1year. New South Wales Housing Minister Matt Brown has defended his department after the severely decomposed body of a public housing tenant was found up to a year after he died. Police discovered the 64-year-old man's body in a Yagoona unit, in south-west Sydney, on Tuesday after being contacted by a neighbour, who was concerned because the man's letterbox was overflowing. Distraught neighbours yesterday lashed out at authorities for not checking on the man earlier. But the NSW Housing Department today said it had a difficult time reaching him because he had no phone. Its director-general, Mike Allen, said neighbours and friends were better placed to check up on tenants. Mr Brown is standing by the department, saying staff do not have the resources to check on every public housing tenant. "I do not have dedicated staff nor will I direct there to be dedicated staff to go and tap on people's doors," he said. "No landlord does that." The NSW Opposition says the Government failed to implement an earlier promise to check on tenants every six months. But Mr Brown says it is difficult to check on the welfare of every public housing tenant "We were alerted earlier this week by a neighbour that they were concerned about this particular tenant," he said. "The department went out there, tapped on the door, left a note under the door, but at the end of the day, we also have to respect the privacy of our tenants. "If particular people want to be left alone, like any landlord, we need to respect that." There was a spate of similar incidents in 2006, when the bodies of three elderly people whose deaths had gone unnoticed for more than six months were discovered within 13 days of each other. In response, Housing NSW announced the Care Call service to ensure older residents could opt to be called regularly, but it is not yet operating.