The grim find came after the stench from the neighbouring property became unbearable.

Andrea Fraser also found maggots on top of cupboards and worktops – but council housing staff said the house was fit for her to live in with her two young children.

However, she has now been moved out into temporary accommodation where she will stay until her home has been fumigated and cleaned.

The body of her neighbour was found in the upstairs flat in Affric Drive, Langlees, late in the evening of June 17.

Police believe he may have lain in his home for up to a week.

Andrea (28), a finance student at Forth Valley College, said she last saw him the week before his body was discovered.

She first noticed a strange smell in her flat on Saturday, June 13, and, by the middle of the following week, it had become intolerable.

The mum said: "I'd had a chest infection and been in bed for a few days. But when I got up the smell in the kitchen was unbearable.

''I pulled out appliances and bleached everywhere but you could still smell it.

"My dad came round and he noticed it straight away. I phoned the council and they said it was probably a blocked drain and they'd put it through as an emergency.

"I thought that I'd go upstairs and check if he had a problem.

''That's when I noticed that there was a letter hanging out of the letterbox and, when I pushed it open, the smell was rotten.

''I realised that I'd never heard him moving about so phoned the council straight away."

Later that evening, when nobody from the local authority had been round, Andrea's father, Robert Fraser, made an emergency call to the police.

After going in to the flat, they came back and told Andrea a body had been discovered.

She said: "It's terrible to think he was lying there.

"The awful smell remained in my flat and the close was reeking.

''I contacted the council again and they said they'd get me a spray from environmental health.

''Someone from the housing office came out at the beginning of the week and said she couldn't smell anything, so it was all right.

"But when I found the maggots it was terrible. The council's pest control officers said they couldn't do anything until the source was found."

Andrea's two youngsters, Lewis (4) and Abbie (2), had to be cared for by relatives because the smell was so bad and she was unable to use the kitchen for cooking.

She added: "I began cleaning it all out and that's when I found about 30 dead maggots. But I couldn't believe it when I saw the blood dripping down the wall onto the cupboard. I just threw everything out, it was so shocking."

Council workmen turned up last Friday and took down some of Andrea's kitchen cupboards.

Hours later the dead man's flat was stripped bare by a team wearing full protective clothing.

Fixtures and fittings were being put in a vehicle to be taken away and destroyed.

The young family was eventually moved to temporary accommodation in River Street, Bainsford, where they will stay until their home and the upstairs flat have been made habitable again.

Andrea hasn't been told how long she will have to remain there, but it could be several weeks.

A spokesperson for Falkirk Council said: "Ms Fraser has been temporarily rehoused in furnished accommodation until she can move back to Affric Drive.

''Her belongings have been put in storage."

Police confirmed a body had been discovered in a flat in Affric Drive on June 17, adding there were no suspicious circumstances.