UPDATE: A body has been removed from a Peace St address this afternoon.
Funeral directors removed the body just after 2pm.
Earlier a Rotorua locksmith was called to the property to unlock a door.
The locksmith later told the Rotorua Daily Post it was not the usual sort of callout they received. However, he said they had a contractual arrangement with the police for confidentiality and were unable to comment further.
Police and forensic experts are still carrying out investigations at the property.
''At this stage we have to confirm things and we are waiting for the coroner but we will be looking to it more today,'' he said.
''Forensic scientists will travel down from Auckland to help investigate the incident today.''
A scene guard was in place at the property overnight.
The scene guard at the scene this morning said the body was still inside the house and the resident who lived in the apartment above had stayed there last night.
Peace St resident Mike Tennent said he arrived home about 5.30pm and there were a couple of people talking to the police.
"There was an older person who used to live there but the house had been empty for a few months. Then it looked like a flatting situation. There's always multiple cars parked outside.
The Peace St property. Photo/Ben Fraser
"The police cleared out about 6.30pm, there were no flood lights or anything like that that they would usually have in a murder scene.
"If it's a suicide or a drug overdose then those can happen anywhere, but if it's a murder we start to worry a touch but usually things happen for a reason and it's not like someone was shooting up the neighbourhood."
A nearby neighbour said she knew the man who lived in the house where the body lay and she had spoken to him on a number of occasions.
She said he had rented out the top apartment and lived by himself in the bottom apartment.
