Brad Pitt let his 105-year-old neighbour live in his $40m home rent free until his death

'He was very, very kind to the husband'

The Academy Award winner purchased the 1.9-acre property in 1994 for a reported $1.7 million from Elvira, Mistress of the Dark star Cassandra Peterson, People reported, and held onto it for nearly 30 years before selling it for $40 million in March.

The publication noted that the sprawling LA estate was home to one more resident than Pitt probably expected.

Peterson told People how she sold her home to the Bullet Train star and how he ended up playing landlord to a man who lived to be 105-years-old.

She said there were "like 22" houses on the edges of Pitt's property which he purchased every time one became available.

One belong to a man in his early nineties, John, so Pitt made a deal with him: he offered to buy John's house from him but would let him carry on living there, rent free, for the rest of his life.

"He was very, very kind to the husband," Peterson told People.

"His wife passed away and the husband, John, lived there. I know that Brad allowed him to live there without paying anything until he died."

Amusingly, the deal probably lasted longer than Pitt had expected, Peterson said: "It was kind of funny because John lived to be 105."

The actress joked that John "just kept living forever," adding, "I imagine Brad was thinking well, you know, he can live there till he dies, which might be any minute now."

Peterson, who became Pitt's neighbour, buying a house next door after she sold him hers, spoke with him over the years and described him as "always kind and sweet".

She described how she came across Pitt as he was preparing for his role in Fight Club.

She recalled: "I go past Brad's garage and he's in there wearing only sweatpants. He's got on boxing gloves and he is punching a bag. I swear I almost fainted."

"I remember he goes, 'Hey, how are you?' and I'm like, 'Huh?' I couldn't talk. I was turning red. I felt like I was fainting," she continues. "He's just so stunningly, stunningly handsome — and nice, to top it off."

Pitt's estate is where he and ex-wife, Angelina Jolie, 47, raised their six children — Maddox, 21, Pax, 19, Zahara, 18, Shiloh, 16, and 14-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne. The couple split in 2016.