Struggling refugee had been living in his car in months before discovery of his toddler alone in unit with her dead father's body

A two-year-old girl has been found alone in a unit with the body of her Iraqi refugee father Hasel Liu, 31, who had been dead for days.

He moved to Australia for a better life, but due to Australia's housing crisis, he and his daughter spent time living in a car near The Spit on the northern Gold Coast. 

Mr Liu, who had recently complained of feeling unwell, was reportedly separated from his former partner, who is the child's mother, and he was the primary carer. 

After the period of homelessness last year, a charity service arranged for him and his daughter to stay in a hotel, the Courier-Mail  reported, and they later moved into an apartment in Coolangatta. 

It was in that Stapylton St home that his body was discovered at around 11.30 on Good Friday morning by Queensland Police. 

The officers were there to perform a welfare check after a call from a relative who said they had not been able to contact Mr Liu since Tuesday. 

The shocked officers found his dead body and his toddler daughter inside the property.

Mr Liu is thought to have been dead for up to three days. 

The child was taken to Tweed Heads Hospital for a check up and has since been reunited with her mother.

A neighbour who did not wish to be named told the Courier-Mail that Mr Liu was 'a lovely, lovely man' who had lived in the building for a few months.

'He loved it here and he loved his daughter. She was the most important thing in his world.

'They didn't have much, but they had each other and the mother would come to visit,' the neighbour said.

Mr Liu's death is reportedly non-suspicious, but its cause is being investigated.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.