Having put his palatial home of 45 years up for sale in January, Hugh Hefner has now found a buyer for the Playboy Mansion.

The media and entertainment mogul has sold the famous – or is that infamous? – Los Angeles property for a "nine digit" sum, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The buyer is The Hef's billionaire heir next-door neighbour. Daren Metropoulos is the son of Greek-American private equity banker Dean Metropoulos. The family owns Hostess, the company which makes Twinkies, a popular American snack cake.

He purchased the property next to the Playboy Mansion in 2009.

As part of the deal, he has agreed to a couple of quite unusual terms for real estate – Hefner, now 90, is allowed to live out the rest of his life on the 7.3 acre property and, once he has passed away, his bedroom must be left untouched.

Metropoulos intends to return the mansion to its 1927 roots architectural roots and it looks like the debauched, celebrity and Playboy Bunny-filled parties that have taken place there since the '70s will become a thing of the past.

Metropoulos said:

"The heritage of this property transcends its celebrity, and to have the opportunity to serve as its steward would be a true privilege."

He also intends to unite the Playboy Mansion with his current Holmby Hills property.

Hefner originally bought the mansion in 1971 for a little over $1 million.

The 29-room mansion was valued at $200 million dollars at the start of the year. Analysts believe Hefner's asking price was excessive, considering the unorthodox terms that went along with it.

The sale comes amid reports that the entire Playboy adult entertainment group is up for grabs.

The group has struggled to adapt to the changing fortunes of the print industry in recent years – circulation of its flagship magazine has fallen from a peak of 5.6m copies to just 800,000 last year.

If sold, it is expected to take over $500m.