Michael Jackson is to lose his eccentric American property, The Neverland Ranch, unless he can raise $25 million in the next three weeks.

The onetime King of Pop will see the property, a child’s wonderland complete with carnival rides and a mock Tudor mansion, auctioned on March 19 after Financial Title Co. filed a trustee’s sale notice with Santa Barbara County Superior Court.

The ranch, named after the island in the JM Barrie novel Peter Pan where children never grow up, will be auctioned on March 19, according to Julie Wagner, a manager at the San Francisco-based Financial Title Co.

Court documents warn Jackson, 49, that he has until the date of the auction to take action to maintain ownership of the unusual estate, situated in Los Olivos, north-west of Santa Barbara.

If the property does go to auction, the initial asking price is expected to be higher than the £25 million (£12 million) Jackson owes because of interest and other costs.

Everything would be up for sale, from the estate's merry-go-round, locomotives and sculptures, to the curtains and bath tubs.

The reclusive star hasn’t lived at Neverland since 2005 when he was tried and acquitted on child molestation charges. In 2006, authorities ordered the sprawling estate to be boarded up, after the singer failed to pay his staff or to maintain adequate insurance.

Jackson bought the property in 1987, the same year his hit record Bad was released, and set about turning it into a child’s fantasy playground. At one point, the estate housed a zoo, complete with giraffe, lion and alpacas.

At his trial, defence lawyers famously described Neverland as a child’s fantasy-land where underprivileged children spent time playing while Jackson, known on the ranch as The Silver Fox, sat atop a tree thinking.

The foreclosure comes as Jackson attempts to relaunch his stalled music career. Last month, the singer released his first new song in seven years in the form of a remixed version of his hit single The Girl Is Mine. Originally a duet with Sir Paul McCartney, the song has been re-released as a collaboration with Black Eyed Peas musician Will.i.am.

He has also put out an album, Thriller 25, to mark the 25th anniversary of his record-breaking release. Now at No. 6 on the UK album chart, Jackson's comeback is proving much more of a success than his last attempt. In November 2006, Jackson was booked to perform at the World Music Awards, his first appearance since his child molestation trial, but he managed only a few faltering notes.

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