High-living fashion family owe a pile in unpaid rent

'The Family', from left, Scott, Denise, Crunchie the dog, Patrick, Victoria and Matthew. Photo / Supplied

Family members of a former richlister walked out of their luxury fashion store owing more than $350,000 in unpaid rent.

The retired owner of the premises said he was plunged to the brink of financial ruin by the debt.

Denise and Victoria Williams - wife and stepdaughter of failed property developer Pat Rippin - rented the Newmarket store for their Double Exposure vintage clothing label, which sold the barely worn threads of celebrities such as Paris Hilton.

Retired Air New Zealand pilot Ross Crawford said they walked out owing more than $140,000.

Victoria's brother Matthew rented an office upstairs under a company name of Sun Valley Ltd. Crawford said "he never paid a cent in rent" and left owing more than $225,000.

The office was also used by Rippin during his bankruptcy.

The Herald on Sunday can also reveal Rippin is being investigated for allegedly concealing income and assets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars during his bankruptcy.

Crawford said the family left a "disgusting mess" earlier this year when they vacated the premises, which cost $19,000 to return to a lettable condition.

"We nearly lost our house over this," said the Tauranga man, who agreed to speak after he was approached by the Herald on Sunday.

"We were probably more than a little naive but we [pinned] our hopes on their repeated promises ... because we felt that in a recession, we would be very lucky to find new tenants."

The Williams moved to a new premises on Broadway in Newmarket and changed the store's name to Second Thoughts.

They soon fell into rent arrears and last week moved out owing $30,000 in unpaid rent.

The landlord, who asked not to be named, said he had dealt with Victoria's sister Maria Williams.

When he contacted her asking for the unpaid rent, she told him "the company has ceased business and has no realisable assets".

When contacted, Maria Williams at first claimed to know nothing of the Newmarket lease, and then said they had been "pushed into a corner".

The Rippin-Williams group starred in reality TV show The Family in 2007 which charted their decadent lifestyle and were then dubbed New Zealand's version of the Osbournes.

A year later, Rippin was declared bankrupt and in 2010 he attempted to sell his own life insurance policy.

A Tenancy Tribunal ruling against Maria showed she also owed just under $9000 to property agent Ed Meili, whom she had rented a room from at the Heritage Hotel.

Meili said: "She claimed that she was famous and there had been 20/20 documentaries made about her - but she was easily the worst tenant I have ever had."

OFFICIAL SEARCH FOR CASH AND ASSETS

The Official Assignee David Harte confirmed this week he was investigating whether Patrick Rippin attempted to conceal income and assets during his bankruptcy.

The amount is understood to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Rippin still has the support of powerful friends, including former Auckland mayor John Banks.

The Act candidate for Epsom denied Rippin had been asking his friends for money.

"Pat Rippin has been a friend for 40 years, I'm not going to engage in gossip. If Pat wants money, he knows where to get money." Rippin, who lives in a rented million dollar property in one of Auckland's richest streets in St Marys Bay, refused to answer questions.

Rippin once controlled a $60 million fortune. He was bankrupted after going guarantor on a loan for his stepdaughter Maria Williams.