Former All Black great Rodney So'oialo is being chased by debt collectors over $50,000 owed to a Lower Hutt builder. Photo /NZPA
Former All Black great Rodney So'oialo is being chased by debt collectors over $50,000 owed to a Lower Hutt builder. Photo /NZPA
A former All Black star and his wife owe more than $50,000 to a builder for unpaid work on their family home.
Rodney and Marilyn So'oialo purchased a house in Lower Hutt in 2019 and hired a local builder to convert a garage on the property into a "granny flat"for her recently widowed father to live in.
No deposit was paid upfront for the work because of Rodney So'oialo's stellar reputation as a 62-test All Black forward with a long professional career in New Zealand and Japan, according to the builder.
But the couple never paid any money towards the $50,000 bill for the renovation work.
Eventually the builder, TBS in Lower Hutt, engaged the services of debt collectors Baycorp to chase the unpaid invoice.
The So'oialos' debt of $50,000 climbed to $80,000 because of fees charged by Baycorp to chase the couple through the courts.
To stave off bankruptcy, the builder accepted two different offers from Marilyn So'oialo last year to pay the debt with a lump sum and weekly repayments.
The money never came through and she was declared bankrupt in the High Court at Wellington in November 2021.
Baycorp has not been able to serve bankruptcy documents on Rodney So'oialo because he has been working overseas as a rugby coach in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
So'oialo and his lawyer Tim Castle did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesman for TBS confirmed he still wanted Rodney So'oialo to pay the debt, and the building company intended to pursue bankruptcy proceedings against the former All Black when he returned to New Zealand.
"We haven't been paid a cent. It's just very disappointing."
Marilyn So'oialo spoke to the Herald on Sunday about the bankruptcy in a 35-minute on-the-record interview, but later withdrew her consent for her comments to be published.
She claimed TBS rejected her offers to settle the debt by payment plan, which the builder dismissed as "absolute rubbish".
"We bent over backwards to help these guys, which is why it dragged on for so long. But they never came through."
Emails obtained by the Herald on Sunday show in June last year that TBS accepted an offer from Marilyn So'oialo to pay $15,000 and the balance over time.
On the eve of the bankruptcy hearing in the High Court last November, TBS agreed to another offer for the debt to be repaid with a $30,000 lump sum and $100 repayments each week.
Again, no payment was made. A last-ditch offer from Marilyn So'oialo to pay the debt at $50 a week was rejected, the TBS spokesman said.
"It was too little, too late."
Marilyn So'oialo also owes $3000 for extra plumbing work on the property, according to a spokeswoman for Tasman Plumbers, which was referred to a debt collection agency.
"We had a lot of promises [of being paid] but we're not expecting to see any money now."
According to property records, the So'oialos' home was sold in 2020 for $133,000 more than they had paid for it.
Marilyn So'oialo then started her own business, a nail salon in Lower Hutt, but that closed down in 2021.
Property records show the couple appear to have been struggling financially for several years.
They bought their first family home in Lower Hutt in 2008 for $930,000, and two years later purchased a second home nearby for $1.2 million.
Rodney and Marilyn So'oialo. Photo / Supplied
The second home was sold three years later for less than they paid.
In 2016, a personal finance company placed a caveat against their original home, followed two years later by private school Chilton Saint James.
The charging order meant the house could not be sold unless $37,000 in overdue tuition fees were paid.
The five-bedroom property was sold in June 2019 and the private school debt wiped. The So'oialos purchased a smaller three-bedroom home nearby.
This was the home for which TBS was hired to convert the garage into a granny flat and the $80,000 bankruptcy saga unfolded.
Rodney So'oialo was considered a first-choice All Black loose forward for most of his successful 12-year professional career.
He first played for Wellington in 2000 and the Hurricanes in the 2001 Super Rugby competition, as well as winning a gold medal with the New Zealand Sevens team at the Commonwealth Games.
The following year, So'oialo debuted for the All Blacks and played 62 tests as part of a legendary loose forward trio with Richie McCaw and Jerry Collins.
He missed out on selection in the 2011 Rugby World Cup and ended his professional career playing in Japan.
