Ollie and Gareth Locke Buy Another £4M Home

Their names are synonymous with Chelsea – sipping champagne in its bougie wine bars, partying in its exclusive nightclubs and rubbing designer-clad shoulders with the aristocracy.

But awkwardly for Ollie and , it is no longer where they call home.

The couple, who were forced out of their £4million townhouse amid a mounting rent scandal that has left a £45,000 bill still unpaid, have re-emerged 4.5 miles away in one of south-west ’s leafiest enclaves.

Nestled on a tree-lined road minutes from Barnes Green, which boasts a village pond, church and a Gail’s, the property is far from being a downgrade, and is thought to be worth around the same amount as their former Chelsea pad.

Owned by businesswoman Tanya De Jager, who bought the new property in 1989, it is not clear if there is any link between her and the Lockes.

But what is apparent is that the couple – far from being downtrodden by the whole affair – have in fact landed on their feet.

As one former friend of the pair put it: ‘How do these people do it? They are literally liggers, they don’t pay their rent and now they have found a beautiful new house to live in.’

While the home is beautiful, it is a world away from the high-octane swirl of Chelsea.

Set on a quietly affluent residential road, it is a handsome five-bedroom, three-bathroom red-brick property with decorative stonework and lion-topped pillars.

The only unusual detail that separates it from other mansions on the street is that the residents at this address are keen for a bit of privacy. Every blind is pulled tightly shut, an electric gate seals it off from the street, and multiple security cameras are trained on the road outside.

Rumours of the couple’s arrival are already spreading among families.

‘Yes, I had heard about the unpaid rent situation,’ one mother tells me on Barnes Green. ‘We’ve heard they’re around here. But I’m out here most days with my toddler and I haven’t seen them. People tend to know each other around here… so I suppose they must keep to themselves.’

Often described as a ‘village within a city’, Barnes is prized for its riverside walks, 19th-century homes and tight-knit community feel.

Just a short distance away lives Ollie’s long-time friend and Made In Chelsea alumna, Binky Felstead.

She, too, has recently found herself under scrutiny after small businesses exposed her requests for freebies in exchange for favourable posts on her social media accounts.

Mother-of-three Binky, 35, also found herself under fire after it emerged she had sold her stained, used clothing online at staggering prices.

But Ollie and Gareth have perhaps more reason than Binky to be red-faced. As revealed by the Daily Mail earlier this year, Ollie and Gareth failed to pay three months’ rent on their former four-bedroom home just off Chelsea's King’s Road – a debt amounting to £25,000.

When the sum remained unpaid, the total ballooned to £45,000 once late fees and legal costs were added, ultimately forcing the couple to vacate under the threat of eviction.

To make matters worse, the couple were living with a tenant whose rent was paid directly to them throughout her stay at the property.

She believed the money was being passed on to the landlord, but says she later discovered that was not the case, and claims the cash was instead diverted to ‘fund the couple’s luxury lifestyle’.

Gareth said there was in fact a fourth lodger at the property who had agreed to pay their share but ultimately left them in the lurch – a claim they refute 

As a result, she is now being held jointly liable for the unpaid rent and bills, and is being pursued by debt collectors for the outstanding sum.

Gareth, who joined original cast member Ollie on Made In Chelsea in 2018, told the Daily Mail they have every intention of repaying the money they owe, stressing that they are a ‘normal family’ who budget like anyone else for their two-year-old twins, Apollo and Cosima.

He said: ‘Everyone else has financial issues, whether it’s paying a credit card bill late or paying their rent late.’