Don’t rent to diplomats, group says

Landlords should get the message not to let their properties to diplomats, a spokesman for property investors says.

Two Wellington landlords recently learned a $20,000 lesson that diplomatic immunity could be used to dodge a rent debt. A Tenancy Tribunal decision confirming the immunity applied would have ‘‘pretty outraged’’ most people, Property Investors Federation executive officer Andrew King said. The message is, don’t let your property to a diplomat, he said.

He had not heard of it as an issue for landlords until the case of Wellington landlords Matthew Ryan and Rebecca Van Den Bos surfaced at the Tenancy Tribunal.

They had rented a $1500-a-week Karaka Bay house to Eva Tvarozkova, deputy chief of mission for the European Union Delegation to New Zealand.

The landlords said Tvarozkova left the tenancy early, some property damage was alleged, and rent was lost while a new tenant was found. The tribunal at first found for the landlords at a hearing where Tvarozkova did not take part. It later emerged she had flagged the immunity issue by phone with a staff member, but the message was not relayed to the tribunal.

Tvarozkova, with the support of the EU Delegation and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, asked for a rehearing, and the tribunal accepted it did not have the power to make any orders against Tvarozkova. Tvarozkova’s term in New Zealand ended last month and she has left the country.