Diplomat Eva Tvarozskova's landlord in last ditch effort to recoup money

Wellington landlord Matthew Ryan is making a last-ditch appeal to try and get some of the money he is owed after a diplomat did not pay back $20,000 in rent and property damage. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Wellington landlord at the centre of a tenancy dispute with the European Union diplomatic mission in the capital is making a last-ditch appeal to try and get some of the money he is owed.

Eva Tvarozskova successfully claimed diplomatic immunity after the Tenancy Tribunal found she owed Matt Ryan around $20,000 in unpaid rent and damage to his property.

Ryan has written to the head of mission Bernard Savage asking him to make good on an offer of a negotiated resolution of the matter once the legal issues were resolved.

Tvarozkova's lawyer told Ryan he'd received no instructions to do a deal so he had written to Savage directly pointing out the Tribunal noted in its decision that he was the victim of an injustice by the application of diplomatic immunity.

Eva Tvarozskova successfully claimed diplomatic immunity after the Tenancy Tribunal found she owed Matt Ryan around $20,000 in unpaid rent and damage to his property. Photo / Supplied

It is understood Tvarozkova would be leaving the country within the next two weeks.

In a March ruling, the Tenancy Tribunal had ordered Tvarozkova to pay the $20,000.

But that was overturned in May, after EU delegation lawyers argued the Tribunal hadn't properly considered the issue of diplomatic immunity.

In June the Tenancy Tribunal reheard the case against the EU deputy head of mission after a dispute over a $1.5 million property in Karaka Bay where she had been a tenant.

The $1500 a week property was supposed to have been rented for three years, but she left after six months.

EU delegation lawyer Peter Cullen said the biggest issue was whether diplomatic immunity applied, and he argued that it did.

"Diplomatic immunity means that the Tribunal does not have the authority to hear the claims," he said.

"The rules go back to antiquity. The Convention codifies the rules for the exchange of embassies among sovereign states, and those rules protect the sanctity of ambassadors, enabling them to carry out their functions in the oldest, established and most fundamental rules of international law.

"The convention is a cornerstone of the modern international legal order."

Steven Price, representing the landlord, said that if the diplomat was allowed to claim immunity from the rent arrears, it would severely disadvantage anyone trying to do business with a diplomat in future.

He said previous legal decisions showed there was nothing about renting the home that made it a commercial act part of the state's activity, and therefore protected by immunity.

"When a person who's a diplomatic agent contracts on their own behalf for a residence, they are not holding that residence for the purpose of the mission."

Price said there were issues of fairness, and the right to uphold a contract.

"[The landlord] is left out of pocket, and without any remedy. Potentially, every other landlord who is renting to diplomatic agents might be in the same position.

"Potentially, beyond that, anyone who does significant business a diplomat may be out in the cold as well."

- Newstalk ZB