Diplomacy out the window in apartment row

The luxury apartment in New Delhi at the centre of the dispute. Source: Supplied

THE Australian Government is locked in a legal battle with a landlord who has accused High Commission staff of damaging the luxury penthouse he rented to them in the Indian capital of New Delhi.

Sanjai Vohra rented his four-bedroom apartment in the up-market West End embassy district to the High Commission of Australia for $8200 a month to house one of its staff members.

The apartment had good security, a rooftop garden, covered the entire top floor of the building and a private driveway, and the embassy rented it between July 2011 and July 2012.

But Mr Vohra and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been locked in a legal battle over the maintenance of the home for almost two years.

A DFAT spokeswoman would not answer questions about the dispute and how they planned to settle it, other than to say: "The lease in question was not terminated or broken. It was a one-year lease which the Australian High Commission chose not to renew.''

While Mr Vohra does not claim the staffer deliberately damaged the apartment, he says the High Commission failed to rectify damage including broken cupboards, water damage, unpaid water bills and damaged floors.

He claims the High Commission breached its rental agreement by not repainting the apartment and repolishing the floors.

The Herald Sun has seen letters sent by the High Commission where they admit that an "error'' meant the internal stairwell was not repainted, and the guard box and staff quarters not cleaned. The High Commission also admitted their removalists had damaged a light fitting.

However, the High Commission said that its staffer had experienced numerous maintenance problems, including with separate staff access, air conditioning, hot water, and a major electrical fault which damaged a number of appliances.

As well, the staffer had been unable to move in for a month due to problems with the apartment, and they believed Mr Vohra should reimburse them for his additional accommodation costs.

Mr Vohra said his apartment was now rented by the World Bank, had previously been rented by a CEO of a large US pharmaceutical company, and he had never rented it to a diplomatic mission before.

"My personal view is that the Australian High Commission staff do not want to incur the expenses required to fix the issues — possibly making their performance versus cost budgets look good.,'' he said.

"The High Commission staff believe their diplomatic immunity will save them from any legal action.''

Mr Vohra said he believed the High Commissioner was drawing out the legal dispute between their lawyers and his in order to wear him down.

He denied there were any maintenance issues when the staff moved in, saying the High Commission staff and inspection teams had visited the property several times.

"I have told everyone I know about the Australia High Commissioner's behaviour and I will never rent to any diplomatic entity again unless there is a large security deposit.''

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