As if navigating landlord-tenant relationships isn’t tricky enough, the mayor of Hamilton, Ont., is suing her own city and her former common-law partner in an attempt to empty the dilapidated home where her ex now lives that she owns and aims to demolish.
Mayor Andrea Horwath is facing an order from the City of Hamilton to repair her property at 76 West Avenue North by May 1.
“But the workers will need, I’m going to assume, at least a month to do stuff,” her lawyer James A. Brown said Tuesday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Horwath isn’t taking her case to the Landlord and Tenant Board, which normally handles landlord-tenant disputes in Hamilton.
That’s because her former common-law spouse, Ben Leonetti, is claiming an “ownership interest” in the home in a separate matter in family court, his lawyer, Raymond Di Gregorio, said Tuesday.
“If he’s an owner, then he’s not a tenant,” Di Gregorio said.
Horwath, who was the leader of the Ontario NDP from
2009 to 2022
, the year she was elected mayor of Hamilton, is the registered owner of the home.
Leonetti is its sole occupant.
The two “were in a relationship since 1986 and separated on January 1, 2010,” according to Horwath’s notice of application to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which notes they have a son. The couple reportedly met while Horwath was working as a waitress in a bar in Hamilton to pay for her bachelor’s degree in labour studies at McMaster University. Leonetti was a DJ and jazz musician.
When the couple separated, Horwath provided Leonetti a unit in the building to live in, according to court documents.
“Mr. Leonetti has been obstructing access to the property since … October of 2018,” Horwath said in court documents.
Leonetti has not filed a defence in the case, Di Gregorio said Tuesday.
Last December, Hamilton’s chief building official, Robert Lalli, ordered Horwath to “immediately undertake emergency repairs or to demolish the property,” said her application to the court.
But Horwath wasn’t “able to complete the emergency work required” because Leonetti “obstructed her efforts,” she said.
In a separate court application, Lalli went after Horwath and Leonetti in an attempt to get the building in question vacated.
Lalli’s application noted that J.P. Campana, an engineer who produced a report on the home, “expressed significant concerns over the potential for a collapse of the property’s roof structure with any significant snowfall, and reiterated the need for the property to be vacated immediately and demolished so as to ensure the safety of both the occupant and the adjacent general public.”
Campana found “compromised floor structures; deterioration in foundation walls; compromised load bearing studs in the basement; collapsing floor structures under the furnace; collapsing brick walls; rotting and significant sagging/bowing of the roof structure; significant sloping in the main floor structure; and water damage and mold throughout the building,” said Lalli’s application.
“These findings, amongst others, resulted in Mr. Campana recommending that the property be vacated immediately and demolished imminently.”
In January, the City of Hamilton issued a property standards order to fix the home. It noted a dozen problems that require repair, including structural components of the roof, visibly water-damaged ceilings, broken dormer glass and a cracked foundation wall.
Horwath got a contractor to inspect the home. His quote indicated it would cost $130,984.50 “to bring the property up to standard,” but that was only for the structure’s exterior.
Demolishing it would cost $26,400 plus HST, Horwath said. She noted going the repair route would be “extremely prejudicial” to her financial interests.
Horwath argued “the matter is urgent as the repairs need to be completed by May 1, 2026 and it is not clear whether Mr. Leonetti will vacate the property.”
In an affidavit, Horwath said an assessor she hired indicated repairing the damage Leonetti had done to the entire home at $300,000. A January 2024 appraisal pegged the home’s value at $300,000.
In her affidavit, Horwath said she and her son “were extremely concerned for (Leonetti’s) wellbeing” as his physical health “had deteriorated significantly and he frequently presented as paranoid, accusatory and suffering from cognitive decline.”
Leonetti could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
A forensic engineering assessment of the 125-year-old semi-detached 1.5-storey home where he lives found an exposed and “locally fractured” sewer pipe in the basement that was giving off a strong smell of sewer gas, as well as a deteriorating load-bearing wall. The same assessment, conducted last December, noted a deck on the east side of the building is compromised and could be prone to a “sudden and catastrophic collapse.”
Justice John Krawchenko adjourned the case Tuesday until it can be heard during the week of April 20. It appears as if Horwath is prepared to drop the City of Hamilton from her court action against Leonetti, but that hasn’t happened yet.
“We’re agreeable to having the city removed,” Horwath’s lawyer told the court Tuesday.
In a separate civil suit filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Horwath is going after Leonetti for $300,000 in damages for breaching the “express and implied” terms of their Oct. 31, 2010, separation agreement. Those include taking “reasonable care of the property” and maintaining it in “at least as good condition” as when he took possession of the place, as well as letting Horwath in with “reasonable notice,” and letting her know when maintenance issues arise.
She’s also seeking $1 million for “punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages” in that suit.
“As a direct result of (Leonetti’s) breaches of the implied terms of the separation agreement, (Horwath) has suffered loss and damages,” said her claim, which notes Leonetti is responsible for the “cost of repairing the property to restore it to its prior condition.”
Leonetti hasn’t filed a defence in that case either, said his lawyer.
In seeking punitive damages, Horwath claimed Leonetti’s “conduct was high-handed, outrageous, reckless and wanton.”
She notes Leonetti “subsequently engaged in a pattern of harassment, resulting in criminal charges being laid against him and the issuance of (an order not to contact Horwath) in November 2018.”
Under their separation agreement, Horwath agreed to pay Leonetti $2,500 a month in spousal support, and he was granted “exclusive possession and tenancy” of a unit in the house in question. The monthly rent was set at $350 but later rose to $450.
After a judge issued an order in December 2023 granting Horwath access to the home, she “discovered that (Leonetti) had caused extensive damage to the property.”
That “arose from neglect, intentional conduct, and from failure to maintain the property in a reasonable manner,” said Horwath’s statement of claim.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
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