City of Hamilton seeks $59K lien on Mayor Horwath’s rental property

The City of Hamilton is seeking a lien of nearly $59,000 to be placed on a home belonging to Mayor Andrea Horwath.

As first reported by the Hamilton Spectator, officials want the money to cover the cost of emergency repairs authorized by the court and completed by the city on her run-down rental property.

It’s the latest chapter in a long running dispute over the future of the home, and its sole occupant, Horwath’s former common-law partner.

The City of Hamilton calls the home owned by Horwath a danger to the health and safety of the general public, and the sole occupant, her former partner Ben Leonetti.

City officials say the West Avenue North home is unfit to live in, with significant deterioration and structural problems. That’s why the city says it has spent $58,845.22 on emergency repairs, demolition work and clean up in early January.

Now they want to recover the money with a lien – with the issue set to be heard in court March 24.

Court documents show a private engineer hired by Horwath found numerous problems with the property and concluded the home was unfit for habitation in a report given to the city on Nov. 28.

The building department says after Leonetti refused to let them in to inspect the home, they issued an emergency order on Dec. 3 to evacuate the building, fence it off and demolish it.

But on Dec. 12 that order was invalidated by the courts, because the report underlining it was written by a private engineer.

The day before, the city says it sent two of its building inspectors and an independent engineer to visit the home and they came to similar conclusions.

Documents show also on Dec. 12, the building department issued another order, telling Horwath to have Leonetti immediately move out – and further ordered urgent repairs and demolition work. Hamilton’s building department also gave Horwath the option to demolish the home.

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In an affidavit, the mayor says she immediately took steps to comply – hiring a contractor, but says Leonetti impeded the work.

The court then authorized the building department on Dec. 23 to complete emergency work to protect the public – including demolishing a two-tier back deck and repairing porch steps, support columns and concrete pads, among other fixes.

So that’s what the city did – saying it completed the work by Jan. 5 because Horwath failed to have it done herself.

Horwath and the city have both repeatedly said Leonetti has refused to cooperate with repairs or move out. But more repair work is needed.

The building department issued another order on Jan. 21, telling Horwath to make extensive repairs to the roof, walls and foundation by May 1.

On Feb. 12, Horwath then asked the court to evict Leonetti, saying he has prevented her from doing the repair work.

She claims repairs will cost her at least $131,000, and would be “extremely prejudicial” to her financial interests. She would prefer to demolish the house which Horwath’s application says would cost around $30,000. That request will be back in court in late April.

Horwath has submitted a statement of claim indicating she previously sued Leonetti in early 2024, alleging he was responsible for at least $300,000 in damage to the home.

A spokesperson for Horwath tells CHCH News that, on the advice of her lawyer, she has no comment on these issues.

We also reached out to Leonetti’s lawyer for comment, but haven’t heard back.

Documents show the dispute between Horwath and Leonetti over the home goes back years.

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