The owner of a partially built monster home is suing the City of Brampton for $20 million after his building permit was revoked in 2013. In a separate action the homeowner is suing two current councillors and one former member of council for a total of $7 million.

In an amended statement of claim against the city, Ahmed Elbasiouni states that he was intending to build a home with 13,000 square feet of living space and that on August 28, 2012, “the City issued a building permit for the Subject Property, in accordance with the plans and drawings submitted by Elbasiouni.”

He alleges that after neighbours began complaining about the size of the partially constructed house, in 2013 the “City, through its employees, was directed by City councillors and their managers to stop Elbasiouni from completing the construction of the new structure.”

The city denies the allegations in the lawsuit, which was filed in August. Elbasiouni is seeking $14 million in damages for breach of contract, negligence, misfeasance in public office and defamation. Elbasiouni is also seeking restitutionary damages of $3.5 million and punitive damages of $2.5 million.

In its statement of defence, the city says that the building permits were issued by mistake because of a “computer mapping error.”

The city states that when it realized its mistake on Feb. 20, 2013, it revoked the permits. The city also states that if Elbasiouni “suffered any of the alleged damages, which are not admitted” it was in part because he “failed to conduct the requisite research prior to commencing construction on his property; He failed, at all material times, to ensure that his development plans adhered to the applicable zoning laws of the city . . . He was/is largely if not wholly the author of his own misfortune.”

The house, surrounded by much smaller bungalows and split-levels, has stood partially completed since the city revoked the building permits in 2013 and ordered it demolished if Elbasiouni could not bring it into compliance under a different bylaw from the one the city initially used when it issued the permits.

Elbasiouni appealed the city’s decision to revoke the permits to the Superior Court (an action separate from the lawsuits he later launched). The court stayed the city’s order, ruling that because the city had used the “wrong” bylaw when it issued his permits, the two parties had to reach a resolution about the future of the house. But they have not, and now a Superior Court hearing is set for early June to deal with the ongoing dispute.

In his statement of claim against Councillors Elaine Moore and Grant Gibson, and former councillor Paul Palleschi, who died in January after the claim was filed, Elbasiouni alleges that defamatory statements were made about him in a Brampton Guardian newspaper article and during a public city council meeting that was broadcast by video.

In a joint statement of defence by all three of the named parties, they deny the allegations. The statement says Moore and Gibson had a “duty” to provide their position to the newspaper. Regarding Palleschi’s comments in council, the statement says Elbasiouni waited too long to launch his suit.

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