Photo: City of Kelowna

Janusz Grelecki's home on Gibson Road, in a City of Kelowna photo from 2021.

A Kelowna man who's been fighting with the city for years to save the dilapidated home on his Rutland property recently lost a BC Supreme Court dispute over the estate of his ex.

The City of Kelowna has spent more than a decade trying to get 72-year-old Janusz Grelecki to clean up his property at 424 Gibson Road. The battle ultimately led city council to order the demolition of the dilapidated home in August 2021, but as of June 2023, the building still stands.

In a recent decision in BC Supreme Court, Justice Gary Weatherill ruled the estate of of Grelecki's former common-law partner, Marta Miles, will go to her two sons rather than Grelecki. The estate is largely made up of half of an interest in a Kaleden property.

Justice Weatherill said Grelecki's application to overturn a will that named the sons as beneficiaries was “based mostly on self-serving allegations, inadmissible hearsay and innuendo.”

After first meeting in 2010/11, Grelecki and Miles dated briefly, split up, and then rekindled their relationship in early 2013, alternating living together at Grelecki's Gibson Road home and Miles' Kaleden home. In September 2013, Miles executed a will that left her entire estate to Grelecki, excluding her two sons.

But in November 2021, Miles phoned one of her sons and told him Grelecki had been abusing her and she was afraid of him. When the son arrived at her Kaleden home, Miles had “visible bruises and marks on her face,” according to the recent decision.

Justice Weatherill says Grelecki was charged with assault, but the charge was dropped before his first court date. There is no record of the charge in B.C.'s online court database.

Justice Weatherill notes Grelecki “vehemently denies assaulting or physically abusing” Miles, and says she had been suffering from delusions at the time. Around this time, Justice Weatherill says Grelecki emptied his and Miles' joint bank account, taking $13,000.

Five days after the her son picked her up from her Kaleden home, Miles met with a wills and estates lawyer in Kelowna and drafted up a new will that saw Grelecki excluded from her estate, adding her two sons instead.

Miles moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Penticton in December 2021, where she lived until her death about two months later at the age of 79.

Grelecki challenged the new will on the grounds that Miles was suffering from a mental illness when she signed the documents and did not have the capacity to execute the will. He also claimed that Miles' son had undue influence over Miles at the time, claiming he dominated and controlled her.

But Justice Weatherill ruled that Miles “gave her full, free and informed thought” to the new will and she had the “testamentary capacity” to execute it. As such Grelecki's application was dismissed.

As for Grelecki's home on Gibson Road, City of Kelowna spokesperson Tom Wilson says Grelecki appealed the city's demolition order to the B.C. Office of the Ombudsperson last year, and the city is still waiting on a decision. At this time, the home remains standing.