FLAT owners left "destitute" after a wall collapsed a year after safety concerns were raised are now locked in a court battle to return home.

Residents were evacuated with just the clothes they were wearing when a parapet wall at La Riviera restaurant in Benalder Street, Partick, crumbled onto the street below on August 6.

Four months later the owners are in limbo,and forced to sleep on friends’ couches, because of a dispute over whether to demolish or repair the crumbling extension which houses the restaurant and adjoins the flats.

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Owners claim they have shelled out more than £14,000 for surveys which have recommended demolition. However, the owner of the Italian restaurant, David Martyn of Angel Properties 2, is opposed to the plan and has raised an action against the owners saying repairs are possible.

Owners are critical of the factors, Hacking and Paterson, saying concerns were raised more than a year ago to them and the council about the wall.

It has also been suggested that Glasgow City Council could intervene and end the dispute because the extension is a public hazard and it is within its power to act.

Matthew Reilly, owner of the Dolphin pub, said: “It’s just a loss of business to me but nine families have been left destitute because of one owner.”

However the owner of the restaurant says repairs will allow owners to return to their homes at an earlier date and claims demolition will cost his business around £500,000.

He said: “It’s a very unfortunate situation and I would love for everyone to be able to return to their homes.

“If demolition goes ahead the owners won’t be back in their homes until at least June.

“It will cost me half a million pounds and the loss of 12 jobs. Repairs will get them in sooner.”

Flat owners each own around 3.5% of the building, the restaurant owner, 21%, the Dolphin pub 23% and each of the shops the remaining balance.

An initial hearing took place yesterday at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Flat owners say they have been forced to pay utility, broadband and council tax bills despite having left their homes in August.

One owner said: “We have been perfectly reasonable. If repairs are the correct course of action then we would look at that but they have not produced the evidence to back that up.

“Our building insurance has been pulled, we are out of our homes."

Engineers have estimated the demolition could cost around £90,000 while repairs could be four times as high.

Another owner said: “If the restaurant owner are asking us to fund repairs then surely we should be entitled to earnings from the business.”

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Another resident claims he sent images to the factors in June showing the wall leaning. It has been suggested that owners may have grounds for legal action against the factors when this dispute is resolved for poor maintenance of the building.

A spokesman for Hacking and Paterson said: "Further to the collapse and the identification of a separate and previously concealed issue, the body of homeowners instructed a design team to prepare a scheme of remedial repairs to be placed before Glasgow City Council for acceptance. These preparatory works are progressing."

The case has been adjourned until January 11.