FLAT owners who have been homeless for nine months after a building collapsed in Glasgow’s West End are hoping their ordeal will soon be over.

A major demolition project is about to get underway to take down a Glasgow restaurant at the centre of a bitter dispute that has also left shops and a pub shut and a road closed.

Residents were evacuated in August last year after a 12ft parapet wall at La Riviera restaurant in Benalder Street, Partick, crumbled onto the street below.

The dispute has centred on a disagreement between flat and business owners and the restaurant owner about whether to demolish or repair the crumbling extension which houses the restaurant and adjoining the flats.

The owner of the Italian restaurant, David Martyn of Angel Properties 2, is opposed to the demolition plan and raised a court action against the owners.

He says both he and his tenant stand to lose up to £450,000 from the demolition and that ten restaurant employees will lose their jobs.

Glasgow City Council has now stepped in because the dangerous buildings notice previously served on the owners has expired and no work has been carried out.

The demolition is expected to take around six weeks at a cost of around £40,000 and all owners will be liable for the cost.

The 14 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.

Flat owners will also be liable for repairs costing around £70,000 which are necessary to allow them to return to their homes, potentially by July.

They have already paid out thousands for structural surveys.

Pawel Kaczyski, and his wife have spent the last nine months rotating their stay at relatives’ homes.

Mr Kaczyski said: “We are just hoping that the repairs we are planning can go head as planned and there will not be any other issues standing in our way.

“If we go back at the end of July it will be almost a year we have been out of our homes.

“We really want to get back home. It’s just a waiting game for us now.”

Matthew Reilly, owner of the Dolphin pub, said: “The owners were in an impossible situation that if we wanted to demolish the building we would be liable to rebuild it.

“The council has now stepped in and we are delighted.”

David Martyn, the restaurant owner, said: “I will lose an investment valued at £250,000 and my tenant will lose his business valued at an additional £200,000, and his ten employees will lose their jobs.

“The title deeds of the shops and flats state that the rebuild cost of a shop or flat which needs repaired or rebuilt must be shared among all the shops and flats. The flat owners disagree.

“The other owners have offered to pay a global total of £20,000 towards a restaurant rebuild cost of £250,000, whereas our legal advisers say they should pay approx £190,000 as their share.

“The title deeds provide for arbitration in the event of a dispute but that the other owners refused arbitration.”

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council: “The dangerous buildings notice previously served on the owners expired without works being carried out.

“The council therefore recently undertook a tender process to appoint a contractor to carry out the necessary operations to have the dangerous structure removed.”.

A spokesman for factors, Hacking and Paterson. said: “As we do not have any involvement in the works being undertaken at the property, we do not have any further comment to make on this matter.”