FLAT owners forced out of their homes for almost two years have been dealt a “catastrophic” blow after being hit with the £250,000 bill to rebuild an Italian restaurant.

Residents and businesses have been involved in a long-running and messy legal dispute with the owner of the former La Riviera restaurant on Benalder Street, in Partick following a major incident, two years ago.

Nine flats were evacuated and pedestrians narrowly escaped injury after a 12ft parapet wall at the restaurant crumbled onto the street below in August 2016.

Adjoining shops and businesses including the Dolphin pub were also ordered to leave.

Read more: Investigation launched after restaurant wall collapses onto street in Parick

The dispute has centred on the demolition of the restaurant, which owner David Martyn was strongly opposed to. The other 13 owners raised an action against his company, demanding the building was taken down on safety grounds.

Glasgow City Council eventually stepped in and ordered the demolition after no action was taken.

All 14 owners, including Mr Martyn, and their insurers will now be liable for the £200,000 cost of rebuilding the restaurant on top of court arbitration costs of up to £50,000. The building is factored by Hacking and Paterson, which is understood to have rejected the claim, saying the wall collapse was not, an "insurable event."

Flat and business owners have already forked out around £85,000 for repairs to allow them to return home which are still not complete and have been hit by a further delay.

Matthew Reilly, owner of the Dolphin Pub, said: “We have lost the arbitration. The liability for rebuilding the extension lies with all the owners.

Read more: Flat owners left 'destitute' after restaurant wall collapse

“The last estimate was a quarter of a million pounds. It is actually catastrophic.

“Even my lawyer was shocked. He doesn’t feel that due process has been followed.

“We don’t know if (an appeal) is possible to the Court of Session.

“At the moment we have already paid out £85,000 for the current ongoing works to access the flats and get shops back into operation.

“That work is underway and almost complete. That had all been progressing well, albeit slowly but then on Saturday workers arrived to place the new stairwell and discovered it didn’t fit

“So that has had to be postponed and alterations have to been made.

“The neighbours are understandably furious with all the delays to the work and noobody knows who is at fault here.

“All this time, these people are out of their homes.”

Owners are hoping they may be able to secure financial assistance from the council, which ordered the demolition.

David Martyn, owner of the restaurant, said: “We asked the other owners to agree to arbitration, to decide if they were pro rata responsible for the cost of rebuilding the restaurant, which our lawyer said was clear in the title deeds.

“They resisted arbitration.

“Last week the arbitrator found that the other owners had to contribute to the restaurant rebuild and, logically, that my company had to pay pro rata for the staircase.

“My cost for the staircase will be approx £20,000, but the other owners will have to pay about £200,000 for the restaurant rebuild."

Read more: Police seeking witnesses after Partick pub fight

“The worst part is that it is expected that the other owners will be faced with legal and arbitration bills of over £50,000, which only happened because they did not accept my reasonable compromise offer over a year ago.

“They may have been badly advised.”

The Evening Times contacted Hacking and Paterson for comment but they did not respond to our request.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said it would require to see a proposal for any possible grant aid, but that it could not be considered for commercial premises “in isolation”.

He added: “Ultimately, the council acted to demolish the building to protect public safety.

“The responsibility for these costs lies with the owners of the property and their insurers, as it generally does in such cases.”