Residents evacuated from a Belfast apartment block over safety concerns are to seek a rehearing in their failed multi-million pound compensation claim.
Property owners at the Victoria Square complex have already lodged an appeal against a High Court decision to strike out their actions for being out of time.
Lawyers for the group are pressing to have the claims sent back for reconsideration based on new legislation widening the scope for litigation over defective buildings in Northern Ireland.
Lady Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan has agreed to hear arguments on the procedural point before the case is fully opened at the Court of Appeal next month.
Completed back in 2008, the Victoria Square residential development on Chichester Street has been empty for the past five years.
In April 2019 residents in all 91 apartments were told to move out following assessments of a structural column.
Ulster Garden Villages Ltd, a charity which owns more than half the flats, and individual owners joined forces to sue the builders and architects involved in the city centre development.
They claimed for structural defects, negligence and loss of value in a joint lawsuit estimated to be worth up to £25m.
Construction firms Farrans and Gilbert-Ash, along with architecture company Building Design Partnership, vehemently denied any liability.
In March, the three defendants successfully applied to have the action struck out on the grounds that it was statute barred.
In NI compensation claims for defective premises must be lodged within six years of a building being completed. The timeframe is 30 years in England and Wales.
A High Court judge dismissed the action after finding that the apartment owners were caught by that limit.
Amid widespread public sympathy for those who lost homes, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons moved to introduce new laws to bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK.
The Defective Premises Act (NI) 2024 has now received royal assent and come into effect.
Due to that change lawyers representing Ulster Garden Villages and some of the other owners want a preliminary hearing to determine how the case should be dealt with.
Sean Brannigan KC told the Lady Chief Justice: “It would be better to deal with the procedural matters before (the appeal) so it doesn’t go off like a damp squib.”