Residents were evacuated from their homes when a giant crack threatened a building’s collapse.

Neighbours had the fright of their lives when tons of masonry was on the brink of plummeting from the roof of the two-storey building.

Neighbours spotted a giant crack, wider than a fist, at 38 Osborne Villas, Hove, on Sunday. A section about 5ft wide was leaning perilously forward from the terraced home, overhanging the garden.

Firefighters were called to the scene at about 8pm on Wednesday, but because of strike action, a building inspector’s arrival was delayed.

When Stephen Woodall did arrive he recommended those living in the basement spent the night with family, and asked those in the flat above to remain in the rear rooms. Mr Woodall told The Argus: “It’s literally held on with a piece of asphalt.

“The timber in the bay window is structural and I think some of that has decayed and dropped or compressed and pulled the bay with it.

“It happens from time to time in older buildings like this where they bays aren’t adequately maintained.”

Scaffolding crews were called out in the early hours of yesterday morning to haul the slipping turret frontage back into place as a temporary measure. An architectural builder on the scene said several of the buildings in the road had had their turrets replaced with a wooden structure, removing 90% of the weight and preventing leaning.

One had even collapsed, he said.

Neighbour James Slaughter was stood in the street in his pyjamas watching the drama unfold.

He said: “The crack appeared from nowhere on Sunday and has been getting bigger ever since.

“The building inspector took a while to get here because of the Unison strikes but when he did they sent him up in a crane with floodlights to check it. Straight away he said the people living there needed to leave.

“Apparently there’s two and a half tons of masonry up there, held on by a bit of asphalt, so we’re just waiting for a seagull to land on it and it’ll all come tumbling down.”

Incident commander Danny Ball from East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Those in the main property have been advised to live in the back rooms and the people in the basement have been evacuated.

“We made the area safe and remained on the scene to assist the building inspector.”

Last night scaffolding was still holding the turret in place.