The Scottish Government will consider strengthening the law to ensure tenement properties are properly maintained.

Housing minister, Kevin Stewart, said he would consider further legislation in the area as the Tories raised the issue in a debate at Holyrood.

Figures show there are 566,000 tenement properties in Scotland - around 23% of the total housing stock - with growing concerns about their upkeep.

The Scottish Conservatives described the existing legislation as inadequate, and called for mandatory building health checks, and tougher regulation of property factors.

The party's housing spokesman Graham Simpson MSP said: "Councils have power to ensure buildings are kept up to scratch but, with one or two exceptions, are not using them.

"We're standing at the condition cliff edge, something has to change and we think it's inevitable that there will have to be legislative changes.

"We need to look after what we have, and we need the system to do it."

Mr Stewart said he welcomed the setting-up of a cross-party working group to look at the issue, and said the government would examine its findings, including any proposals for new legislation.

Labour's Pauline McNeill said tenement property was an area "crying out for more action, more investment and more solutions".

She added: "Existing provisions are inadequate, in our view, for dealing with the extent of Scotland's tenement housing, and in particular we welcome the discussion on owners' associations, which currently have no legal status, but it is worth exploring what else they could do if they had the teeth to do it."