A call is being made for more aggressive use of compulsory purchase powers to seize property from owners who are holding up recovery of town centres north of the border.
The Scottish Property Federation said that the pandemic had accelerated high-street decline due to the shift to out-of-town retail, the rise of online shopping and the growth of home working.
Stephen Lewis, vice-chairman of the federation, will give evidence to Holyrood's economy committee today.
The Times reports that, in the federation's submission to the committee, it said that lockdown crystallised the "clear market distress" already being felt by town-centre shops, with major retailers abandoning the high street.
Small businesses that might fill the void were deterred by high business rates, utility bills, service charges and insurance. Residential conversion is one of the few remaining viable options, but some owners would rather leave a former office vacant.
The federation argued: "Areas characterised by vacant sites, buildings beyond economic life and historic inappropriate uses are frequently characterised by fragmented title and lease ownership.
"To facilitate delivery of planning policies, regeneration and place making, perhaps now is the time to consider more aggressive use of compulsory purchase powers."
David Grove, town centre development officer at Fife council, revealed last month that he had seized a property from an absentee landlord imprisoned in the US.
He told the committee: "I just took out an insurance policy and went ahead and bought the property. I simply said that, for the betterment of the local economy, we were going to build houses there for people.
"I was not letting some guy in a jail in America stop that...we demolished the property and allowed a housebuilder to come in."
Mr Grove urged ministers to create a centralised support unit for all 32 local authorities staffed by experienced accountants, planners and lawyers.
The Royal Town Planning Institute said that councils had cut a third of their planning staff since 2009, in line with a 42% cut to their budgets, and they have to enforce a growing number of regulations.
The institute backed the federation's stance. It said: "There is a need to continue to see if compulsory purchase order and compulsory sales order have a role to play and, if so, what is needed to make these more useable tools."
The Scottish Government pledged to "reform and modernise the compulsory purchase system" in its town centre action plan review which was published last month. This was intended to make it "fairer, clearer and faster for all parties".
Scotland's Urban AGE 2 Report
Do cities have a viable economic future? Did the pandemic sound the death knell for our city centres? What interventions could bring them back to life? And whose responsibility is it?
The Scotland’s Urban AGE 2 report tackles these issues and more head on. If you care, you need to be there.
Register to be there.