EAST Hampshire’s housing situation was criticised this week when it emerged that more than 1,000 homes are “purposefully unoccupied” in the district.

The demand for housing in East Hampshire is an often-cited reason for development across the region, with many people waiting for reduced-rent council, social or sheltered homes and many more struggling to get on the property ladder.

However, according to new statistics from the Government’s Department for Communities and Local Government, as many as 1,102 homes in East Hampshire were registered as vacant in October 2015.

Although there are plenty of reasons a person might own an empty property, it has been suggested that, if at least some were released to the open market, these homes could make a significant dent in the identified housing need.

For that to happen, the GMB (General, Municipal, Boilermakers) trade union has called on the Government to adopt a tougher tax regime to encourage owners of vacant homes to better utilise their properties.

Paul Maloney, GMB’s secretary for the southern region, said: “It is abundantly clear that the current tax regime is not working and a more robust structure is needed. Even if the full 50-per-cent-extra charge in council tax is levied, this is not a deterrent to the wealthiest investors.

“These empty properties can be used and transformed into homes for people and families desperately in need of decent and affordable housing.

“For that to happen there needs to be a punitive tax regime put in place.”

The current tax regime differs significantly depending on where the vacant property is located.

Councils can either offer a discount for a second home or an empty property or they can charge extra for empty properties - up to 50 per cent on top of the full charge if the property has been empty for two years or more.

In East Hampshire, owners may find themselves exempt from paying council tax, depending on the reason the property is empty.

Such exemptions, outlined by East Hampshire District Council, include: an empty property owned by a charity (limit of six months); a property left empty by someone going to prison (unless they are in prison for not paying a fine or council tax); a property left empty by someone in a care home or hospital; a property left empty by someone who has died (limit six months); a property that is unfit to live in; a property left empty by its occupant studying away from home, and a property left empty by someone who has been made bankrupt.

Unlike some stricter councils, many of these exemptions do not carry a time limit. So, in effect, someone could hypothetically own a house, but study elsewhere for 10 years, and pay no council tax on the empty property during that period.

Across the South East, 82,477 properties were registered as vacant in October 2015, over a quarter of which, 23,600, had been vacant for over six months.

In England as a whole there were 600,179 vacant dwellings, 203,596 of which had been empty for more than six months.

The GMB warned this situation will get worse next year when the Housing and Planning Act comes into effect in April 2017, forcing councils to sell off high-value council properties when they become empty.

Charting the problem back to the 1980s, GMB regional secretary Mr Maloney said: “The decisions of the Thatcher Government to sell council-housing stock, and not replace it, and to pay landlords housing benefit instead of providing social housing directly has been a huge and expensive mistake.

“Last year, for example, £24bn was spent on housing benefit, with much of this public money ending up untaxed in bank accounts in offshore tax havens. If a fraction of that amount had been spent on social housing for rent, the strain on the taxpayer would be less and people would have housing they can afford to live in.

“Selling social housing, at a time of dire shortages of homes for rent at affordable prices, is scandalous and irresponsible madness.”