Could properties like this help solve the housing shortage?

Many people feel that private landlords and local authorities should be given incentives to redevelop homes that are no longer considered habitable.

The survey by the Halifax revealed that three-quarters of the 1,000 people surveyed thought properties which had been empty for long periods of time should be sold or made available to first-time buyers and key public sector workers.

There are more than 700,000 empty homes in England, with 100,000 in the capital alone. The vast majority are in private hands, but according to the survey 76,637 are owned by local authorities.

Many empty homes are deemed uninhabitable and often fall prey to illegal squatting. As a result 82% of those surveyed thought local authorities should be given the power to lease uninhabitable properties and make them usable again.

A similar proportion think local authorities should publish statistics on the number of empty homes that they own.

New homes

The government outlined its long term housing strategy back in February.

The key proposals included the building of hundreds of thousands of new homes in the south east over the next 15 years to meet a housing shortfall estimated to reach 500,000 by 2020.

Empty homes by region North East 46,669 Yorkshire 94,324 East Midlands 58,059 London 99,792 South East 84,106 South West 70,995 West Midlands 76,324 North West 136,069 Source: Empty Homes Agency

But for the vast majority of those surveyed, using homes which are standing empty seems a ready-made solution.

Just over 80% of people would also like to see the Government establish a fund to help pay for repairs on empty or uninhabitable properties.

In addition, 49% think owners should be given funding or tax breaks to make their house habitable again.

And nearly two-thirds of those questioned thought owners of empty homes should no longer be able to pay reduced council tax, particularly when a property has fallen into disrepair.

Phil Jenks, head of mortgages at Halifax, said: "Re-introducing empty homes into the UK housing stock is certainly part of a solution to address the current shortage of housing - predicted to be a chronic shortfall of some 500,000 homes by the year 2020."