Hrm . . . I guess I'm struggling to think of a good reason to keep a house empty for a year. Presumably there is a remodeling exception . . .
The only thing I can really think of is that it might force people to divest in a very down market where it is difficult to find renters, but it doesn't seem like a huge tragedy for people who have at least two dwellings to be forced to sell one of them or else eat losses.
Leaving the property empty can be worthwhile if you make more from the capital-gains than you would from {rental income, minus repairing problems caused by the tenants, minus maintenance, minus property management fees, minus income tax}.
Don't you make the same gains on the property regardless of if its rented or not? You might not need the money from renting it but its still going to be more money above the gains from appreciation...
The only thing I can really think of is that it might force people to divest in a very down market where it is difficult to find renters, but it doesn't seem like a huge tragedy for people who have at least two dwellings to be forced to sell one of them or else eat losses.