Commentary Section 5: Unlawful profit orders: civil proceedings
23.This section allows social landlords to seek an unlawful profit order in civil proceedings against secure and assured tenants who, in breach of their tenancy, have ceased to occupy and sub-let or parted with possession of their properties and who have received money as a result of that conduct. (It does not apply to PRP and RSL tenants under a shared ownership lease.)
24.Such an unlawful profit order enables the landlord to recover the profit the tenant has made from the unlawful activity. The amount payable under an unlawful profit order is a matter for the court’s discretion, subject to subsection (6), which provides that the maximum amount payable under an unlawful profit order is to be calculated as the total amount received by the tenant as a result of the unlawful conduct minus any rent paid by the tenant to the landlord during the period in which the conduct took place.
25.Subsection (7) provides that where an unlawful profit order has already been made against the tenant following a conviction in criminal proceedings, an order in civil proceedings may only be for the recovery of an amount of profit made by the tenant that exceeds the amount payable under the criminal order (or which the landlord has failed to recover under that order).