Plaintiff was a sub-tenant of certain business premises for a period of eleven months. He shared the premises with the defendant. After the expiry of the period of eleven months, but while the plaintiff continued to be in possession of his part of the premises, the defendant purported to buy the head - lease of the premises from the landlord. The defendant maintained that the tenancy of the plaintiff had terminated while the plaintiff claimed that the tenancy continued as the same and had not been terminated in accordance with the procedure laid down in s. 4 of the Landlord and Tenant (Business Premises) Act, 1971. Under s. 2 of the Act, "tenancy" to which the Act applies means "a tenancy of business premises (whether written or verbal) for a term of years certain not exceeding twenty - one years", and the question was whether a tenancy for eleven months was included.
Held:
The words "term of years certain" in the definition of tenancy can be read as "a term certain not exceeding twenty - one years" and therefore includes the term certain of eleven months
