The Supreme Court has ruled that a Dublin warehousing company could not count a subtenant’s occupation towards the three-year business occupation period required when claiming a new tenancy at 76 Sir John Rogerson’s Quay.
Twil Limited had occupied the warehouse and yard under a 28-year lease dating from 1970. The approximately 38,000 sq ft property was divided into six units and used for its transport and warehousing business.
Two units had at different times been sublet, with the landlord’s consent, to Abbey Transport Limited. The sublease of Unit 6 ended in April 1994. A later sublease of Unit 2 ran until January 1, 1996. Twil’s own lease expired on January 31, 1998.
A dispute arose over Twil’s claimed right to a new tenancy under section 16 of the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1980. The Dublin Circuit Court referred legal questions to the Supreme Court about how section 13 should be interpreted.
The central issue was the phrase “at any time” in section 13(1)(a), which requires three years’ continuous occupation and bona fide business use. Mr Justice Francis D Murphy held that, where the tenancy had already expired, the appropriate date for applying that test was the actual expiry date of the lease.
That meant the relevant three-year period ran backwards from January 31, 1998. Because Unit 2 had remained occupied by Abbey Transport until January 1, 1996, part of that three-year period involved occupation by a subtenant rather than Twil itself.
The court held that occupation by a subtenant did not constitute occupation by the tenant for the purposes of section 13(1)(a).
Murphy J also said the wording of the 1980 Act had created uncertainty over a commercially important area of law and suggested the relevant authorities consider reviewing the legislation.
The judgment therefore resolved the statutory interpretation questions referred by the Circuit Court, while leaving the Circuit Court to apply those answers to Twil’s tenancy claim.