Section 4: Short limited duration tenancies
12.Subsection (1) stipulates that, where agricultural land is let to a tenant for a period of not more than 5 years and the lease is neither a 1991 Act tenancy nor a grazing or mowing let, that tenancy is to be an SLDT.
13.Subsection (2) converts grazing or mowing lets to SLDTs, where the tenant continues to occupy the land after expiry of the term of the let with the consent of the landlord.
14.Subsection (3) provides that, where parties agree an SLDT of less than 5 years, they may subsequently agree to extend the overall term of the SLDT to any period up to a maximum of 5 years. Where such agreement is not made and the tenant continues to occupy the land after the expiry of the term with the landlord's consent, the term of the SLDT is deemed to be extended to 5 years.
15.Subsections (4) and (5) treat any new SLDT that is entered into less than one year after an SLDT involving the same parties and the same land expires to be an extension of that earlier SLDT. The effect of this is that if the two SLDT periods combined exceed 5 years, then an LDT is deemed to have been constituted by virtue of section 5(3).
