Composite Tenancy and Functional Integration: The open space is unlikely to be treated as a separate, severable lease. Where a landlord lets out a godown together with adjoining open space for storage and installs a weighing machine, courts apply the "functional integration" test: if the open space is used for the same commercial purpose as the structures, it becomes appurtenant to the tenanted premises under the Rent Act, even if rent is collected separately. Continuous, long-term acceptance of rent for the composite unit strengthens the tenant's position that this was always one indivisible tenancy.
Indivisible Tenancy and Partial Eviction: If the tenancy is found to be composite and indivisible, the landlord cannot obtain eviction of only the open space. The Bombay High Court has held that a landlord cannot issue a demand notice or file a suit for partial eviction where the tenancy covers multiple parts of the property as a single unit. A suit seeking possession of only the open space, while leaving the godowns with the tenant, would likely be held not maintainable unless the landlord can prove a lawful severance of the tenancy.
Due Process Under the Rent Act: The landlord cannot use self-help or force to take back the open space. Any eviction must be sought through a formal petition before the Rent Controller under the applicable State Rent Control Act, on grounds such as bona fide requirement, unauthorised construction, or non-user. The tenant must be served proper notice and given an opportunity to contest. Physical dispossession without a court order would be illegal and actionable.
Grounds and Defences: If the landlord files for eviction, the tenant's strongest defence is that the tenancy is indivisible. Courts have consistently protected composite tenancies from being fragmented to suit the landlord's convenience. The tenant should rely on the long, uninterrupted rent receipts describing the godown and open space together, the caretaker's signatures, and the absence of any prior objection to establish that the open space was an integral part of the original lease, not a separate licence that can be terminated at will.
