No. They will try, but it doesn't work because of an often overlooked quirk of the market which only affects land. Land is unique because it can't be manufactu

No. They will try, but it doesn't work because of an often overlooked quirk of the market which only affects land. Land is unique because it can't be manufactured or moved, so when it comes to supply and demand, the normal mechanism of the consumer playing off suppliers against each other to get the cheapest price can't happen. Each piece of land is unique because of it's location, so other bits of land won't do. For example, starting a business on the high street. You can't just get a cheap piece of land elsewhere and move it to the location you want it to be in, whereas you can do this with all of the other supplies you need. This makes land a de facto monopoly. The consumer has no choice and allowing people to own more than they need is damaging to capitalism. What really happens instead is that the consumer is left competing with other consumers to get the bit of land they need. Each location is effectively an auction for a unique item. In starting a business, rival entrepreneurs will continue to outbid one another until they are left with only just enough profit for it to be worth it. Bidding less means a rival will outbid them and they won't get the land they need. Bidding more means the business is not viable. In this way, the landlord does not and cannot set the price themselves. The market decides. They can try to raise the rent, but the business owner will then not be making enough profit for it to be worth it, so they will either refuse or shut down. The is counter intuitive, but well researched. Google for Ricardo's law of rent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_rent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_rent or read Churchill's rather good speech on the matter here: http://www.landvaluetax.org/current-affairs-comment/winston-churchill-said-it-all-better-then-we-can.html http://www.landvaluetax.org/current-affairs-comment/winston-...