Have you noticed that great, affordable little restaurant in your neighborhood suddenly closed down? It’s been replaced by a pricey chain store, or has just been sitting empty for months.

Often, the invisible force behind this is out-of-control commercial rent.

For many business owners today, the biggest challenge isn’t competition—it’s “working for the landlord.” After a month of hard work, most of their profit goes straight to rent. This relentless rise in costs isn’t just a problem for individual shop owners; it’s a major culprit behind the rising cost of living for everyone and is harmful to the entire economy.

How Soaring Rent Empties Your Wallet

The logic is simple. When rent skyrockets, the bakery, the café, or the barbershop owner only has two choices to survive:

1. Raise Prices: The cost of your latte, your bowl of noodles, or your haircut goes up, passing the expense directly to us, the consumers.

2. Close Down: If they can’t raise prices or it doesn’t help, they’re forced out of business. This doesn’t just put the owner and employees out of work; it also reduces the supply of services. When there are fewer shops on the street, the remaining ones have more power to set prices. We, the consumers, have fewer choices, and prices become even harder to bring down.

Either way, the general public ends up paying the bill. It’s like a hidden “tax” that, through commercial rent, makes life more expensive for everyone, contributing to inflation.

It Hurts More Than Just Prices—It Hurts Economic Vitality

The only ones who can afford these sky-high rents are often big, deep-pocketed chain brands. Meanwhile, the small and medium-sized businesses—the ones full of creativity, character, and that provide the most jobs—are being squeezed out. If our main streets end up with nothing but banks, chain pharmacies, and real estate agencies, what kind of vitality is left?

Exorbitant rents also deter countless young people from starting businesses. When dreams are crushed not by a bad idea, but by the inability to afford a small storefront, it’s a devastating blow to our economic future.

Some Say: The Government Shouldn’t Interfere; The Market Will Regulate Itself

This sounds reasonable in theory, but it often fails when it comes to commercial rent. A shop in a good location is a scarce resource, giving the landlord disproportionate power. This ability to demand any price is a form of “market failure.” It harms not just the tenant, but the broader public interest.

Therefore, appropriate government intervention isn’t about returning to a planned economy; it’s about acting as a “referee” to stop the game from being ruined.

What Can We Do?

The government can adopt some straightforward and effective measures, rather than just letting things slide:

• Set a “Rent Cap”: For example, stipulate that annual rent increases cannot exceed a certain percentage above the inflation rate (e.g., 5%). This ties rent growth to the overall economy, instead of letting it run wild.

• Give Tenants More Security: Laws should protect long-term businesses with a “right of first refusal” on lease renewals, preventing landlords from arbitrarily doubling the rent when the lease is up.

• Utilize Vacant Properties: Introduce a “vacancy tax” on shops left empty for long periods. This forces landlords to rent them out instead of hoarding them and waiting for the highest bidder.

In Conclusion

Controlling runaway commercial rent isn’t about punishing landlords. It’s about protecting the economic ecosystem we all depend on. It’s about letting the small restaurants, bookshops, and barbershops in our neighborhoods survive. It’s about preserving the character of our cities and preventing prices from spiraling upwards due to one broken link in the chain.

This is about everyone’s wallet, and about the health and future of the communities we live in. It’s time we took this issue seriously.