Schools start to rent a lot of land (5)
I believe the answer is:
shire
'a lot of land' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'schools start to rent' is the wordplay.
'start to' says to take the initial letters.
'rent' becomes 'hire' (rent can mean to hire something out).
The initial letter of 'schools' is 's'.
's'+'hire'='SHIRE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shire that I've seen before include "Rural county" , "English county" , "Breed of draught horse" , "Powerful draught horse" , "County (esp. in England)" .)