My only comment on the landlord stuff is that there are landlords that are good, but they're extremely rare. My landlord from college, whom I now consider to be a friend, and regularly keep up with, became a friend because he was an exceedingly great landlord.

He would regularly visit the property to check in, do the work around the place that needed to be done. Stuff like shoveling snow, cutting the grass, etc. He made sure everything was running correctly and there were no issues; if there was ever a problem he would address it right away and at the very least, give you a rough timeline on when things would be fixed.

You could call him 24/7 and he would drop whatever he was doing and head out to address any issue that needed immediate attention. He was lenient on payments, often foregoing first/last/security payments with little more than the commitment to pay by a certain date, which could be months into the future. We were students and sometimes our financial assistance didn't come in exactly when we needed it, and we had to argue with our financial institution to get our cheques for the semester. He provided everything included in the rent, from heat/power to internet. Rent was reasonable and often under market value for what was provided. He was less concerned about making profit and more concerned with the house paying for itself, and running smoothly.

Before anyone has the chance to comment, this guy is a unicorn. I'm damned lucky to have rented from him. By no means does he represent even a fraction of 1% of landlords. He did everything in his power to ensure we were taken care of and that's why I rented from him the entire time I was in college, and a few of my friends ended up moving into my student house over the course of my college career. I don't expect to ever find another landlord that's anywhere near his quality ever again. I've had the need to rent from others, because he doesn't really have any units that served my needs later in life (and now I have a mortgage, so never again), and the difference is dramatic. Most landlords seems to do everything in their power to avoid taking responsibility, visiting the property, or have anything happen that doesn't either sweep problems under the rug, or make it someone else's problem. They just want their money, and damn everything else.

99.9% of landlords are garbage, and they deserve every ounce of hate towards them. They've worked hard at earning that hate and they get the hate that they have earned. I recognise that my experience with this one landlord does not and should not excuse any of that loathing that others feel about landlords in general and the vast majority are not worth the oxygen that they consume.

My entire point is that it's not 100% of landlords that are shit. It's damn close to 100% but it's not. A very small fraction of a percent are actually good at what they do, and take issues seriously. They get involved in issues without hesitation and resolve problems quickly, without complaint. It is an extremely small number of them. My (now) friend who happens to also be a landlord is one such example. That being said, it's not worth it to maintain an entire industry full of shit for the few that actually do things well and provide something valuable. So I'm still in favor of burning it all down and rebuilding from scratch. Temporary/rental living has a place in society for those who will be living in an area for a small amount of time (college/university is an easy example), but on the whole, ownership should be a painless experience, and it's not. In no small part because of landlords buying up anything they can. Another contributing factor is house flippers, whom I consider to be a scourge to society, since so few of them do anything remotely correct. Many don't do things that will even stand up to moderate use and buying from a flipper often results in having to have most of the work re-done correctly within a few years.

It's a horrid part of society and should be abolished.