All too often, the landlords expect the renters to pay for maintenance. Not only do they often withhold deposits for regular wear and tear, you can even read threads here where the LLs are trying to get the renters to pay for pest control, new flooring, etc., even when the renters are not liable for it. If LLs are making a profit after all costs, then it’s the renters who are paying for all the maintenance, insurance, taxes, etc., even if they are paying it indirectly.
And the landlord is putting in labor/time, either to do the work themselves or to manage the jobs — Allah forbid they should make a profit for their effort.
Look on the flip side. What if the tenant WAS excessively rough on the floor, or a complete pig like one tenant of mine. Dishes in the sink for days, food crumbs and stickiness on the kitchen floor, dust bunnies that could eat a cat. Yep, she attracted roaches that were damned hard to get rid of — I didn’t take her deposit to pay for pest control, but perhaps I should have. This should really be a matter for the contract and for landlord/tenant court.
Lastly, your food example fails epically. Food supply is tied to land supply — that of good farmland, so it IS limited. Secondly, there may be small and large players in the SD housing market, but no one company like Monsanto is trying to corner it.
