The problem is landlords who don't give a fuck about their tenants and are fixated on squeezing the most out of them. I currently own my house, but my previous landlords were very diligent with repairs and kept rent increases to inflation. They knew we were dependable tenants who paid rent on time and were going to leave the place in decent shape.

But yes, renting can absolutely have unscrupulous landlords. Large investors especially use rental pricing software to press tenants to their absolute limit. It becomes a form of price fixing.