>Landlords provide a service by maintaining and managing properties.
We already established that property management companies do this for 10% of the rent.
>They assume most of the risks including damage to the property due to fire and natural disasters.
Should I charitably assume that you've just never heard of insurance?
>They provide a means for people with little to no credit
That 80% of the rent which goes into their pockets after management, insurance and repairs are taken care of is pure, unadulterated parasitism.
Just as payday loans are parasitism.
They both effect net transfers of wealth that, similar to a payday loan. Capitalism grants an entitlement to those with more money to receive an income only because they have more money.
>You are paying for all of these services and more
You are often paying and not even getting these services. Many landlords end up not fixing stuff that breaks.
>If landlords were purely parasites they wouldn't be able to make any money. People would just go around them.
Not possible while they own deeds to the land. Ownership of the land is the part that lets them be parasites.
>Just because you don't like the need for the service they provide doesn't mean they don't provide a service.
Owning land is what gives them the ability to provide a service and charge 5x what it is worth.
If land ownership were illegal and it were simply rented from the government at the exact prevailing unimproved rental value then landlords would become more like an average shop owner rather than massive leeches on productive members of society.