Landlords take housing out of supply and extract rents from it. They produce nothing- the house was "provided" already, they just inserted themselves into the process.
They transform housing from one form to another. Some people find renting more convenient and flexible than buying.
If a few people didn't own a majority of residents the cost of owning a home would be cheaper.
Why? Are the landlords currently colluding to increase prices? I think there are too many landlords for them all to collude.
That is because the buying process is an artificially inflated burden that reinforces the current system.
Removing landlords would also remove the need for them to exist.
when I needed a place to stay for a year in a new country I am sure that the bureaucracy around buying an house was not what convinced me to rent.