In my area there are two types of rental properties available.

1. Nicer newer apartment complexes that are corporate owned that have overly restrictive lease agreement and have rents that are two to three times what a mortgage would cost on a house of similar square footage, if any were available which of course there aren't. And the icing on the cake is most of them are owned by a single holding company which puts most of its profits into buying property and building new complexes to keep its tax rates down.

2. Older run down apartments with chipping paint, creaky floors and drafty windows that used to be single family homes and have now been split into two to four rental units. Oftentimes the owner of the property lives in one of the units and their only source of income is the renters of the other units. Repairs happen only if absolutely necessary and improvements are out of the question because that cuts into their living expenses.

Of the two I think the corporations are more insidious and deserve more of the ire that seems to go towards private landlords. But that being said both business models are clearly problematic and exploitative and it doesn't take a degree in economics to see that comparing them to small businesses that pass some of their startup costs onto their customers is a false equivalency and a bad faith argument.