This is called a risk investment. The risk is that nobody rents the place, in which case the landlord would lose the property.
As a renter, you have the freedom to call out that bet, but it's quite probable that somebody else will rent instead of you. Also, if the markets are efficient, it's almost 100% that you're not getting a better deal anywhere else for your place of residence.
Everyone paints landlords as money grubbing evil people. I own a couple rental houses and set prices so that my return is 7% annually. While that may paint me as the description above realize this; that price was set when I set a tenant and only increases with inflation. The majority of my units are 25% below market rates because once I have a good tenant I don't see a reason to make more work for me. 7% return and I never hear from them is worth it in my mind.
Lemmy can be such a hateful place sometimes. Mom and Pop landlords such as yourself are not the problem. I would assume that most people renting from you are not in a situation where they can buy a house yet. Providing them a place at a reasonable price gives them the opportunity to save for a house of their own. I think just about everybody who has bought a house had to rent first, including myself, without available rentals what would we do?