I'm expecting my rent to increase ~50% this January and I feel completely cannibalized. Cannibalized by some meager fuck of a landlord who just collects, collects, collects because I'm their investment. It is my work and toil that they have purchased and apartments are money farms for those who own them. Mark my words, absentee land ownership is downright usury since the landlords have started talking. Just think about the feudal origins of the word, combined with unscrupulous optimism for profit being broadcast on internet. Collectively they can say "It's just the market".
Speaking as a landlord: The larger the organization controlling your rent, the more poorly they will treat you. This is one reason many municipalities have rent control, which would prohibit your 50% rent increase (which is absolutely insane - I have no idea how something that terrible hasn't been struck down yet). Depersonalization is the root cause of much evil. Depersonalization also leads to a lack of boots-on-ground understanding of one's holdings. Ridiculous amounts of the rental market are controlled by REITs right now, and the conditions are approaching those when the real estate bloggers started posting Slayer videos. You're right - it's getting downright predatory out there. I'm super-excited to not have a landlord in about 60 days. But our current landlord is just some nice lady from Burbank whom I've never met and our tenants talk to a nice lady named Joanne who manages about 20 homes (of which ours is only one). When we knew we would be moving back into our place, we let them know that their lease wouldn't be renewed... five months in advance. We aren't all evil.