Landlords rent-seek by charging access to important and scarce property that they themselves are responsible for maintaining.

Fixed that for you. You have this attitude like housing is something that grows out of the ground and landlords just happened to find it while on a walk and put a circle around it.

What gives you the right to these people’s paychecks?

Nobody takes you people seriously because of this incredibly entitled attitude. Nobody who has ever had to maintain a property through their own sweat cares to adopt this attitude, any more than the people for your strawman would donate their labor to the company they work for in exchange for no paycheck at all.