• In British English, “renter” - means both (in the OED). So, you mean “in American.”

    But, yes; I concede landlord may have been a better term, although not all renters who lease properties to others are also landlords; for one example, subletters are renters (in both meanings of the word) but not landlords.

    Renters (landlords) are necessary; the real problem I’m railing against is property developers turning single family homes (or apartments[^1]) and farmland into rental properties.

    [^1] in 'Murican, the word “apartment” has rental connotations. I’m using it here in the “a unit in a larger building of units, either owned or rented out.”