As for your other points. Non resident landlords are already taxed higher, etc. Controls are already in place.
I'm not really going to get bogged down with the helping other people overseas issue, as it's a complete nonstarter. How far do you go with that? You do what you can, to suit your own moral code. If Foxeye was trying to show some moral highground then perhaps you'd have a point but he's not. He's simply saying that it's not fair that people are stuck in a circle of rent, unable to save to get out of it and are punished economically for that whereas he sees BTL landlords as having their cake and eat it and he doesn't think that such a demonstrable display of inequality should exist. By your argument, no one would do anything in fear of being a hypocrite. I'd rather be a hypocrite and do some good in my sphere of influence than not doing any good at all. I
Rent controls aren't in place. Landlords can charge what they want, and whilst there have been measures put in place to protect the tenant the landlord still holds the majority of the power. The landlord will say, as I do as I am one, that they are simply charging the market rate. I think we need to look at the issue of is that market rate fair? Regulations are put in place to regulate many a market, why not more so for rental and help those (who want to be helped!) who are stuck in the rent trap? Ultimately, as I am proving my self, landlords aren't going to do that. So we have two options. We either accept that tenants are punished for renting, by way of paying a lot more than they would via rent and not having that equity later in life and ask as a society are we happy to create this almost underclass? Or we regulate the rental market a lot harsher to the detriment of landlords but to the benefit of tenants. One group has to, unfortunately, lose out here. I think that all things considered, it ought to be the landlords.