Rent control is the government putting a gun at the head of people trying to make voluntary contracts with each other. That's why rent controls violate the rights of everyone, not just landlords. Only the landlord has a choice, because he controls the apartment that the tenant needs and thus he has the tenant over a barrel. But their position is the exact opposite of the moral position. Need is not a claim.
Human rights are more important than property rights.
Property rights are human rights, and very basic ones. They are the rights of human beings to use their own property. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave. Rent controls are perfectly legitimate because this is a democracy, and rent controls have been voted in.