When people say poverty affects your brain, this is one of the things they mean. Now, the landlord probably isn't poor, but from a poor or normal background, where money isn't abundant enough for such solutions.
It sounds like the opposite, to me. He's a man whose moral compass only aligns to his own self-interest, what's going to enrich him more at any cost, which happens when people lose empathy.
In general, poverty makes humans kinder and more charitable, not crazy and dishonest, while selfishness and apathy for others scales with wealth and resources.
In general, poverty makes humans kinder and more charitable, not crazy and dishonest, while selfishness and apathy for others scales with wealth and resources.