rent seeker

A person or entity that provides little to no value while seeking to take/extract as much value from others; a burden on society as a whole.

Highly similar to a mooch or a leech, they thrive off owning something scarce that other people need; this provides a position of which negotiation is a mere formality.

Rent seekers are intrinsically "valued" more than a mooch or a leech though, prized by much of business and criminal culture for their innate ability to treat people like numbers and maximize cost to benefit ratios. For this reason, a "rent seeker" does not exclusively mean someone who literally owns property and seeks rent.

"My landlord won't fix the hot water and is upping my rent anyways! But all the other places I check out are also moldy or broken and cost even more! Goddamned rent seekers!"