I also thought I heard (maybe I'm getting this from Fanshen) that plenty of more-or-less OK landlords maybe had their rental properties confiscated, but were otherwise allowed to go on as before.

The landlords who received harsher penalties, including death, were acting more as feudal lords (with all the direct violence and depravity that comes with) than as some guy renting a second home at market rate. The latter is not something they should be allowed to do, but apparently Chinese peasants in the 50s weren't calling for blood over it.