B"H
I sent this question to asktherav.com and this is the response I got:
B" H
Hi I'm aware of this article
https://asktherav.com/article-133-removing-mezuzos-when-moving/#:~:text=When%20a%20person%20moves%20from,has%20already%20been%20established%20there.
That talks about a previous tenant not being allowed to remove
mezuzos.
But what about a landlord who owns the property, and (possibly?) Paid
for the mezuzos originally, and had them up since either the house was
originally built/bought by him OR left from a previous Jewish tenant,
Since the obligation for putting up a mezuzah is on the tenant, can a
landlord simply remove the mezuzos that were already there and expect
the next tenant to put up new ones (this is assuming the landlord
knows the next tenant is a frum Jew who will treat the mezuzos with
respect)?
No.
And if not, is there any legal action that the tenant can take if that
was done, in terms of compensation?
No.
Although their reply doesn't elaborate, based on their other article regarding the reasons of old tenants not removing them, one may infer that the same reasons apply here:
When a person moves from a home or an apartment, the halachah is not
to take down the mezuzos.
The reason:
Most poskim explain that it is considered disrespectful to uproot a
cheifetz shel kedushah (a holy item) from a home after it has already
been established there. It is also considered a sakanah (a dangerous
activity).
...
...
Removing mezuzos from a home can be quite dangerous to the individual
who does so. The rationale behind this rule is that Jews never uproot
mezuzos from homes, leaving them bare without Hashem’s name.
