Most other countries have tennancy boards and things so you can enforce your rights without expensive lawsuits. Does usa not have that?

Having lived in multiple (mostly first world countries) I have never experienced this outside of the state free / subsidised housing sector.

Maybe its not as common as i thought. Here's an example in canada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribunal_administratif_du_loge... . Several, but not all provinces in Canada have similar administrative tribunals instead of the normal court system to resolve resedential rental disputes.