Just Banter
When it comes to landlords, you don’t really need to have more than a transactional relationship. There is no need to be friends or to see how each other is doing because, for the most part, each of you knows each other’s purpose.
So receiving a message like this from your landlord probably isn’t the most appropriate thing. Perhaps you should leave jokes for friends and serious conversations for your tenants. No one gets a free ride in life, but still, this is just mean.