By Carolina Bolado

Law360 (June 9, 2020, 8:45 PM EDT) -- The mother of a University of Central Florida student hit a Georgia-based off-campus apartment operator with a proposed class suit Monday, claiming the company has continued to charge rent to residents even though Florida university campuses are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jennifer Ciccone, whose daughter Madison Ciccone is a student at UCF and lives in off-campus housing at The Retreat at Orlando, says universities have refunded housing money for university-run dormitories, but the complex's owner, Preferred Apartment Communities Inc., has failed to refund housing money for students who went home when campuses closed in mid-March.

"In contrast to the responsible actions of the universities, the defendant, an investment company focusing on 'student housing properties,' is retaining all funds that their tenants have paid — and continues to demand payment from those who pay month-to-month — for room, board, and other services and amenities, even though the defendant cannot safely provide them and the students have moved out," Ciccone said.

Ciccone is the guarantor for her daughter's room at The Retreat, which costs $810 per month and is adjacent to the UCF campus, according to the suit. The complex offers many dorm-like social and educational activities and has a fitness center, a technology center with computer stations, sports facilities, a sauna, a club room with pool tables and a coffee bar. It also maintains close ties to the university, the suit noted.

But on March 13, Preferred Apartment Communities sent a letter to residents stating that all fitness centers and other "inside amenity spaces" would be closed and only emergency maintenance repairs would be made in occupied units, according to the suit.

And on March 26, the housing complex stated that though it was sympathetic to the hardship caused by the pandemic, it could not change the terms of the lease agreements, according to the complaint.

Ciccone says the company has collected rent for March, April, May and June and has refused to return any of it.

The company, which is headquartered in Atlanta, owns a number of multifamily, retail, office and other properties around the country, including dorm-style student housing apartment complexes. Nationwide, the company has 6,095 individual student leases, according to the suit.

In addition to The Retreat, the company also operates NXNW, a similar facility in Tallahassee near Florida State University, according to Preferred Apartment Communities' website.

Ciccone, who lives in Coral Springs, Florida, says she hopes to represent a class of leaseholders of the company's Florida properties who have also not received refunds despite being ordered home by the universities.

Ciccone's attorney Billy Howard told Law360 that this multibillion-dollar company is prioritizing profits over the safety of the students who live in these apartments.

"Our universities urged students to return home as a result of the pandemic and then rushed pro-rated refunds to them," Howard said. "Not this defendant. They made a difficult time worse, harassed families and demanded payment for services they could not provide. Because they refuse to do the right thing, we are asking a jury to make them do the right thing."

A representative for Preferred Apartment Communities could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Ciccone is represented by William "Billy" Peerce Howard, Heather H. Jones and Amanda J. Allen of The Consumer Protection Firm and John W. Barrett and Raymond S. Franks II of Bailey & Glasser LLP.

Counsel information for Preferred Apartment Communities was not immediately available.

The case is Ciccone et al. v. Preferred Apartment Communities Inc., case number 0:20-cv-61127, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

--Editing by Daniel King.

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