Florida House of Representatives 
Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith 
District 49 
District Office​:    Tallahassee Office: 
4063 North Goldenrod Road, Unit 3  1402 The Capitol 
Winter Park, FL 32792-8914  402 South Monroe Street 
(407) 681-5433  Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300 
  (850) 717-5049 
  Email: Carlos.Smith@myfloridahouse.gov   
     

Office of Governor Ron DeSantis 

400 S. Monroe St. 
Tallahassee, FL 32399 
 
April 3, 2020 
 
Dear Governor Ron DeSantis, 
 
As you are already aware, state colleges and universities have intentionally depopulated their campuses and 
students have begun engaging with their academic programming through virtual learning. For health, safety 
and economic reasons, the COVID-19 pandemic has also forced many college and university students who live 
off-campus to return home, often to the permanent residence of a parent or guardian upon which the student 
is dependent . While our State University System has provided many students with partial refunds for the cost 
of on-campus housing and meal plans, privately-run off-campus student housing properties have done very 
little to lessen the financial burden of this public health emergency on Florida students and their families.  
 
In fact, it has come to our attention that students across the State of Florida are consistently being denied the 
opportunity to terminate their off-campus housing leases early without any reasonable accommodation during 
this declared a State of Emergency. In East Orlando, home to the ​University of Central Florida​ and ​Valencia 
College East​, we have heard directly from students and parents who have experienced these predatory 
business practices in at least twenty-two off-campus housing properties. In a letter dated March 30th, 2020, 
UCF’s Interim President Thad Seymour, Jr​ pleaded with off-campus student housing managers to grant early 
lease terminations for these tenants to no avail. We have also been contacted by students with similar concerns 
related to off-campus housing properties near ​FSU​, ​UF​, and ​USF​ to name a few. 
 
College and university students are uniquely impacted by COVID-19. First, many rely on part-time jobs to pay 
their rent, but not every student will qualify for unemployment benefits if they lose their job. In fact, students 
who work as Other Personnel Services (OPS) on their university campus do not even qualify for paid leave, 
and many students will not receive any direct federal government benefits because they are still considered a 

Committees:  
Appropriations Committee,​ ​Health Quality Subcommittee, 
Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee,​ ​Higher Education & Career Readiness Subcommittee
  
 
 
 
“dependent” in their parent or guardian’s tax filings. In addition to these very real financial struggles of 
students -- and their families -- we also know students are navigating new pressures brought by online 
coursework, separations from friends, isolation from social activities, and general uncertainty from the public 
health crisis itself. A delinquent lease could also impact a student’s ability to find a new lease in the future.  
 
We ask that you issue an executive order allowing students currently enrolled in our state colleges, public 
and private universities the right to terminate his, her or their housing rental agreement during this State of 
Emergency. Under your executive order, this early termination of the rental agreement should be 
exercisable only by the student tenant who should provide a written notice of termination to the landlord 
to be effective on the date the student tenant completely vacated the rental unit. The effective date of 
termination can be applied or enacted retroactively to a date no earlier than the 9th day of March, 2020 as 
long as the student tenant had completely vacated the rental unit by such effective date of termination. 
 
The student tenant shall be liable for the rent due under the rental agreement prorated to the effective date 
of the termination and payable no later than 45 days from the date of your executive order. The student 
tenant should not be liable for any other rent, damages, fines or late fees due to the early termination of the 
tenancy as provided for in your executive order. 
 
We must do everything we can to protect Floridians from unfair business practices during this pandemic-- that 
includes our college and university students who are uniquely vulnerable to corporate exploitation that could 
further increase their student loan debt in the future.  
 
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of our request. We look forward to your response.  
 
In Equality, 
 
 

 
   
Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith   Representative Anna V. Eskamani 
Florida House of Representatives, District 49  Florida House of Representatives, District 47