Tenants file suit against nation’s largest landlord

Jill Barton

Monday, Dec. 2, 2002 | 9:53 a.m.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Tenants sued the nation's largest landlord alleging that the company has taken advantage of young consumers and collected millions of dollars worth of illegal fees.

The suit, announced last week, claims that Chicago-based Equity Residential illegally charges tenants up to five months' worth of rent for ending their leases early or for failing to notify the company that they're not renewing their contract.

The lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court seeks class-action status for Florida plaintiffs. Similar suits against Equity Residential are likely in other states, the plaintiffs' lawyers said.

"We want an injunction to stop these practices and we want refunds plus interest," attorney Rod Tennyson said.

Equity Residential's website lists seven Las Vegas-area apartment complexes. Local officials with the company referred calls about the lawsuit to Equity's corporate offices in Chicago.

Tennyson said plaintiffs attorneys are still investigating the company's different holdings.

An Equity Residential spokesman declined comment on the company's practices or the lawsuit, which he said the company has not received.

"Their attorneys made no attempt to contact us to resolve any potential issues," spokesman Marty McKenna said.

Equity Residential is the largest publicly traded owner and operator of multifamily properties in the nation and had $2.3 billion in revenue last year. It owns more than 1,000 properties in 36 states and has 225,000 apartment units, with 33,000 of them Florida.