Families speak up: Mold spreads at student housing in Tallahassee

News admin September 14, 2026 0 Comments

Families speak up: Mold spreads at student housing in Tallahassee

For Florida State mom Rhonda Wiggins Petrov, concern for her son’s health doesn’t stem from the “Tally Flu.” It stems from what she calls the “Tally mold,” and this fungus is taking money out of her pockets.

When Petrov’s son returned to Tallahassee for the fall semester, he was greeted with mold that grew over the summer in his off-campus apartment, The Odyssey at FSU Collegetown.

“Almost immediately after entering the apartment, the students began experiencing coughing and itching,” Amy Works, whose son and daughter live in the same unit as Petrov’s son, said to the FSView.

Both mothers told the FSView that the apartment was left clean and that the air conditioning was set at 68 degrees before their children left in the spring. When they returned, the thermostat was turned off, and the clocks on the microwave and stove were blinking.

Ten days, many temporary homes

By the time Petrov, Works, and their children arrived at The Odyssey, it was already 8:00 p.m. Because of the mold, Petrov bought them a hotel room for the night. For nine days, they lived in hotels and in an Airbnb.

On day 10, Petrov said her son moved into a temporary apartment with a broken washer, broken garbage disposal, and bugs. While the rent here was less, the family was still paying full rent for The Odyssey as of Sept. 11.

Rent at The Odyssey ranges from $1,200 a month for a three bedroom unit to $1,790 a month for a one bedroom unit. Even so, the Petrovs and Works have not attempted to break their lease.

“Our lawyer said if we [break our lease] that [The Odyssey] will probably ask to be released from cleaning and repairing all of our students belongings, and we are not willing to do that. It is very expensive to repair/replace the damaged items,” Petrov said to the FSView.

Mold remediation discrepancies

The Odyssey was the third phase of CollegeTown’s development, which has been under the ownership of Seminole Boosters, Inc. for 13 years. Petrov and Works communicated with the student housing complex’s management and copied Seminole Boosters leadership in the emails.

The FSView has reached out to Seminole Boosters for comment.

On Sept. 8, the families were notified that The Odyssey had a lab report and cleared the apartment. According to the housing complex, it was safe and the students could move back into the unit.

However, the mothers decided to contract their own mold remediation specialists. After Southern Environmental Solutions inspected the apartment, they advised the families not to enter the apartment because it was considered “unsafe,” according to Works.

“In a nutshell, [The Odyssey’s] remediation company and our remediation company are not in agreement. There’s still mold present in the unit and it is not at safe levels where it can be occupied. Our kids are still displaced and we are still paying very expensive rent,” Petrov said.

Based on the independent post-remediation test results, Works and Petrov decided not to have their children move back into the unit.

“We are just wondering what out-of-town parents do in this situation, or kids who have uninvolved parents,” Works said. “What happens is they take the clearance letter at face value and let their kids move back in because they don’t know any better. And the apartment complex gets away with this. Constantly.”

Apartment mold spreads beyond FSU CollegeTown

Mold in off-campus housing is not a new concern for Tallahassee students. The fungus has been reported by students in apartments across Florida’s capital city for months.

On May 2, FSU interior design major Jasmin Doering woke up to a massive puddle of water in her room at U Club on Woodward. When Doering went to the apartment’s office, she was told it would be a week before someone would repair it.

“Meanwhile, loads of water was entering my apartment,” Doering said to the FSView. “Weeks later, the apartment decided to handle the situation with a two-week long project.”

Doering went on vacation during the repairs. She figured the project would be over by the time she returned. Instead, she came home to holes in her wall, drywall dust on her belongings, and maintenance coming into her room every day.

“Two months later, I get a call that my initial request for getting released from my lease was approved and I was to be out of there as soon as possible with no notice,” Doering said. “With this, they had me frantically trying to figure out where to move to on short notice and how to move in the middle of school and work.”

At this point, it was July. As Doering packed her belongings to move out, she found mold on various belongings and had to throw them out. She told The FSView that she could smell the fungus in her dresser drawers.

Doering moved out of the apartment on July 15. She told the FSView that U Club refunded the remainder of her rent when she broke her lease; however, she was not compensated for stress and the situation’s impact on her health.

“It was very difficult to work and focus on school in the midst of trying to figure out how to resolve the situation and move. Another thing was as soon as I moved my allergies got so much better. My physical health was actually suffering from the mold exposure,” Doering said.

The FSView has reached out to U Club for comment.

Petrov’s call to action

There are 42 off-campus student housing options in Tallahassee, according to local apartment hunting database RentTally.com. Issues like mold and moisture have been reported at many of them, and on Sept. 9, Petrov created a petition for the undersigned who have been impacted by these conditions.

“Students and their families should not … be expected to remain in potentially unsafe conditions, handle contaminated belongings without proper guidance, or continue paying full rent for a residence they cannot safely occupy,” Petrov said in the petition description.

Petrov told the FSView that she also created a post on the FSU for Parents Facebook page to discuss the issues parents are having with student housing in Tallahassee. The comments were turned off.

If you have an off-campus housing concern, tell the FSView by filling out the 2025-26 Tallahassee Off-Campus Housing Safety & Accountability survey here.

Justice Ulrich is the Editor-in-Chief of the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU community. Email our staff at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on FSU News: Families speak up: Mold spreads at student housing in Tallahassee

Reporting by Justice Ulrich, FSView / FSU News

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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 9:01 AM.