Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

(a) Lease Commitments

The Company pays monthly rent pursuant to three office leases. In November 2018, the Company amended the lease for its corporate headquarters in New York, New York, under the same terms and conditions, to extend the expiration date for the lease by up to one year, through June 30, 2021, with a mutual option to terminate on or after February 15, 2021. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company recorded an expense of approximately $2.9 million in connection with the lease for its current corporate headquarters.

In addition, in November 2018, the Company executed a lease agreement on new office space in New York, New York. The Company plans to relocate its corporate headquarters to this new office space upon the substantial completion of the building. The lease term specified in the agreement is fifteen years with an option to renew for an additional five years. The Company’s current estimate of annual lease rental expense under the new lease, excluding escalation charges which at this point are unknown, is approximately $4.6 million. The Company currently expects to relocate to the space in the first fiscal quarter of 2021, but this timing, as well as when it is required to begin making payments and recognize rental and other expenses under the new lease, is dependent on when the space is actually available for use.

The Company recognized lease expense of $3.0 million, $2.7 million and $2.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively, which is included in Other general and administrative expense within the consolidated statements of operations. At December 31, 2020, the contractual minimum rental payments (exclusive of possible rent escalation charges and normal recurring charges for maintenance, insurance and taxes) were as follows:


Year Ended December 31,	Minimum Rental Payments (1)
(In Thousands)
2021	$	434
2022	85
2023	86
2024	65
2025	—
Thereafter	—
Total	$	670

(1) Table excludes amounts related to the lease agreement for new office space discussed above as the Company is not contractually obligated to make rental payments until fourteen months after a temporary certificate of occupancy is delivered to the landlord, which is currently expected to occur on or before March 2021.

(b) Representations and Warranties in Connection with Loan Securitization Transactions

In connection with the loan securitization transactions entered into by the Company, the Company has the obligation under certain circumstances to repurchase assets previously transferred to securitization vehicles upon breach of certain representations and warranties. As of December 31, 2020, the Company had no reserve established for repurchases of loans and was not aware of any material unsettled repurchase claims that would require the establishment of such a reserve (see Note 15).

The Company has participated in loans to provide financing to entities that originate loans and own MSRs, as well as certain other unencumbered assets owned by the borrower. At December 31, 2020, the Company’s commitment to lend is $32.6 million of which no amount was drawn at December 31, 2020 (see Note 4).

(d) Rehabilitation Loan Commitments

At December 31, 2020, the Company had unfunded commitments of $60.6 million in connection with its purchased Rehabilitation loans (see Note 3).