Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

Legal Proceedings

From time to time, the Company is a party to legal proceedings, lawsuits and other claims that arise in the ordinary course of the Company’s business. The Company is not aware of any legal proceedings or claims that it believes may have, individually or taken together, a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows. The Company’s policy is to expense legal costs as they are incurred.

All lawsuits relating to the Merger that were filed against the Company have been voluntarily dismissed as of April 2024 (see Note 3).

DownREITs and Other Partnerships

In connection with the formation of certain limited liability companies (“DownREITs”), members may contribute appreciated real estate to a DownREIT in exchange for DownREIT units. These contributions are generally tax-deferred, so that the pre-contribution gain related to the property is not taxed to the member. However, if a contributed property is later sold by the DownREIT, the unamortized pre-contribution gain that exists at the date of sale is specifically allocated and taxed to the contributing members. In many of the DownREITs, the Company has entered into indemnification agreements with those members who contributed appreciated property into the DownREIT. Under these indemnification agreements, if any of the appreciated real estate contributed by the members is sold by the DownREIT in a taxable transaction within a specified number of years, the Company will reimburse the affected members for the federal and state income taxes associated with the pre-contribution gain that is specially allocated to the affected member under the Internal Revenue Code (“make-whole payments”). These make-whole payments include a tax gross-up provision. The Company has indemnification agreements on a total of 43 properties within its DownREITs.

Additionally, the Company owns a 49% interest in the Lab JV (see Note 8). If the property in the joint venture is sold in a taxable transaction, the Company is generally obligated to indemnify its joint venture partner for its federal and state income taxes associated with the gain that existed at the time of the contribution to the joint venture.