Commitments and Contingencies

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

We enter into certain commitments for future purchases of goods and services in connection with the operations of our apartment communities. Those commitments generally have terms of one year or less and reflect expenditure levels comparable to our historical expenditures.

Legal Matters

In addition to the matters described below, we are a party to various legal actions and administrative proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business, some of which are covered by our general liability insurance program, and none of which we expect to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Environmental

Various federal, state and local laws subject apartment community owners or operators to liability for management and the costs of removal or remediation of certain potentially hazardous materials that may be present in the land or buildings of an apartment community. Such laws often impose liability without regard to fault or whether the owner or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of such materials. The presence of, or the failure to manage or remediate properly, these materials may adversely affect occupancy at such apartment communities as well as the ability to sell or finance such apartment communities. In addition, governmental agencies may bring claims for costs associated with investigation and remediation actions. Moreover, private plaintiffs may potentially make claims for investigation and remediation costs they incur or for personal injury, disease, disability, or other infirmities related to the alleged presence of hazardous materials. In addition to potential environmental liabilities or costs associated with our current apartment

communities, we may also be responsible for such liabilities or costs associated with communities we acquire or manage in the future or apartment communities we no longer own or operate.

We are engaged in discussions with the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), regarding contaminated groundwater near an Indiana apartment community that has not been owned by us since 2008, for which we have recognized a contingent liability. The contamination allegedly derives from a dry cleaner that operated on our former property, prior to our ownership. We undertook a voluntary remediation of the dry cleaner contamination under state oversight. In 2016, EPA listed our former community and a number of residential communities in the vicinity on the National Priorities List (“NPL”) (i.e., as a Superfund site). In May 2018, we prevailed on our federal judicial appeal vacating the Superfund listing. We continue to work with EPA to formulate an agreed order to reimburse EPA costs and finish clean-up of the site outside the Superfund program. Although the outcome of this process is uncertain, we do not expect the resolution to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

We have a contingent liability related to a property in Lake Tahoe, California. An entity owned by us was the former general partner of a now-dissolved partnership that previously owned a site where a laundromat, with a self-service dry-cleaning machine, operated. That entity and the current property owner have been remediating the site since 2009, under the oversight of the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board (“Lahontan”). In May 2017, Lahontan issued a final cleanup and abatement order that names four potentially-responsible parties, acknowledges that there may be additional responsible parties, and requires the named parties to perform additional groundwater investigation and corrective actions with respect to onsite and offsite contamination. We appealed the final order, and on June 1, 2020, the court vacated the Order against us. However, there are still civil suits pending related to this contingent liability. Although the outcome of this process is uncertain, we do not expect the resolution to have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, or cash flows.

We have determined that our legal obligations to remove or remediate certain potentially hazardous materials may be conditional asset retirement obligations (“AROs”), as defined by GAAP. Except in limited circumstances where the asset retirement activities are expected to be performed in connection with a planned construction project or apartment community casualty, we believe that the fair value of our AROs cannot be reasonably estimated due to significant uncertainties in the timing and manner of settlement of those obligations. AROs that are reasonably estimable as of December 31, 2023, are immaterial to our consolidated financial statements.