15.
Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments

Real Estate Development Commitments

As of December 31, 2025, the Company has both consolidated and unconsolidated real estate projects under development. The following table summarizes the gross remaining total project costs for the Company’s projects under development at December 31, 2025 (total project costs remaining in thousands):

 

 

 

Projects

 

 

Apartment Units

 

 

Total Project Costs Remaining (1)

 

Projects Under Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consolidated

 

 

1

 

 

 

440

 

 

$

27,326

 

Unconsolidated

 

 

2

 

 

 

639

 

 

 

74,715

 

Total Projects Under Development

 

 

3

 

 

 

1,079

 

 

$

102,041

 

 

(1)
The Company's share of the $102.0 million in total project costs remaining approximates $27.3 million, with the balance funded by the applicable construction loans (approximately $74.7 million).

We have entered into, and may continue in the future to enter into, joint venture agreements with third-party partners for the development of multifamily rental properties. The joint venture agreements with each development partner include buy-sell provisions that provide the right, but not the obligation, for the Company to acquire each respective partner’s interests or sell its interests at any time following the occurrence of certain pre-defined events described in the joint venture agreements. See Note 5 for additional discussion.

Other Commitments

We have entered into, and may continue in the future to enter into, real estate technology and other real estate fund investments. As of December 31, 2025, the Company has invested in eleven separate such investments totaling $49.6 million with aggregate remaining commitments of approximately $18.4 million.

Employment Agreements

The Company entered into a retirement benefits agreement with its former Chairman and a deferred compensation agreement with one former executive officer. During the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, the Company recognized compensation expense of $0.2 million, $0.2 million and $0.6 million, respectively, related to these agreements.

The following table summarizes the Company’s contractual obligations for deferred compensation for the next five years and thereafter as of December 31, 2025:

 

 

 

(Payments) Due by Year (in thousands)

 

 

 

2026

 

 

2027

 

 

2028

 

 

2029

 

 

2030

 

 

Thereafter

 

 

Total

 

Other Long-Term Liabilities:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deferred Compensation (1)

 

$

(840

)

 

$

(840

)

 

$

(840

)

 

$

(840

)

 

$

(840

)

 

$

(2,099

)

 

$

(6,299

)

 

(1)
Includes payments due to the estate of the Company’s former Chairman. As of December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023, no payments remain due to the Company's former executive officer.

Contingencies

Litigation and Legal Matters

The Company, as an owner of real estate, is subject to various federal, state and local laws. Compliance by the Company with existing laws has not had a material adverse effect on the Company. However, the Company cannot predict the impact of new or changed laws or regulations on its current properties or on properties that it may acquire in the future.

The Company is involved in various pending and threatened legal proceedings which arise in the ordinary course of business. The Company evaluates these litigation matters on an ongoing basis, but in no event less than quarterly, in assessing the adequacy of its accruals and disclosures. For legal proceedings in which it has been determined that a loss is both probable and reasonably estimable, the Company records new accruals and/or adjusts existing accruals that represent its best estimate of the loss incurred based on the facts and circumstances known at that time. As of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the Company’s litigation accruals approximated $70.6 million and $42.4 million, respectively, and are included in other liabilities in the consolidated balance sheets. Actual losses may differ materially from the amounts noted above and the ultimate outcome of these legal proceedings is generally not yet determinable. As of December 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, the Company does not believe there is any litigation pending or threatened against it that, either individually or in the aggregate and inclusive of the matters accrued for as noted above and the matters discussed below, may reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company and its financial condition.

The Company has been named as a defendant in a number of cases filed in late 2022 and 2023 alleging antitrust violations by RealPage, Inc., a seller of revenue management software products, and various owners and/or operators of multifamily housing, including us, that have utilized these products. The complaints allege collusion among the defendants to illegally fix and inflate the pricing of multifamily rents and seek monetary damages, injunctive relief, fees and costs. All of the cases except for one have been consolidated into a single putative class action in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. On December 28, 2023, motions to dismiss this consolidated action, filed by RealPage, Inc. as well as us and our multifamily co-defendants, were denied by the Court and the case is proceeding. Another case with similar allegations has been filed by the District of Columbia against RealPage, Inc. and a number of multifamily owners and/or operators, including us, and no assurance can be given that similar additional cases will not be filed in the future. We continue to believe these various lawsuits are without merit and we intend to vigorously defend against them. The resolution of these proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty.

The Company is named as a defendant in a class action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California filed in 2016 which alleges that the amount of late fees charged by the Company were improperly determined under California law. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages and other relief. On April 8, 2024, the Court issued certain findings of facts and conclusions of law that are adverse to the Company’s legal position. During the fourth quarter of 2025, the parties reached a settlement in principle to fully resolve these matters at an amount which is included in the litigation accruals noted above. The settlement remains subject to court approval and in the meantime, the Company is continuing to defend the action.

Historical Timeline

Fiscal YearFiled
2025Feb 13, 2026Showing above
2024Feb 13, 2025
2023Feb 15, 2024
2022Feb 16, 2023
2021Feb 17, 2022
2020Feb 18, 2021
2019Feb 20, 2020
2018Feb 21, 2019
2017Feb 22, 2018
2016Feb 23, 2017
2015Feb 25, 2016

About Commitments Disclosures

Commitments and contingencies disclosures catalog a company's off-balance-sheet obligations and legal exposures — purchase commitments, guarantee arrangements, pending litigation, and regulatory proceedings. These items represent potential future cash outflows that may not appear as liabilities on the balance sheet until they become probable and estimable.

Key signals: litigation reserves and disclosed loss ranges quantify management's estimate of legal exposure, but unquantified "reasonably possible" losses often represent the larger risk. Watch for changes in language around pending cases — shifts from "remote" to "reasonably possible" or increases in estimated loss ranges signal deteriorating outcomes. Unconditional purchase obligations and take-or-pay contracts create fixed cost structures that reduce operational flexibility. Guarantee arrangements for subsidiaries or joint ventures can create cascading obligations. Compare the total commitment schedule against projected free cash flow to assess whether the company can meet its obligations without additional financing.