Item 1. Business.
Our Company
We are a real estate investment trust, or REIT, that was organized under Maryland law in 1998. We own medical office and life science properties, senior living communities and other healthcare related properties throughout the United States. As of December 31, 2020, we owned 397 properties located in 36 states and Washington, D.C. On that date, the gross book value of our real estate assets at cost plus certain acquisition costs, before depreciation and purchase price allocations and less impairment write downs, was $8.2 billion.
Our principal executive offices are located at Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634, and our telephone number is (617) 796-8350.
Our Business Strategy
We believe that the aging of the U.S. population benefits our portfolio of healthcare real estate. According to U.S. Census data, between now and 2030, more than 20% of the total U.S. population will reach age 65, or the equivalent of 10,000 people per day. We believe that this will increase demand for healthcare services and products supplied by the tenants in our medical office and life science properties. The primary market for senior living services is individuals age 80 and older. According to U.S. Census data, the age 75+ demographic is projected to be among the fastest growing age cohorts in the United States over the next 20 years, and according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, the age 85+ demographic is projected to grow over 30% over the next five years. Also, as a result of medical advances, seniors are living longer, and CMS reports that healthcare spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 5.7% per year and reach $6.0 trillion by 2027.
In light of these demographic trends, we believe that the aging of the U.S. population will increase demand for existing medical office and life science properties, senior living communities (including active adult rental properties) and other medical and healthcare related properties. Although we are currently generally prohibited from making acquisitions or other capital investments pursuant to the terms of the agreements governing our revolving credit facility and our $200.0 million term loan, or collectively, our credit and term loan agreements, which are described below, we plan to seek to profit from this demand in the future by, over time, acquiring additional properties and entering into leases and management arrangements with qualified tenants and managers which generate returns to us that exceed our operating and capital costs, including structuring leases that provide for or permit periodic rent increases. Despite this trend, future economic downturns, softness in the U.S. housing market, higher levels of unemployment among our potential residents’ family members, lower levels of consumer confidence, stock market volatility and/or changes in demographics could adversely affect the ability of seniors to afford the resident fees at our senior living communities. Further, as discussed further elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the COVID-19 pandemic and expected economic impacts therefrom may negatively impact our senior living operations.
We seek to selectively sell properties from time to time when we determine our continued ownership or ongoing required capital expenditures will not achieve desired returns or when we believe we can successfully pursue more desirable opportunities than retaining these properties. We also expect to use future sales proceeds, at such time as we are no longer prohibited from doing so pursuant to the agreement governing our revolving credit facility, or our credit agreement, to acquire new properties that we believe will help us reduce the average age of our properties, increase our weighted average lease term, reduce our ongoing capital requirements and/or increase our distributions to shareholders. We refer to this as our capital recycling program.
Office Portfolio
Our portfolio of medical office and life science properties, or our Office Portfolio, consists of commercial properties constructed for use or operated as medical office space for physicians and other healthcare personnel, and other businesses in medical related fields, including clinics and life science or laboratory uses. Some of our medical office properties are occupied as administrative facilities for healthcare companies, such as hospitals and healthcare insurance companies.
Senior Living Communities
Independent Living Communities. Independent living communities provide high levels of privacy to residents and require residents to be capable of relatively high degrees of independence. An independent living community usually bundles
several services as part of a regular monthly charge. For example, an independent living community may include one or two meals per day in a central dining room, daily or weekly maid service or a social director in the base charge. Additional services are generally available from staff employees on a fee for service basis. In some of our independent living communities, separate parts of the property are dedicated to assisted living and/or nursing services. We also own an active adult rental property, which we have classified as an independent living community.
Assisted Living Communities. Assisted living communities typically have one bedroom or studio units which include private bathrooms and efficiency kitchens. Services bundled within one charge usually include three meals per day in a central dining room, daily housekeeping, laundry, medical reminders and 24 hour availability of assistance with the activities of daily living, such as dressing and bathing. Professional nursing and healthcare services are usually available at the property on call or at regularly scheduled times. In some of our assisted living communities, separate parts of the property are dedicated to independent living and/or nursing services.
Skilled Nursing Facilities. Skilled nursing facilities, or SNFs, generally provide extensive nursing and healthcare services similar to those available in hospitals, without the high costs associated with operating rooms, emergency rooms or intensive care units. A typical purpose built SNF includes mostly rooms with one or two beds, a separate bathroom and shared dining facilities. Licensed nursing professionals staff SNFs 24 hours per day.
Wellness Centers
Wellness centers typically have gymnasiums, strength and cardiovascular equipment areas, tennis and racquet sports facilities, pools, spas and children's centers. Professional sports training and therapist services are often available. Wellness centers often market themselves as clubs for which members may pay monthly fees plus additional fees for specific services.
Other Types of Real Estate
In the past, we have considered investing in real estate different from our existing property types and some properties located outside the United States. For example, we recently acquired an age restricted active adult rental property which we have classified as an independent living community, to diversify our portfolio of senior living communities. We may explore these or other alternative investments in the future.
Lease Terms
Our medical office and life science property leases include both “triple net” leases, as described below, and “net” and “modified gross” leases, where we are responsible for operating and maintaining the properties and we charge the tenants for some or all of the property operating expenses. A small percentage of our medical office and life science property leases are “full service” leases where we receive fixed rent from the tenants and do not charge the tenants for any property operating expenses. The leases for some of our senior living communities and all of our wellness centers are “triple net” leases.
Triple net leases generally require the tenants to pay rent and all property operating expenses, to indemnify us from liability which may arise by reason of our ownership of the properties, to maintain the properties at their expense, to remove and dispose of hazardous substances on the properties in compliance with applicable law and to maintain insurance on the properties for their and our benefit. In the event of any damage, or immaterial condemnation, of a leased property, the tenants are generally required to rebuild with insurance or condemnation proceeds or, if such proceeds are insufficient, other amounts made available by us, if any, but if other amounts are made available by us, the rent will be increased accordingly. In the event of any material or total condemnation of a leased property, generally the lease will terminate with respect to that leased property, in which event we will be entitled to the condemnation proceeds and the rent will be reduced accordingly. In the event of any material or total destruction of a leased property, in certain cases the applicable tenant may terminate the lease with respect to that leased property, in which event the tenant will be required to pay us any shortfall in the amount of proceeds we receive from insurance compared to the replacement cost of that leased property.
Senior Housing Operating Portfolio Management Agreements
Because we are a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we generally may not operate our senior living communities. For most of our senior living communities, we use a taxable REIT subsidiary, or TRS, structure authorized by the REIT Investment Diversification and Empowerment Act. Under this structure, we lease certain of our communities to our TRSs and our TRSs enter into long term management agreements with third parties for the operation of such communities. These management agreements provide the manager with a management fee, which is a percentage of the gross revenues realized at the communities, plus reimbursement for the manager's direct costs and expenses related to the communities. The manager may
also receive an annual incentive fee equal to a percentage of the amount by which the annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, of all communities on a combined basis exceeds the target EBITDA for all communities on a combined basis for such calendar year, provided that in no event shall the incentive fee be greater than a percentage of the gross revenues realized.
Effective January 1, 2020, we completed a restructuring of our business arrangements, or the Restructuring Transaction, with Five Star Senior Living Inc., or Five Star, pursuant to which, among other things, our previously existing master leases with Five Star for 166 of our senior living communities and our previously existing management and pooling agreements for 78 of our senior living communities were terminated and replaced, or the Conversion, with new management agreements and a related omnibus agreement, or collectively, the Five Star management agreements.
Although we have various rights as owner under the Five Star management agreements, we rely on the manager's personnel, good faith, expertise, performance, technical resources, operating efficiencies, information systems, proprietary information and judgment to manage our managed senior living communities efficiently and effectively. We also rely on the manager to set resident fees and otherwise operate our managed senior living communities in compliance with the Five Star management agreements.
Under the Five Star management agreements, we assume the operational risks and fund the operations and capital and maintenance requirements for all those senior living communities that Five Star previously leased from us and now manages for our account. As a result, we are required to maintain sufficient funding for these purposes. Further, any funding we maintain for these purposes will not be available for other business purposes, which may limit our ability to pursue other business opportunities and could limit the amount of distributions we can pay to our shareholders. As a result of the Restructuring Transaction and the terms of the Five Star management agreements commencing January 1, 2020, the operating results of our senior living communities that were previously leased from us and operated by Five Star and are now managed by Five Star for our account are included in our operating results. The operating results of our other pre-existing and subsequently acquired or transitioned senior living communities managed by Five Star for our account are similarly included in our operating results. The change in our historical arrangements with Five Star from mostly leased to now managed has resulted, and likely will continue to result in future periods, in our realizing significantly increased variability in our operating results from our senior living communities from what we experienced in the past.
For more information about the Restructuring Transaction and the terms of the Five Star management agreements, see Note 6 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
COVID-19 Pandemic
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic and, in response to the outbreak, the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary declared a public health emergency in the United States and many states and municipalities declared public health emergencies. The virus that causes COVID-19 has continued to spread throughout the United States and the world. Various governmental and market responses attempting to contain and mitigate the spread of the virus have negatively impacted, and continue to negatively impact, the global economy, including the U.S. economy. States and municipalities across the United States have generally allowed most businesses to re-open and have generally eased certain restrictions they had previously implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, often in stages that are phased in over time, although some states and municipalities have imposed or re-imposed certain restrictions in response to increases in COVID-19 infections experienced since then. Recently, economic data have indicated that the U.S. economy has increasingly improved since the lowest periods experienced in March and April 2020, although the U.S. gross domestic product remains below pre-pandemic levels. It is unclear whether the increases in the number of COVID-19 infections will continue or amplify in the United States or elsewhere and, if so, what the impact of that would be on human health and safety, the economy, our manager and tenants or our business.
Our business is focused on healthcare related properties, including medical office and life science properties, senior living communities, wellness centers and other medical and healthcare related properties. We believe that the healthcare sector and many of our tenants provide essential services across the United States. Due to restrictions intended to prevent the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19, certain of our medical office and wellness center tenants, which include physician practices that had discontinued non-essential surgeries and procedures and fitness centers, that had been ordered closed by state executive orders have experienced disruptions to their businesses. Our senior living community operators have also experienced disruptions, including limitations on in-person tours and new admissions, and are experiencing challenges in attracting new residents to their communities in addition to experiencing increased expenses due to increased labor costs, including higher health benefits costs, and increased costs and consumption of supplies, including personal protective equipment. There will be lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as states and municipalities have eased and may further ease restrictions. Our
tenants and their businesses may become increasingly negatively impacted, which may result in our tenants seeking assistance from us regarding their rent obligations owed to us, their being unable or unwilling to pay us rent, their ceasing to pay us rent and their ceasing to continue as going concerns.
We are closely monitoring the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on all aspects of our business, including:
•our tenants and their ability to withstand the current economic conditions and continue to pay us rent;
•our senior living community operators' ability to operate our communities, mitigate and contain the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 at our communities and to keep the residents and our operators' employees at our communities safe and healthy;
•our operations, liquidity and capital needs and resources;
•actively communicating with our tenants, our operators and other key constituents and stakeholders in order to help assess market conditions, opportunities, best practices and mitigate risks and potential adverse impacts; and
•monitoring, with the assistance of counsel and other specialists, possible government relief funding sources and other programs that may be available to us, our tenants, or our operators to enable us and them to operate through the current economic conditions and enhance our tenants' ability to pay us rent or our operators' ability to operate our communities.
With respect to our SHOP segment, we expect that our senior living community operators will be operating our communities at lower average occupancy with higher operating expenses per resident, which will likely lead to decreased returns to us as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our operators continue to follow federal, state and local health department guidelines and their own infection prevention protocols but we expect to see additional cases of COVID-19 in our senior living communities.
Five Star, the manager of our senior living communities, has taken a number of proactive measures to protect the health and safety of their staff and our residents and patients, including:
•restricting access to our senior living communities to essential visitors and team members and only reopening communities when it is determined safe to do so in accordance with applicable federal, state and local regulations and guidelines and Five Star's internal criteria;
•enhancing infectious disease prevention and control policies, procedures and protocols;
•providing additional and enhanced training to team members at all levels of the organization;
•working with vendors to provide adequate supplies and personal protective equipment to our senior living communities; and
•effectively transitioning to virtual sales and marketing activities and thoughtfully proceeding with resident move-ins, when appropriate.
In December 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued emergency use authorizations, or EUAs, to Pfizer Inc. / BioNTech SE and Moderna, Inc. for vaccines for the prevention of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's, or CDC's, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, has placed long-term care facility residents and healthcare personnel in the highest priority group to receive COVID-19 vaccines during "Phase 1a." Despite the issuances of these EUAs, and potentially others for additional vaccines in the future, it is expected to take an extended period of time, and considerable effort and expense, to vaccinate residents and employees at our senior living communities who wish to be vaccinated and several months for the vaccines to be produced, distributed and administered to a sufficient number of people to enable the cessation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Five Star has partnered with CVS Health Corporation to administer vaccines to SHOP community residents and staff, which commenced in December 2020. We expect vaccination clinics for SHOP community residents and staff to be substantially complete by the end of the first quarter of 2021. As it pertains to our SHOP segment, as of February 20, 2021:
•approximately 23,500 total residents and staff, or more than 87% of residents and more than 43% of staff, of our senior living communities have received one or more doses of the vaccine, including over 14,500 residents and staff who have received both doses of the vaccine;
•approximately 99% of our senior living communities are currently open to new admissions; and
•approximately 2.5% of our senior living community residents have active cases of COVID-19, and approximately 72% of those who have tested positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic have since recovered, as defined by CDC guidelines.
We may be subject to claims by residents and staff related to vaccines our manager administers or the care our manager provides following administration of the vaccine. However, any such potential liability will be limited by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness, or PREP, Act, which provides immunity protections under federal and state law for individuals and entities, or Covered Persons, against claims of loss relating to certain COVID-19 countermeasures, or Covered Countermeasures. We and our manager's personnel that administer Covered Countermeasures such as the COVID-19 vaccine are classified as Covered Persons immune to claims arising from COVID-19 vaccine administration with the exception of death or serious physical injury caused by willful misconduct.
We also believe that we, Five Star and our impacted tenants may benefit from provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the CARES Act, signed into law in March 2020, or other federal or state relief programs allowing them to continue or resume business activity. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recognized $17.5 million in interest and other income in our consolidated statement of comprehensive income (loss) related to funds received under the CARES Act and also deferred $22.2 million in payroll taxes as allowed under the CARES Act and recognized these taxes in other liabilities in our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2020.
We believe that our current financial position and recent financing activities will enable us to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath due in part to the following:
•In June 2020, we issued $1.0 billion aggregate principal amount of 9.75% senior notes due 2025. We used the net proceeds from this offering to prepay in full our $250.0 million term loan that was scheduled to mature on June 12, 2020 and to reduce amounts outstanding under our revolving credit facility;
•In February 2021, we issued $500.0 million aggregate principal amount of 4.375% senior notes due 2031. We used the net proceeds from this offering to prepay our $200.0 million term loan and expect to use the remaining net proceeds to redeem all of our outstanding 6.75% senior notes due 2021 in June 2021, when those notes become redeemable with no prepayment premium;
•Also in June 2020, we amended certain financial covenants under our credit and term loan agreements through June 30, 2021 in order to provide us with additional flexibility, and in January 2021, we further amended our credit and term loan agreements to, among other things, obtain waivers from compliance with certain financial covenants through June 2022, or the Amendment Period; and
•Beginning in the second quarter of 2020, we reduced our quarterly cash distribution rate on our common shares to $0.01 per share, conserving approximately $33.3 million of cash per calendar quarter compared to our prior quarterly distribution rate.
In light of the above actions, resources, expectations and conditions, we believe that we are well positioned to weather the present disruptions facing the real estate industry and, in particular, the real estate healthcare industry, including senior living. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of our tenants have requested relief from their obligations to pay rent due to us. While the number and value of these monthly requests have been declining, we continue to evaluate these requests as they are made on a tenant-by-tenant basis. For further information concerning these requests, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We do not have any employees and the personnel and various services we require to operate our business are provided to us by The RMR Group LLC, or RMR LLC, pursuant to our business management agreement, and with respect to our Office Portfolio, our property management agreement, with RMR LLC. RMR LLC has implemented enhanced cleaning protocols and social distancing guidelines at its corporate headquarters and regional offices, as well as business continuity plans to ensure that
RMR LLC employees remain safe and able to support us and other companies managed by RMR LLC or its subsidiaries, including providing appropriate information technology such as notebook computers, smart phones, computer applications, information technology security applications and technology support.
All RMR LLC property management and engineering personnel have been trained on COVID-19 precaution procedures. As states and local communities across the United States moved to stay at home orders, RMR LLC worked to reduce and optimize our operating costs at our properties by:
•deferring non-emergency work;
•implementing energy reduction protocols for lighting and HVAC systems;
•reducing non-essential building services and staff; and
•reducing the frequency of trash removal.
RMR LLC's property management teams have also established business continuity plans to ensure operational stability at our properties. RMR LLC regional management offices limit walk-in visitors and maintain maximum office occupancy limits as required by state and local guidelines, including weekly rotations of employees as needed.
As stay at home orders were and may be lifted or loosened across the United States, RMR LLC has implemented additional procedures at our properties based on recommended guidelines from the CDC and other regulatory agencies. For example:
•focusing on sanitizing high touch points in common areas and restrooms;
•shutting down certain building amenities;
•prudently managing the execution or deferment of tenant work orders to limit RMR LLC staff and tenant interactions at our properties;
•installing signage throughout our properties with social distancing reminders;
•changing certain building HVAC systems and equipment, including adjusting outdoor air control programs to increase the amount of outside air delivered to interior spaces and to adjust control sequences to maintain space relative humidity in order to help minimize the concentration of the virus;
•flushing domestic water systems to prepare for re-occupancy;
•performing service calls and preventative maintenance after business hours to limit social interactions;
•requiring vendors to follow best practices under COVID-19 pandemic conditions, including providing RMR LLC with documented preventative measures for their employees and requiring staff to wear appropriate personal protective equipment when working at our properties; and
•altering cleaning schedules to perform vacuuming at times intended to reduce the potential airborne spread of the virus.
RMR LLC has significantly reduced non-essential work travel and its regional leadership personnel have not been allowed to work in the same locations at the same time. RMR LLC also requires its employees who work at our properties to use personal protective equipment and business continuity bonus payments have been provided by RMR LLC to certain essential workers at our properties.
There are extensive uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. These uncertainties include, among others:
•the duration and severity of the negative economic impact;
•the strength and sustainability of any economic recovery;
•the timing and process for how federal, state and local governments and other market participants may oversee and conduct the return of economic activity when the COVID-19 pandemic abates, such as what continuing restrictions and protective measures may remain in place or be added and what restrictions and protective measures may be lifted or reduced in order to foster a return of increased economic activity in the United States; and
•the responses of governments, businesses and the general public to any increased level or rates of COVID-19 infections.
As a result of these uncertainties, we are unable to determine what the ultimate impacts will be on our, our tenants’, our operators’ and other stakeholders’ businesses, operations, financial results and financial position. For further information and risks relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath on us and our business, see elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including “Warning Concerning Forward-Looking Statements”, Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” and Part II, Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations".
Our Investment and Operating Policies
Our investment objectives include increasing cash flows from operations from dependable and diverse sources in order to make distributions to our shareholders. To seek to achieve these objectives, we seek to: maintain a strong capital base of shareholders' equity; invest in strong credit quality properties with strong credit quality tenants and managers; use debt leverage to fund additional investments which increase cash flow from operations because of positive spreads between our cost of investment capital and investment yields; structure investments which generate a minimum return and provide an opportunity to participate in operating growth at our properties; when market conditions permit, refinance debt with additional equity or long term debt; and pursue diversification so that our cash flow from operations comes from diverse properties and tenants.
Our Board of Trustees may change our investment and operating policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.
Acquisition Policies
Subject to the current limitations on acquisitions imposed by our credit agreement discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 and Note 9 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our acquisition strategy is to seek to acquire additional properties primarily for income and secondarily for appreciation potential. We may purchase individual properties or multiple properties in one portfolio. In implementing this acquisition strategy, we consider a range of factors relating to each proposed acquisition, including, but not limited to:
•the use and size of the property;
•the location of the property;
•the proposed acquisition price;
•the existing or proposed lease or management terms;
•the availability and reputation of experienced and financially qualified tenants, managers or guarantors;
•the historical and projected cash flows from the operations of the property;
•the estimated replacement cost of the property;
•the design, construction quality, physical condition and age of the property and expected capital expenditures or improvements that may be needed at the property;
•the competitive market environment of the property;
•the growth, tax and regulatory environments of the market in which the property is located;
•the price segment and payment sources in which the property is operated;
•the strategic fit of the property within our portfolio;
•our weighted average long term cost of capital compared to projected returns we may realize by owning the property;
•the level of permitted services and regulatory history of the property and its historical tenants and managers; and
•the existence of alternative sources, uses or needs for capital.
An important part of our acquisition strategy is to identify and select, or create, qualified, experienced and financially stable tenants and managers.
Disposition Policies
We plan to selectively sell certain properties from time to time to fund future acquisitions and to strategically update, rebalance and reposition our investment portfolio, and to achieve and maintain leverage consistent with our investment grade rated peers with a goal of (1) improving the asset quality of our portfolio by reducing the average age, lengthening the weighted average term of our leases and increasing the likelihood of retaining our tenants and (2) increasing our distributions to shareholders. We expect further disruptions to future disposition activity due to uncertain market conditions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic conditions.
Other than as described, we generally consider ourselves to be a long term owner of properties and are more interested in the long term earnings potential of our properties and stability of our portfolio than selling properties for short term gains. However, from time to time, we may consider the sale of all or a stake in one or more of our properties or other investments. We make disposition decisions based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, the following:
•our ability to lease or operate the affected property on terms acceptable to us or have the affected property managed with our realizing acceptable returns;
•our ability to lease or operate the affected property on terms acceptable to us or have the affected property managed with our realizing acceptable returns;
•the manager's or tenant's desire to operate the affected property;
•the manager's or tenant's desire to dispose of or cease operating the affected property;
•the proposed sale price;
•the remaining length of the lease relating to the property and its other terms;
•our evaluation of future cash flows which may be achieved from the property;
•the strategic fit of the property or investment within our portfolio;
•the capital required to maintain the property;
•the estimated value we may receive by selling the property;
•our intended use of the proceeds we may realize from the sale of a property; and
•the existence of alternative sources, uses or needs for capital.
Other Investments
We have no policies which specifically limit the percentage of our assets that may be invested in any individual property, in any one type of property, in properties leased to any one tenant or to an affiliated group of tenants or in properties operated by any one tenant or manager or by an affiliated group of tenants or managers or in securities of one or more persons.
We own a significant number of common shares of Five Star, and we expect to own these shares for the foreseeable future. However, we may sell some or all of our Five Star common shares, or our ownership interest in Five Star may otherwise be diluted in the future. We may also in the future acquire additional common shares or securities of other entities, including entities engaged in real estate activities. We may invest in the securities of other entities for the purpose of exercising control, or otherwise, make loans to other persons or entities, engage in the sale of investments, offer securities in exchange for property or repurchase or reacquire our securities. As of December 31, 2020, Five Star managed 235 senior living communities for our account.
We prefer wholly owned investments in fee interests. However, circumstances may arise in which we may invest in leaseholds, joint ventures, mortgages and other real estate interests. We may invest or enter into real estate joint ventures if we conclude that by doing so we may benefit from the participation of co-venturers or that our opportunity to participate in the investment is contingent on the use of a joint venture structure. For example, in March 2017, we entered a joint venture with an institutional investor for one of our life science properties located in Boston, Massachusetts. Further, we may acquire interests in joint ventures as part of an acquisition of properties or entities or we may contribute wholly owned properties into existing or new joint ventures. We also may invest in participating, convertible or other types of mortgages if we conclude that by doing so, we may benefit from the cash flow or appreciation in the value of a property which is not available for purchase.
Mergers and Strategic Combinations
In the past, we have considered the possibility of entering into mergers or strategic combinations with other companies and we may explore such possibilities in the future, subject to the current limitations on acquisitions imposed by our credit agreement discussed further elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 and Note 9 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our Financing Policies
Although there are no limitations in our organizational documents on the amount of indebtedness we may incur, the agreement governing our $800.0 million revolving credit facility and our unsecured senior notes indentures and their supplements contain financial covenants which, among other things, restrict our ability to incur indebtedness and require us to maintain certain financial ratios. For further information relating to our indebtedness, see elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including Note 9 to our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
We may seek additional capital through equity offerings, debt financings, retention of cash flows in excess of distributions to shareholders, sales of properties or a combination of these methods or other transactions. To the extent we obtain additional debt financing, we may do so on an unsecured basis or a secured basis. We may seek to obtain lines of credit or to issue securities senior to our common shares, including preferred shares or debt securities, some of which may be convertible into our common shares or be accompanied by warrants to purchase our common shares. We may also finance acquisitions by assuming debt, through an exchange of properties or through the issuance of equity or other securities. The proceeds from any of our financings may be used to pay distributions, to provide working capital, to refinance existing indebtedness or to finance acquisitions and improvements of existing or new properties, subject to limitations in agreements governing our debt.
As of December 31, 2020, we had a $1.0 billion revolving credit facility. Pursuant to the January 2021 amendment to our credit agreement, the revolving credit facility commitments have been reduced from $1.0 billion to $800.0 million. We use our revolving credit facility for working capital and general business purposes and for funding investments on an interim basis until we are able to refinance them with equity or long term debt. In some instances, we may assume debt in connection with our acquisition of properties or place new mortgages on properties we own. For more information regarding our financing sources and activities, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Our Investment and Financing Liquidity and Resources” in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Generally, we intend to manage our leverage in a way that may allow us to eventually regain “investment grade” ratings from nationally recognized statistical rating organizations; however, we cannot be sure that we will be able to regain investment grade ratings.
Our Board of Trustees may change our financing policies at any time without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders.
Our Manager
The RMR Group Inc., or RMR Inc., is a holding company and substantially all of its business is conducted by its majority owned subsidiary, RMR LLC. The Chair of our Board of Trustees and one of our Managing Trustees, Adam D. Portnoy, is the sole trustee, an officer and the controlling shareholder of ABP Trust, which is the controlling shareholder of RMR Inc., a managing director and the president and chief executive officer of RMR Inc. and an officer and employee of RMR LLC. Jennifer B. Clark, our other Managing Trustee and our Secretary, also serves as a managing director and as executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of RMR Inc., an officer of ABP Trust and an officer and employee of RMR LLC. Our day to day operations are conducted by RMR LLC. RMR LLC originates and presents investment and divestment opportunities to our Board of Trustees and provides management and administrative services to us. RMR LLC has a principal place of business at Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts, 02458-1634, and its telephone number is (617) 796-8390. RMR LLC is an alternative asset management company that is focused on commercial real estate and related businesses. RMR LLC or its subsidiaries also act as a manager to other publicly traded real estate companies, privately held real estate funds and real estate related operating businesses. As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the executive officers of RMR LLC are: Adam Portnoy, President and Chief Executive Officer; Jennifer B. Clark, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Jennifer F. Francis, Executive Vice President; Matthew P. Jordan, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; John G. Murray, Executive Vice President; and Jonathan M. Pertchik, Executive Vice President. In addition, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Richard W. Siedel, Jr., is a Senior Vice President of RMR LLC. Mr. Siedel and other officers of RMR LLC also serve as officers of other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provides management services.
In July 2020, our manager, RMR LLC, released its first annual Sustainability Report, which summarizes the environmental, social and governance initiatives RMR LLC and its client companies, including us, employ. RMR LLC's Sustainability Report may be accessed on RMR Inc.'s website at www.rmrgroup.com/corporate-sustainability/default.aspx. The information on or accessible through RMR Inc.'s website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Employees
We have no employees. Services which would otherwise be provided to us by employees are provided by RMR LLC and by our Managing Trustees and officers. As of December 31, 2020, RMR LLC had more than 600 full time employees in its headquarters and regional offices located throughout the United States.
Government Regulation and Reimbursement
The senior living and healthcare industries are subject to extensive, frequently changing federal, state and local laws and regulations. Although most of these laws and regulations affect the manner in which our tenants and managers operate our properties, some of them also impact us and the values of our properties. Some of the laws that impact or may impact us or our tenants or managers include: state and local licensure laws; laws protecting consumers against deceptive practices; laws relating to the operation of our properties and how our tenants and managers conduct their operations, such as health and safety, fire and privacy laws; federal and state laws affecting assisted living communities that participate in Medicaid and federal and state laws affecting SNFs, clinics and other healthcare facilities that participate in both Medicaid and Medicare that mandate allowable costs, pricing, reimbursement procedures and limitations, quality of services and care, food service and physical plants; resident rights laws (including abuse and neglect laws) and fraud laws; anti-kickback and physician referral laws; the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar state and local laws; and safety and health standards set by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA. Medicaid funding is available in some, but not all, states for assisted living services. State licensure standards for assisted living communities, SNFs, clinics and other healthcare facilities typically address facility policies, staffing, quality of services and care, resident rights, fire safety and physical plant matters, and related matters. In addition, the spread of COVID-19 has brought increased government regulation, including additional compliance obligations, in 2020. We are unable to predict the future course of federal, state and local legislation or regulation. Changes in the regulatory framework could have a material adverse effect on the ability of our tenants to pay us rent, the profitability of our managed senior living communities and the values of our properties.
State and local health and social service agencies and other regulatory authorities regulate and license many senior living communities. State health authorities regulate and license clinics and other healthcare facilities. In most states in which we own properties, we and our tenants and managers are prohibited from providing certain services without first obtaining appropriate licenses. In addition, most states require a certificate of need, or CON, before an entity may open a SNF or expand services at an existing community. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, some states also limit the number of assisted living facilities by requiring CONs. In addition, some states (such as California and Texas) that have
eliminated CON laws have retained other means of limiting development of SNFs, including moratoria, licensing laws and limitations upon participation in the state Medicaid program. Senior living communities and certain other healthcare facilities must also comply with applicable state and local building, zoning, fire and food service codes before licensing or Medicare and Medicaid certification are granted. These laws and regulatory requirements could affect our ability and that of our tenants and managers to expand into new markets or to expand communities in existing markets.
In addition, government authorities have been subjecting healthcare facilities such as those that we own to increasing numbers of inspections, surveys, investigations, audits and other potential enforcement actions. We and our tenants and managers expend considerable resources to respond to such actions. Unannounced inspections or surveys may occur annually or biannually, or even more regularly, such as following a regulatory body's receipt of a complaint about a facility. From time to time in the ordinary course of business, we and our tenants and managers receive deficiency reports from state regulatory bodies resulting from those inspections and surveys. We and our tenants and managers seek to resolve most inspection deficiencies through a plan of corrective action relating to the affected facility's operations. If we or our tenants or managers fail to comply with any applicable legal requirements, or are unable to cure deficiencies, certain sanctions may be imposed and, if imposed, may adversely affect the ability of our tenants to pay their rent to us, the profitability of our managed senior living communities and the values of our properties. In addition, government agencies typically have the authority to take or seek further action against a licensed or certified facility, including the ability to impose civil money penalties or fines; suspend, modify, or revoke a license or Medicare or Medicaid participation; suspend or deny admissions of residents; deny payments in full or in part; institute state oversight, temporary management or receivership; and impose criminal penalties. Loss, suspension or modification of a license or certification or the imposition of other sanctions or penalties could adversely affect the values of our properties, the ability of our tenants to pay their rents and the profitability of our managed senior living communities.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, has increased its oversight of state survey agencies in recent years, focusing its enforcement efforts on SNFs and chains of SNF operators with findings of substandard care or repeat and continuing deficiencies and violations. CMS has also sought to provide consumers with additional information relating to SNFs. Moreover, state Attorneys General typically enforce consumer protection laws relating to senior living services, clinics and other healthcare facilities. In addition, state Medicaid fraud control agencies may investigate and prosecute assisted living communities and SNFs, clinics and other healthcare facilities under fraud and patient abuse and neglect laws.
Current state laws and regulations allow enforcement officials to make determinations as to whether the care provided by or on behalf of our tenants or by our managers at our facilities exceeds the level of care for which a particular facility is licensed, which could result in closure of the community and the immediate discharge and transfer of residents, which could adversely affect the ability of that tenant to pay rent to us, the profitability of our managed senior living communities and the values of our properties. Citations or revocation of a license could impact the ability for us or Five Star to obtain new licenses or certifications or maintain or renew existing licenses and certifications which would trigger defaults under management agreements and leases with us and adversely affect our ability to operate. Furthermore, some states and the federal government allow certain citations of one facility to impact other facilities owned or operated by the same entity or a related entity, including facilities in other states. Revocation of a license or certification at one facility could therefore impact our or a tenant's or manager's ability to obtain new licenses or certifications or to maintain or renew existing licenses at other facilities, which could adversely affect the ability of that tenant to pay rent to us, the profitability of that manager, the profitability and values of our properties and trigger defaults under our tenants' leases and managers' management agreements and our or our tenants' or managers' credit arrangements, or adversely affect our or our tenants' or managers' ability to obtain financing in the future. In addition, an adverse finding by state officials could serve as the basis for lawsuits by private plaintiffs and lead to investigations under federal and state laws, which could result in civil and/or criminal penalties against the facility as well as a related entity.
For the year ended December 31, 2020, substantially all of our net operating income, or NOI, was generated from properties where a majority of the revenues are derived from our tenants' and residents' private resources, and a small amount of our NOI was generated from properties where a majority of the revenue is dependent upon Medicare and Medicaid programs. Our tenants and managers operate facilities in many states and they and we participate in federal and state healthcare payment programs, including the federal Medicare and state Medicaid benefit programs for services in SNFs and other similar facilities and state Medicaid programs for services in assisted living communities.
The CARES Act was signed into law on March 27, 2020. The CARES Act, among other things, provides billions of dollars of relief to certain individuals and businesses suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, including as follows:
•It temporarily suspended the 2% Medicare sequestration payment reductions from May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. This suspension was extended to March 31, 2021 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 signed into law on December 27, 2020.
•It established a Provider Relief Fund for allocation by HHS. On April 10, 2020, HHS began to distribute these funds, or the General Distribution, to healthcare providers who received Medicare fee-for-service reimbursement in 2018 and 2019. On May 22, 2020, HHS announced that Provider Relief Funds would be available to SNFs with six or more certified beds that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 9, 2020, HHS announced Phase 2 General Distributions, including the Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program programs. On September 3, 2020, HHS announced details of a $2 billion incentive-payment distribution to nursing homes, of which approximately $333 million was distributed in the first round and $523 million in the second round. On October 1, 2020, HHS announced Phase 3 General Distributions, intended to balance payments of 2% of annual revenue from patient care for all applicants plus a possible add-on payment to account for revenue losses and expenses attributable to COVID-19. On December 16, 2020, HHS announced that Phase 3 funds would be distributed in amounts up to 88% of reported losses.
•It established an option for companies to elect to defer payment of the employer portion of social security payroll taxes incurred from March 27, 2020 to December 31, 2020. The first half of the deferred payments will become due on December 31, 2020, with the remainder due December 31, 2021.
•It created the employee retention credit calculated at 50% of qualifying wages up to $10,000 in total per employee, resulting in a maximum credit of $5,000 per employee for employers with 100 or fewer employees.
In addition, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 was signed into law on December 27, 2020. Among other things, this Act further supplemented the Provider Relief Fund with an additional $3 billion. Information on future allocations of the Provider Relief Fund are not yet known, though the statute requires that no less than 85 percent of unobligated balances of the fund and funds recovered from providers after the enactment date be allocated based on financial losses and changes in operating expenses occurring in the third or fourth quarter of calendar year 2020. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 also extended the credits and modified the calculation to 70% of qualifying wages up to $10,000 per quarter per employee for employers with up to 500 employees.
We have received funds as part of certain relief programs provided under the CARES Act. The terms and conditions of the Provider Relief Fund require that the funds are utilized to compensate for lost revenues that are attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic and for eligible costs to prevent, prepare for and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic that are not covered by other sources. In addition, Provider Relief Fund recipients are subject to other terms and conditions, including certain reporting requirements. Any funds not used in accordance with the terms and conditions, must be returned to HHS. Receipt of additional government funds and other benefits from the CARES Act is subject to, in certain circumstances, a detailed application and approval process and it is too soon to accurately predict whether we will meet any eligibility requirements. As of December 31, 2020, we have received $20.0 million of funds related to certain programs under the CARES Act and various state programs in which certain of our communities in our SHOP segment are located. We recognized $17.5 million of these funds in interest and other income in our consolidated statement of comprehensive income (loss) for which we have met the required terms and conditions for the year ended December 31, 2020. The remaining $2.5 million of funds we have received for which we have not yet met the required terms and conditions were included in other liabilities in our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2020. We have also deferred approximately $22.2 million of payroll taxes as allowed under the CARES Act. These deferred payroll taxes were included in other liabilities in our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2020 and we expect to pay these deferred taxes in the second half of 2021.
In addition to federal measures, many states have taken actions to waive or modify healthcare laws or regulations and Medicaid reimbursement rules. Both state and federal waivers and other temporary actions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to last throughout the national emergency, the duration of which is currently unknown. Additional measures may be taken prior to and after the conclusion of the national emergency to alleviate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Governmental responses to COVID-19 are rapidly evolving, and it is not yet known what the duration or impact of such responses will be.
Government Payors. In light of the current and projected federal budget deficit and challenging state fiscal conditions, there have been numerous recent legislative and regulatory actions or proposed actions with respect to federal Medicare rates and state Medicaid rates and federal payments to states for Medicaid programs, each of which, or in any combination, could have a material adverse effect on the ability of our tenants to pay us rent, the profitability of our managed senior living communities and the values of our properties.
Our tenants' and managers' Medicare Part B outpatient therapy revenue rates are tied to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, or MPFS, which has been subject to separate limitations on rate growth.
It is unclear whether any adjustments in Medicare rates will compensate for the increased costs our tenants and managers may incur for services to residents whose services are paid for by Medicare.
Medicaid Reimbursement. Current and future programmatic changes to Medicaid eligibility and rates may also impact us.
Quality-Based Reimbursement. In addition to the programmatic and reimbursement changes discussed above, payments to SNFs will be increasingly determined by the quality of care provided.
Enforcement. Federal and state efforts to target false claims, fraud and abuse and violations of anti-kickback, physician referral and privacy laws by providers under Medicare, Medicaid and other public and private programs have increased in recent years, as have civil monetary penalties, treble damages, repayment requirements and criminal sanctions for noncompliance. The federal False Claims Act, as amended and expanded by the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, or the ACA, provides significant civil monetary penalties and treble damages for false claims and authorizes individuals to bring claims on behalf of the federal government for false claims and earn a percentage of the government's recovery should the government intervene. These incentives have led to a steady increase in whistleblower actions. The federal Civil Monetary Penalties Law authorizes the Secretary of HHS to impose substantial civil penalties, treble damages and program exclusions administratively for false claims or violations of the federal anti-kickback statute. In addition, the ACA increased penalties under federal sentencing guidelines between 20% and 50% for healthcare fraud offenses involving more than $1.0 million.
Government authorities are devoting increasing attention and resources to the prevention, detection and prosecution of healthcare fraud and abuse. CMS contractors are also expanding the retroactive audits of Medicare claims submitted by SNFs and other providers, and recouping alleged overpayments for services determined by auditors not to have been medically necessary or not to meet Medicare coverage criteria as billed. State Medicaid programs and other third party payers are conducting similar medical necessity and compliance audits. The ACA facilitates the Department of Justice's, or the DOJ's, ability to investigate allegations of wrongdoing or fraud at SNFs, in part because of increased cooperation and data sharing among CMS, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, or the OIG, the DOJ and the states. On October 20, 2020, the DOJ issued its Annual Report to Congress on its Work to Combat Elder Fraud and Abuse, highlighting among its nursing home cases a $15 million settlement and Corporate Integrity Agreement resolving False Claims Act allegations regarding medically unnecessary rehabilitation services. The significant nature of the settlement indicates that the federal government is increasingly focused on the appropriateness of billing practices of, and medical necessity of services provided at, SNFs. The DOJ has also established 10 regional intergovernmental Elder Justice Task Forces across the country to identify and take enforcement action against SNFs that provide substandard care to residents. In September 2019, the DOJ announced that it intends to identify criminal charges, such as wire fraud or healthcare fraud, that can be brought alongside civil actions against SNFs and employees accused of abusing or defrauding elderly patients.
In addition, the ACA requires all states to terminate the Medicaid participation of any provider that has been terminated under Medicare or any Medicaid state plan. We and our tenants and managers expend significant resources to comply with these laws and regulations.
In addition, federal agencies have announced intentions to enhance enforcement efforts to improve the quality and safety of care in nursing homes, which will impact our operations and increase our operating costs. For example, in accordance with the previously announced attention by CMS regarding overuse of antipsychotics in nursing homes, CMS stated its intention to use civil monetary penalties and denial of Medicare reimbursement to penalize nursing homes that fail to adopt strategies to lower medically-unnecessary use of antipsychotic medications. Further, the DOJ announced a National Nursing Home Initiative to pursue civil and criminal penalties against “nursing homes that provide grossly substandard care to their residents.” The DOJ stated that it would consider a number of factors in identifying problematic nursing homes, including: (1) consistent failure to provide adequate nursing staff; (2) failure to adhere to basic protocols for hygiene and infection control; (3) failure to provide sufficient food to residents; (4) withholding of pain medication; and (5) use of physical or chemical restraints to restrain or sedate residents.
Other Matters. Federal and state laws designed to protect the confidentiality and security of individually identifiable information apply to us, our tenants and our managers. Under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, or the HITECH Act, we, our managers and our tenants that are covered entities or business associates within the meaning of HIPAA must comply with rules adopted by HHS governing the privacy, security, use and disclosure of individually identifiable information, including financial information and protected health information, or PHI, and also with security rules for electronic PHI. There may be both civil monetary penalties and criminal sanctions for noncompliance with such federal laws. In January 2013, HHS released the
HIPAA Omnibus Rule, or the Omnibus Rule, which modified various requirements, including the standard for providing breach notices, which previously required an analysis of the harm of any disclosure, to a more objective analysis relating to whether any PHI was actually acquired or viewed as a result of the breach. On December 10, 2020, HHS issued a proposed rule that would modify certain standards, definitions and patient rights under the previously-promulgated Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, or the HIPAA Privacy Rule, to address barriers to coordinated care and case management. The effect of this proposed rule, if finalized, upon our operations is unknown at this time. In addition to HIPAA, many states have enacted their own security and privacy laws relating to individually identifiable information. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) became effective in 2020, and we expect additional federal and state legislative and regulatory efforts to regulate consumer privacy in the future. In some states, these laws are more stringent than HIPAA, and we, our tenants and our managers must comply with both the applicable federal and state standards. HIPAA enforcement efforts have increased considerably over the past few years, with HHS, through its Office for Civil Rights, entering into several multi-million dollar HIPAA settlements in 2020 alone. Finally, the Office for Civil Rights and other regulatory bodies have become increasingly focused on cybersecurity risks, including the emerging threat of ransomware and similar cyberattacks. The increasing sophistication of cybersecurity threats presents challenges to the entire healthcare industry.
We require our tenants and managers to comply with all laws that regulate the operation of our senior living communities. The costs to comply with these laws may adversely affect the profitability of our managed senior living communities and the ability of our tenants to pay their rent to us. If we, our managers, or any of our tenants were subject to an action alleging violations of such laws or to any adverse determination concerning any of our or our tenants' or managers' licenses or eligibility for Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement or any substantial penalties, repayments or sanctions, these actions could materially and adversely affect the ability of our tenants to pay rent to us, the profitability of our managed senior living communities and the values of our properties. If our managers or any of our tenants becomes unable to operate our properties, or if any of our tenants becomes unable to pay its rent because it has violated government regulations or payment laws, we may experience difficulty in finding a substitute tenant or managers or selling the affected property at a price that provides us with a desirable return, and the value of the affected property may decline materially.
Federal, state and local agencies regulate our medical office and life science property tenants that provide healthcare services. Many states require medical clinics, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and other outpatient healthcare facilities to be licensed and inspected for compliance with licensure regulations concerning professional staffing, services, patient rights and physical plant requirements, among other matters. Our tenants must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar state and local laws to the extent that such facilities are “public accommodations” as defined in those statutes. The obligation to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar laws is an ongoing obligation, and our tenants expend significant resources to comply with such laws.
Healthcare providers and suppliers, including physicians and other licensed medical practitioners, that receive federal or state reimbursement under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal or state programs must comply with the requirements for their participation in those programs. Our tenants that are healthcare providers or suppliers are subject to reimbursement rates that are increasingly subject to cost control pressures and may be reduced or may not be increased sufficiently to cover their increasing costs, including our rents.
The United States Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA, and other federal, state and local authorities extensively regulate our biotechnology laboratory tenants that develop, manufacture, market or distribute new drugs, biologicals or medical devices for human use. The FDA and such other authorities regulate the clinical development, testing, manufacture, quality control, safety, effectiveness, labeling, storage, record keeping, advertising and promotion of those products. Before a new pharmaceutical product or medical device may be marketed and distributed in the United States, the FDA must approve it as safe and effective for human use. Preclinical and clinical studies and documentation in connection with FDA approval of new pharmaceuticals or medical devices involve significant time, expense and risks of failure. Once a product is approved, the FDA maintains oversight of the product and its developer and can withdraw its approval, recall products or suspend their production, impose or seek to impose civil or criminal penalties on the developer or take other actions for the developer's failure to comply with regulatory requirements, including anti-fraud, false claims, anti-kickback or physician referral laws. Other concerns affecting our biotechnology laboratory tenants include the potential for subsequent discovery of safety concerns and related litigation, ensuring that the product qualifies for reimbursement under Medicare, Medicaid or other federal or state programs, cost control initiatives of payment programs, the potential for litigation over the validity or infringement of intellectual property rights related to the product, the eventual expiration of relevant patents and the need to raise additional capital. The cost of compliance with these regulations and the risks described in this paragraph, among others, could adversely affect the ability of our biotechnology laboratory tenants to pay rent to us. In addition, if these laws and regulations are altered, additional regulatory risks may arise. Depending upon what aspects of the laws and regulations are altered, the ability of our biotechnology laboratory tenants to pay rent to us could be adversely and materially affected.
Competition
Investing in medical office and life science properties, senior living communities and other healthcare related properties, and their operations, are highly competitive businesses. We compete against other REITs, numerous financial institutions, individuals and other public and private companies who are actively engaged in this business. Also, we compete for tenants and residents and for investments based on a number of factors including location, rents, rates, financings offered, underwriting criteria and reputation. Our ability to successfully compete is also impacted by economic and population trends, availability of acceptable investment opportunities, our ability to negotiate beneficial investment terms, availability and cost of capital, limitations in agreements governing our debt and new and existing laws and regulations. Some of our competitors are dominant in selected geographic or property markets, including in markets we operate. Some of our competitors may have greater financial and other resources than we have. We believe the quality and diversity of our investments, the financial strength of many of our tenants and the experience and capabilities of our managers may afford us some competitive advantages and allow us to operate our business successfully despite the competitive nature of our business.
Our tenants and managers compete on a local and regional basis with operators of facilities that provide comparable services. Operators compete for residents and patients based on quality of care, reputation, physical appearance of properties, services offered, family preferences, physicians, staff, price and location. We and our tenants and managers also face competition from other healthcare facilities for qualified personnel, such as physicians and other healthcare providers that provide comparable facilities and services.
For additional information on competition and the risks associated with our business, see “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Environmental Matters
Ownership of real estate is subject to risks associated with environmental hazards. Under various laws, owners as well as tenants and operators of real estate may be required to investigate and clean up or remove hazardous substances present at or migrating from properties they own, lease or operate and may be held liable for property damage or personal injuries that result from hazardous substances. These laws also expose us to the possibility that we may become liable to government agencies or third parties for costs and damages they incur in connection with hazardous substances. In addition, these laws also impose various requirements regarding the operation and maintenance of properties and recordkeeping and reporting requirements relating to environmental matters that require us or the tenants or managers of our properties to incur costs to comply with.
We reviewed environmental surveys of the properties we own prior to their purchase. Based upon those surveys, other studies we may have since reviewed and our understanding of the operations of these properties by our tenants and managers, we do not believe that there are environmental conditions at any of our properties that have had or will have a material adverse effect on us. However, we cannot be sure that conditions are not present at our properties or that costs we may be required to incur in the future to remediate contamination will not have a material adverse effect on our business or financial condition or results of operations.
When major weather or climate-related events, such as hurricanes, floods or wildfires, occur near our properties, we, our tenants or our managers may relocate the residents at our senior living properties to alternative locations for their safety and we, our tenants or our managers may close or limit the operations of the impacted senior living community or office property until the event has ended and the property is then ready for operation. We or the tenants or managers of our properties may incur significant costs and losses as a result of these activities, both in terms of operating, preparing and repairing our properties in anticipation of, during and after a severe weather or climate-related event and in terms of potential lost business due to the interruption in operating our properties. Our insurance and our tenants' and managers' insurance may not adequately compensate us or them for these costs and losses.
Concerns about climate change have resulted in various treaties, laws and regulations that are intended to limit carbon emissions and address other environmental concerns. These and other laws may cause energy or other costs at our properties to increase. We do not expect the direct impact of these increases to be material to our results of operations, because the increased costs either would be the responsibility of our tenants directly or in the longer term, passed through and paid by tenants of our leased properties and residents at our managed senior living communities. Although we do not believe it is likely in the foreseeable future, laws enacted to mitigate climate change may make some of our buildings obsolete or cause us to make material investments in our properties, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition or the financial condition of our tenants or managers and their ability to pay rent or returns to us. For more information regarding climate change and other environmental matters and their possible adverse impact on us, see “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—Ownership of real estate is subject to environmental risks,” “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Business—
Ownership of real estate is subject to risks from adverse weather and climate events” and “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Impact of Climate Change”.
Insurance
We or our tenants are generally responsible for the costs of insurance coverage for our properties and the operations conducted on them, including for casualty, liability, fire, extended coverage and rental or business interruption losses. Either we purchase the insurance ourselves and, except in the case of our managed senior living communities, our tenants are required to reimburse us, or the tenants buy the insurance directly and are required to list us as an insured party.
Internet Website
Our internet website address is www.dhcreit.com. Copies of our governance guidelines, our code of business conduct and ethics, or our Code of Conduct, and the charters of our audit, compensation and nominating and governance committees are posted on our website and also may be obtained free of charge by writing to our Secretary, Diversified Healthcare Trust, Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634. We also have a policy outlining procedures for handling concerns or complaints about accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters and a governance hotline accessible on our website that shareholders can use to report concerns or complaints about accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters or violations or possible violations of our Code of Conduct. We make available, free of charge, through the "Investors" section of our website, our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable after these forms are filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Any material we file with or furnish to the SEC is also maintained on the SEC website, www.sec.gov. Securityholders may send communications to our Board of Trustees or individual Trustees by writing to the party for whom the communication is intended at c/o Secretary, Diversified Healthcare Trust, Two Newton Place, 255 Washington Street, Suite 300, Newton, Massachusetts 02458-1634 or by email at secretary@dhcreit.com. Our website address is included several times in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as a textual reference only. The information on or accessible through our website is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or other documents we file with, or furnish to, the SEC. We intend to use our website as a means of disclosing material non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Those disclosures will be included on our website in the “Investors” section. Accordingly, investors should monitor our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts.
Segment Information
As of December 31, 2020, we had two reporting segments: Office Portfolio and SHOP. Non-aggregated assets are classified as “non-segment” and include corporate assets and liabilities, certain triple net leased senior living communities and wellness centers. For further information, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part IV, Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
MATERIAL UNITED STATES FEDERAL INCOME TAX CONSIDERATIONS
The following summary of material United States federal income tax considerations is based on existing law and is limited to investors who own our shares as investment assets rather than as inventory or as property used in a trade or business. The summary does not discuss all of the particular tax considerations that might be relevant to you if you are subject to special rules under federal income tax law, for example if you are:
•a bank, insurance company or other financial institution;
•a regulated investment company or REIT;
•a subchapter S corporation;
•a broker, dealer or trader in securities or foreign currencies;
•a person who marks-to-market our shares for U.S. federal income tax purposes;
•a U.S. shareholder (as defined below) that has a functional currency other than the U.S. dollar;
•a person who acquires or owns our shares in connection with employment or other performance of services;
•a person subject to alternative minimum tax;
•a person who acquires or owns our shares as part of a straddle, hedging transaction, constructive sale transaction, constructive ownership transaction or conversion transaction, or as part of a “synthetic security” or other integrated financial transaction;
•a person who owns 10% or more (by vote or value, directly or constructively under the United States Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the IRC) of any class of our shares;
•a U.S. expatriate;
•a non-U.S. shareholder (as defined below) whose investment in our shares is effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or business in the United States;
•a nonresident alien individual present in the United States for 183 days or more during an applicable taxable year;
•a “qualified shareholder” (as defined in Section 897(k)(3)(A) of the IRC);
•a “qualified foreign pension fund” (as defined in Section 897(l)(2) of the IRC) or any entity wholly owned by one or more qualified foreign pension funds;
•a person subject to special tax accounting rules as a result of their use of applicable financial statements (within the meaning of Section 451(b)(3) of the IRC); or
•except as specifically described in the following summary, a trust, estate, tax-exempt entity or foreign person.
The sections of the IRC that govern the federal income tax qualification and treatment of a REIT and its shareholders are complex. This presentation is a summary of applicable IRC provisions, related rules and regulations, and administrative and judicial interpretations, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect. Future legislative, judicial or administrative actions or decisions could also affect the accuracy of statements made in this summary. We have not received a ruling from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, with respect to any matter described in this summary, and we cannot be sure that the IRS or a court will agree with all of the statements made in this summary. The IRS could, for example, take a different position from that described in this summary with respect to our acquisitions, operations, valuations, restructurings or other matters, which, if a court agreed, could result in significant tax liabilities for applicable parties. In addition, this summary is not exhaustive of all possible tax considerations and does not discuss any estate, gift, state, local or foreign tax considerations. For all these reasons, we urge you and any holder of or prospective acquiror of our shares to consult with a tax advisor about the federal income tax and other tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our shares. Our intentions and beliefs described in this summary are based upon our understanding of applicable laws and regulations that are in effect as of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. If new laws or regulations are enacted which impact us directly or indirectly, we may change our intentions or beliefs.
Your federal income tax consequences generally will differ depending on whether or not you are a “U.S. shareholder.” For purposes of this summary, a “U.S. shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our shares that is:
•an individual who is a citizen or resident of the United States, including an alien individual who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States or meets the substantial presence residency test under the federal income tax laws;
•an entity treated as a corporation for federal income tax purposes that is created or organized in or under the laws of the United States, any state thereof or the District of Columbia;
•an estate the income of which is subject to federal income taxation regardless of its source; or
•a trust if a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or, to the extent provided in Treasury regulations, a trust in existence on August 20, 1996 that has elected to be treated as a domestic trust;
whose status as a U.S. shareholder is not overridden by an applicable tax treaty. Conversely, a “non-U.S. shareholder” is a beneficial owner of our shares that is not an entity (or other arrangement) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes and is not a U.S. shareholder.
If any entity (or other arrangement) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes holds our shares, the tax treatment of a partner in the partnership generally will depend upon the tax status of the partner and the activities of the partnership. Any entity (or other arrangement) treated as a partnership for federal income tax purposes that is a holder of our shares and the partners in such a partnership (as determined for federal income tax purposes) are urged to consult their own tax advisors about the federal income tax consequences and other tax consequences of the acquisition, ownership and disposition of our shares.
Taxation as a REIT
We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under Sections 856 through 860 of the IRC, commencing with our 1999 taxable year. Our REIT election, assuming continuing compliance with the then applicable qualification tests, has continued and will continue in effect for subsequent taxable years. Although we cannot be sure, we believe that from and after our 1999 taxable year we have been organized and have operated, and will continue to be organized and to operate, in a manner that qualified us and will continue to qualify us to be taxed as a REIT under the IRC.
As a REIT, we generally are not subject to federal income tax on our net income distributed as dividends to our shareholders. Distributions to our shareholders generally are included in our shareholders' income as dividends to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits. Our dividends are not generally entitled to the preferential tax rates on qualified dividend income, but a portion of our dividends may be treated as capital gain dividends or as qualified dividend income, all as explained below. In addition, for taxable years beginning before 2026 and pursuant to the deduction-without-outlay mechanism of Section 199A of the IRC, our noncorporate U.S. shareholders that meet specified holding period requirements are generally eligible for lower effective tax rates on our dividends that are not treated as capital gain dividends or as qualified dividend income. No portion of any of our dividends is eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders. Distributions in excess of our current or accumulated earnings and profits generally are treated for federal income tax purposes as returns of capital to the extent of a recipient shareholder's basis in our shares, and will reduce this basis. Our current or accumulated earnings and profits are generally allocated first to distributions made on our preferred shares, of which there are none outstanding at this time, and thereafter to distributions made on our common shares. For all these purposes, our distributions include cash distributions, any in kind distributions of property that we might make, and deemed or constructive distributions resulting from capital market activities (such as some redemptions), as described below.
Our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that we have been organized and have qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC for our 1999 through 2020 taxable years, and that our current and anticipated investments and plan of operation will enable us to continue to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the IRC. Our counsel's opinions are conditioned upon the assumption that our leases, our declaration of trust, and all other legal documents to which we have been or are a party have been and will be complied with by all parties to those documents, upon the accuracy and completeness of the factual matters described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and upon representations made by us to our counsel as to certain factual matters relating to our organization and operations and our expected manner of operation. If this assumption or a description or representation is inaccurate or incomplete, our counsel's opinions may be adversely affected and may not be relied upon. The opinions of our counsel are based upon the law as it exists today, but the law may change in the future, possibly with retroactive effect. Given the highly complex nature of the rules governing REITs, the ongoing importance of factual determinations, and the possibility of future changes in our circumstances, neither Sullivan & Worcester LLP nor we can be sure that we will qualify as or be taxed as a REIT for any particular year. Any opinion of Sullivan & Worcester LLP as to our qualification or taxation as a REIT will be expressed as of the date issued. Our counsel will have no obligation to advise us or our shareholders of any subsequent change in the matters stated, represented or assumed, or of any subsequent change in the applicable law. Also, the opinions of our counsel are not binding on either the IRS or a court, and either could take a position different from that expressed by our counsel.
Our continued qualification and taxation as a REIT will depend upon our compliance with various qualification tests imposed under the IRC and summarized below. While we believe that we have satisfied and will satisfy these tests, our counsel does not review compliance with these tests on a continuing basis. If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any year, we will be subject to federal income taxation as if we were a corporation taxed under subchapter C of the IRC, or a C corporation, and our shareholders will be taxed like shareholders of regular C corporations, meaning that federal income tax generally will be applied at both the corporate and shareholder levels. In this event, we could be subject to significant tax liabilities, and the amount of cash available for distribution to our shareholders could be reduced or eliminated.
If we continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT and meet the tests described below, we generally will not pay federal income tax on amounts we distribute to our shareholders. However, even if we continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may still be subject to federal tax in the following circumstances, as described below:
•We will be taxed at regular corporate income tax rates on any undistributed “real estate investment trust taxable income,” determined by including our undistributed ordinary income and net capital gains, if any.
•If we have net income from the disposition of “foreclosure property,” as described in Section 856(e) of the IRC, that is held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business or other nonqualifying income from foreclosure property, we will be subject to tax on this income at the highest regular corporate income tax rate.
•If we have net income from “prohibited transactions” — that is, dispositions at a gain of inventory or property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business other than dispositions of foreclosure property and other than dispositions excepted by statutory safe harbors — we will be subject to tax on this income at a 100% rate.
•If we fail to satisfy the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test discussed below, due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, but nonetheless maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT because of specified cure provisions, we will be subject to tax at a 100% rate on the greater of the amount by which we fail the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year.
•If we fail to satisfy any of the REIT asset tests described below (other than a de minimis failure of the 5% or 10% asset tests) due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, but nonetheless maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT because of specified cure provisions, we will be subject to a tax equal to the greater of $50,000 or the highest regular corporate income tax rate multiplied by the net income generated by the nonqualifying assets that caused us to fail the test.
•If we fail to satisfy any provision of the IRC that would result in our failure to qualify for taxation as a REIT (other than violations of the REIT gross income tests or violations of the REIT asset tests described below) due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, we may retain our qualification for taxation as a REIT but will be subject to a penalty of $50,000 for each failure.
•If we fail to distribute for any calendar year at least the sum of 85% of our REIT ordinary income for that year, 95% of our REIT capital gain net income for that year and any undistributed taxable income from prior periods, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the excess of the required distribution over the amounts actually distributed.
•If we acquire a REIT asset where our adjusted tax basis in the asset is determined by reference to the adjusted tax basis of the asset in the hands of a C corporation, under specified circumstances we may be subject to federal income taxation on all or part of the built-in gain (calculated as of the date the property ceased being owned by the C corporation) on such asset. We generally do not expect to sell assets if doing so would result in the imposition of a material built-in gains tax liability; but if and when we do sell assets that may have associated built-in gains tax exposure, then we expect to make appropriate provision for the associated tax liabilities on our financial statements.
•If we acquire a corporation in a transaction where we succeed to its tax attributes, to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT we must generally distribute all of the C corporation earnings and profits inherited in that acquisition, if any, no later than the end of our taxable year in which the acquisition occurs. However, if we fail to do so, relief provisions would allow us to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT provided we distribute any subsequently discovered C corporation earnings and profits and pay an interest charge in respect of the period of delayed distribution.
•Our subsidiaries that are C corporations, including our TRSs, generally will be required to pay federal corporate income tax on their earnings, and a 100% tax may be imposed on any transaction between us and one of our TRSs that does not reflect arm's length terms.
•As discussed below, we are invested in real estate through a subsidiary that we believe qualifies for taxation as a REIT. If it is determined that this entity failed to qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may fail one or more of the REIT asset tests. In such case, we expect that we would be able to avail ourselves of the relief provisions described below, but would be subject to a tax equal to the greater of $50,000 or the highest regular corporate income tax rate multiplied by the net income we earned from this subsidiary.
If we fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT in any year, then we will be subject to federal income tax in the same manner as a regular C corporation. Further, as a regular C corporation, distributions to our shareholders will not be deductible by us, nor will distributions be required under the IRC. Also, to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, all distributions to our shareholders will generally be taxable as ordinary dividends potentially eligible for the preferential tax rates discussed below under the heading “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders” and, subject to limitations in the IRC, will be potentially eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders. Finally, we will generally be disqualified from taxation as a REIT for the four taxable years following the taxable year in which the termination of our REIT status is effective. Our failure to qualify for taxation as a REIT for even one year could result in us reducing or eliminating distributions to our shareholders, or in us incurring substantial indebtedness or liquidating substantial investments in order to pay the resulting corporate-level income taxes. Relief provisions under the IRC may allow us to continue to qualify for taxation as a REIT even if we fail to comply with various REIT requirements, all as discussed in more detail below. However, it is impossible to state whether in any particular circumstance we would be entitled to the benefit of these relief provisions.
REIT Qualification Requirements
General Requirements. Section 856(a) of the IRC defines a REIT as a corporation, trust or association:
(1)that is managed by one or more trustees or directors;
(2)the beneficial ownership of which is evidenced by transferable shares or by transferable certificates of beneficial interest;
(3)that would be taxable, but for Sections 856 through 859 of the IRC, as a domestic C corporation;
(4)that is not a financial institution or an insurance company subject to special provisions of the IRC;
(5)the beneficial ownership of which is held by 100 or more persons;
(6)that is not “closely held,” meaning that during the last half of each taxable year, not more than 50% in value of the outstanding shares are owned, directly or indirectly, by five or fewer “individuals” (as defined in the IRC to include specified tax-exempt entities); and
(7)that meets other tests regarding the nature of its income and assets and the amount of its distributions, all as described below.
Section 856(b) of the IRC provides that conditions (1) through (4) must be met during the entire taxable year and that condition (5) must be met during at least 335 days of a taxable year of 12 months, or during a proportionate part of a taxable year of less than 12 months. Although we cannot be sure, we believe that we have met conditions (1) through (7) during each of the requisite periods ending on or before the close of our most recently completed taxable year, and that we will continue to meet these conditions in our current and future taxable years.
To help comply with condition (6), our declaration of trust restricts transfers of our shares that would otherwise result in concentrated ownership positions. These restrictions, however, do not ensure that we have previously satisfied, and may not ensure that we will in all cases be able to continue to satisfy, the share ownership requirements described in condition (6). If we comply with applicable Treasury regulations to ascertain the ownership of our outstanding shares and do not know, or by exercising reasonable diligence would not have known, that we failed condition (6), then we will be treated as having met condition (6). Accordingly, we have complied and will continue to comply with these regulations, including by requesting annually from holders of significant percentages of our shares information regarding the ownership of our shares. Under our declaration of trust, our shareholders are required to respond to these requests for information. A shareholder that fails or refuses to comply with the request is required by Treasury regulations to submit a statement with its federal income tax return disclosing its actual ownership of our shares and other information.
For purposes of condition (6), an “individual” generally includes a natural person, a supplemental unemployment compensation benefit plan, a private foundation, or a portion of a trust permanently set aside or used exclusively for charitable purposes, but does not include a qualified pension plan or profit-sharing trust. As a result, REIT shares owned by an entity that is not an “individual” are considered to be owned by the direct and indirect owners of the entity that are individuals (as so defined), rather than to be owned by the entity itself. Similarly, REIT shares held by a qualified pension plan or profit-sharing trust are treated as held directly by the individual beneficiaries in proportion to their actuarial interests in such plan or trust. Consequently, five or fewer such trusts could own more than 50% of the interests in an entity without jeopardizing that entity's qualification for taxation as a REIT.
The IRC provides that we will not automatically fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT if we do not meet conditions (1) through (6), provided we can establish that such failure was due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. Each such excused failure will result in the imposition of a $50,000 penalty instead of REIT disqualification. This relief provision may apply to a failure of the applicable conditions even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.
Our Wholly Owned Subsidiaries and Our Investments Through Partnerships. Except in respect of a TRS as discussed below, Section 856(i) of the IRC provides that any corporation, 100% of whose stock is held by a REIT and its disregarded subsidiaries, is a qualified REIT subsidiary and shall not be treated as a separate corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of a qualified REIT subsidiary are treated as the REIT's. We believe that each of our direct and indirect wholly owned subsidiaries, other than the TRSs discussed below (and entities owned in whole or in part by the TRSs), will be either a qualified REIT subsidiary within the meaning of Section 856(i)(2) of the IRC or a noncorporate entity that for federal income tax purposes is not treated as separate from its owner under Treasury regulations issued under Section 7701 of the IRC, each such entity referred to as a QRS. Thus, in applying all of the REIT qualification requirements described in this summary, all assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of our QRSs are treated as ours, and our investment in the stock and other securities of such QRSs will be disregarded.
We have invested and may in the future invest in real estate through one or more entities that are treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes. In the case of a REIT that is a partner in a partnership, Treasury regulations under the IRC provide that, for purposes of the REIT qualification requirements regarding income and assets described below, the REIT is generally deemed to own its proportionate share, based on respective capital interests, of the income and assets of the partnership (except that for purposes of the 10% value test, described below, the REIT's proportionate share of the partnership's assets is based on its proportionate interest in the equity and specified debt securities issued by the partnership). In addition, for these purposes, the character of the assets and items of gross income of the partnership generally remains the same in the hands of the REIT. In contrast, for purposes of the distribution requirements discussed below, we must take into account as a partner our share of the partnership's income as determined under the general federal income tax rules governing partners and partnerships under Subchapter K of the IRC.
Subsidiary REITs. We indirectly own real estate through a subsidiary that we believe has qualified and will remain qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, and we may in the future invest in real estate through one or more other subsidiary entities that are intended to qualify for taxation as REITs. When a subsidiary qualifies for taxation as a REIT separate and apart from its REIT parent, the subsidiary's shares are qualifying real estate assets for purposes of the REIT parent's 75% asset test described below. However, failure of the subsidiary to separately satisfy the various REIT qualification requirements described in this summary or that are otherwise applicable (and failure to qualify for the applicable relief provisions) would generally result in (a) the subsidiary being subject to regular U.S. corporate income tax, as described above, and (b) the REIT parent's ownership in the subsidiary (i) ceasing to be qualifying real estate assets for purposes of the 75% asset test, (ii) becoming subject to the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and the 10% value test generally applicable to a REIT's ownership in corporations other than REITs and TRSs, and (iii) thereby jeopardizing the REIT parent's own REIT qualification and taxation on account of the subsidiary's failure cascading up to the REIT parent, all as described below under the heading “—Asset Tests”.
We joined with our subsidiary REIT in filing a protective TRS election, effective for the first quarter of 2017, and we have reaffirmed this protective election with this subsidiary every January thereafter, and we may continue to do so unless and until our ownership of this subsidiary falls below 10%. Pursuant to this protective TRS election, we believe that if our subsidiary is not a REIT for some reason, then it would instead be considered one of our TRSs, and as such its value would fit within our REIT gross asset tests described below. We expect to make similar protective TRS elections with respect to any other subsidiary REIT that we form or acquire. We do not expect protective TRS elections to impact our compliance with the 75% and 95% gross income tests described below, because we do not expect our gains and dividends from a subsidiary REIT's shares to jeopardize compliance with these tests even if for some reason the subsidiary is not a REIT.
Taxable REIT Subsidiaries. As a REIT, we are permitted to own any or all of the securities of a TRS, provided that no more than 20% of the total value of our assets, at the close of each quarter, is comprised of our investments in the stock or other securities of our TRSs. Very generally, a TRS is a subsidiary corporation other than a REIT in which a REIT directly or indirectly holds stock and that has made a joint election with its affiliated REIT to be treated as a TRS. A TRS is taxed as a regular C corporation, separate and apart from its affiliated REIT. Our ownership of stock and other securities in our TRSs is exempt from the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and the 10% value test discussed below. Among other requirements, a TRS of ours must:
(1)not directly or indirectly operate or manage a lodging facility or a health care facility; and
(2)not directly or indirectly provide to any person, under a franchise, license or otherwise, rights to any brand name under which any lodging facility or health care facility is operated, except that in limited circumstances a subfranchise, sublicense or similar right can be granted to an independent contractor to operate or manage a lodging facility or a health care facility.
In addition, any corporation (other than a REIT) in which a TRS directly or indirectly owns more than 35% of the voting power or value of the outstanding securities is automatically a TRS. Subject to the discussion below, we believe that we and each of our TRSs have complied with, and will continue to comply with, the requirements for TRS status at all times during which we intend for the subsidiary's TRS election to be in effect, and we believe that the same will be true for any TRS that we later form or acquire.
As discussed below, TRSs can perform services for our tenants without disqualifying the rents we receive from those tenants under the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test discussed below. Moreover, because our TRSs are taxed as C corporations that are separate from us, their assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit generally are not imputed to us for purposes of the REIT qualification requirements described in this summary. Therefore, our TRSs may generally conduct activities that would be treated as prohibited transactions or would give rise to nonqualified income if conducted by us directly. Additionally, while a REIT is generally limited in its ability to earn qualifying rental income from a TRS, a REIT can earn qualifying rental income from the lease of a qualified health care property to a TRS if an eligible independent contractor operates the facility, as discussed more fully below.
Restrictions and sanctions are imposed on TRSs and their affiliated REITs to ensure that the TRSs will be subject to an appropriate level of federal income taxation. For example, if a TRS pays interest, rent or other amounts to its affiliated REIT in an amount that exceeds what an unrelated third party would have paid in an arm's length transaction, then the REIT generally will be subject to an excise tax equal to 100% of the excessive portion of the payment. Further, if in comparison to an arm's length transaction, a third party tenant has overpaid rent to the REIT in exchange for underpaying the TRS for services rendered, and if the REIT has not adequately compensated the TRS for services provided to or on behalf of the third party tenant, then the REIT may be subject to an excise tax equal to 100% of the undercompensation to the TRS. A safe harbor exception to this excise tax applies if the TRS has been compensated at a rate at least equal to 150% of its direct cost in furnishing or rendering the service. Finally, the 100% excise tax also applies to the underpricing of services provided by a TRS to its affiliated REIT in contexts where the services are unrelated to services for REIT tenants. We cannot be sure that arrangements involving our TRSs will not result in the imposition of one or more of these restrictions or sanctions, but we do not believe that we or our TRSs are or will be subject to these impositions.
Income Tests. We must satisfy two gross income tests annually to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT. First, at least 75% of our gross income for each taxable year must be derived from investments relating to real property, including “rents from real property” within the meaning of Section 856(d) of the IRC, interest and gain from mortgages on real property or on interests in real property, income and gain from foreclosure property, gain from the sale or other disposition of real property (including specified ancillary personal property treated as real property under the IRC), or dividends on and gain from the sale or disposition of shares in other REITs (but excluding in all cases any gains subject to the 100% tax on prohibited transactions). When we receive new capital in exchange for our shares or in a public offering of our five-year or longer debt instruments, income attributable to the temporary investment of this new capital in stock or a debt instrument, if received or accrued within one year of our receipt of the new capital, is generally also qualifying income under the 75% gross income test. Second, at least 95% of our gross income for each taxable year must consist of income that is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, other types of interest and dividends, gain from the sale or disposition of stock or securities, or any combination of these. Gross income from our sale of property that we hold primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business, income and gain from specified “hedging transactions” that are clearly and timely identified as such, and income from the repurchase or discharge of indebtedness is excluded from both the numerator and the denominator in both gross income tests. In addition, specified foreign currency gains will be excluded from gross income for purposes of one or both of the gross income tests.
In order to qualify as “rents from real property” within the meaning of Section 856(d) of the IRC, several requirements must be met:
•The amount of rent received generally must not be based on the income or profits of any person, but may be based on a fixed percentage or percentages of receipts or sales.
•Rents generally do not qualify if the REIT owns 10% or more by vote or value of stock of the tenant (or 10% or more of the interests in the assets or net profits of the tenant, if the tenant is not a corporation), whether directly or after application of attribution rules. We generally do not intend to lease property to any party if rents from that property would not qualify as “rents from real property,” but application of the 10% ownership rule is dependent upon complex attribution rules and circumstances that may be beyond our control. In this regard, prior to the termination of our leases with Five Star, we owned close to, but less than, 10% of the outstanding common shares of Five Star. Our declaration of trust generally disallows transfers or purported acquisitions, directly or by attribution, of our shares to the extent necessary to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC. Nevertheless, we cannot be sure that these restrictions will be effective to prevent our qualification for taxation as a REIT from being jeopardized under the 10% affiliated tenant rule. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that we will be able to monitor and enforce these restrictions, nor will our shareholders necessarily be aware of ownership of our shares attributed to them under the IRC's attribution rules.
•There is a limited exception to the above prohibition on earning “rents from real property” from a 10% affiliated tenant where the tenant is a TRS. If at least 90% of the leased space of a property is leased to tenants other than TRSs and 10% affiliated tenants, and if the TRS's rent to the REIT for space at that property is substantially comparable to the rents paid by nonaffiliated tenants for comparable space at the property, then otherwise qualifying rents paid by the TRS to the REIT will not be disqualified on account of the rule prohibiting 10% affiliated tenants.
•There is an additional exception to the above prohibition on earning “rents from real property” from a 10% affiliated tenant. For this additional exception to apply, a real property interest in a “qualified health care property” must be leased by the REIT to its TRS, and the facility must be operated on behalf of the TRS by a person who is an “eligible independent contractor,” all as described in Sections 856(d)(8)-(9) and 856(e)(6)(D) of the IRC. As described below, we believe our leases with our TRSs have satisfied and will continue to satisfy these requirements.
•In order for rents to qualify, a REIT generally must not manage the property or furnish or render services to the tenants of the property, except through an independent contractor from whom it derives no income or through one of its TRSs. There is an exception to this rule permitting a REIT to perform customary management and tenant services of the sort that a tax-exempt organization could perform without being considered in receipt of “unrelated business taxable income” as defined in Section 512(b)(3) of the IRC, or UBTI. In addition, a de minimis amount of noncustomary services provided to tenants will not disqualify income as “rents from real property” as long as the value of the impermissible tenant services does not exceed 1% of the gross income from the property.
•If rent attributable to personal property leased in connection with a lease of real property is 15% or less of the total rent received under the lease, then the rent attributable to personal property will qualify as “rents from real property;” if this 15% threshold is exceeded, then the rent attributable to personal property will not so qualify. The portion of rental income treated as attributable to personal property is determined according to the ratio of the fair market value of the personal property to the total fair market value of the real and personal property that is rented.
•In addition, “rents from real property” includes both charges we receive for services customarily rendered in connection with the rental of comparable real property in the same geographic area, even if the charges are separately stated, as well as charges we receive for services provided by our TRSs when the charges are not separately stated. Whether separately stated charges received by a REIT for services that are not geographically customary and provided by a TRS are included in “rents from real property” has not been addressed clearly by the IRS in published authorities; however, our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that, although the matter is not free from doubt, “rents from real property” also includes charges we receive for services provided by our TRSs when the charges are separately stated, even if the services are not geographically customary. Accordingly, we believe that our revenues from TRS-provided services, whether the charges are separately stated or not, qualify as “rents from real property” because the services satisfy the geographically customary standard, because the services have been provided by a TRS, or for both reasons.
We believe that all or substantially all of our rents and related service charges have qualified and will continue to qualify as “rents from real property” for purposes of Section 856 of the IRC.
Absent the “foreclosure property” rules of Section 856(e) of the IRC, a REIT's receipt of active, nonrental gross income from a property would not qualify under the 75% and 95% gross income tests. But as foreclosure property, the active, nonrental gross income from the property would so qualify. Foreclosure property is generally any real property, including interests in real property, and any personal property incident to such real property:
•that is acquired by a REIT as a result of the REIT having bid on such property at foreclosure, or having otherwise reduced such property to ownership or possession by agreement or process of law, after there was a default or when default was imminent on a lease of such property or on indebtedness that such property secured;
•for which any related loan acquired by the REIT was acquired at a time when the default was not imminent or anticipated; and
•for which the REIT makes a proper election to treat the property as foreclosure property.
Any gain that a REIT recognizes on the sale of foreclosure property held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers, plus any income it receives from foreclosure property that would not otherwise qualify under the 75% gross income test in the absence of foreclosure property treatment, reduced by expenses directly connected with the production of those items of income, would be subject to income tax at the highest regular corporate income tax rate under the foreclosure property income tax rules of Section 857(b)(4) of the IRC. Thus, if a REIT should lease foreclosure property in exchange for rent that qualifies as “rents from real property” as described above, then that rental income is not subject to the foreclosure property income tax.
Property generally ceases to be foreclosure property at the end of the third taxable year following the taxable year in which the REIT acquired the property, or longer if an extension is obtained from the IRS. However, this grace period terminates and foreclosure property ceases to be foreclosure property on the first day:
•on which a lease is entered into for the property that, by its terms, will give rise to income that does not qualify for purposes of the 75% gross income test (disregarding income from foreclosure property), or any nonqualified income under the 75% gross income test is received or accrued by the REIT, directly or indirectly, pursuant to a lease entered into on or after such day;
•on which any construction takes place on the property, other than completion of a building or any other improvement where more than 10% of the construction was completed before default became imminent and other than specifically exempted forms of maintenance or deferred maintenance; or
•which is more than 90 days after the day on which the REIT acquired the property and the property is used in a trade or business which is conducted by the REIT, other than through an independent contractor from whom the REIT itself does not derive or receive any income or a TRS.
Other than sales of foreclosure property, any gain that we realize on the sale of property held as inventory or other property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business, together known as dealer gains, may be treated as income from a prohibited transaction that is subject to a penalty tax at a 100% rate. The 100% tax does not apply to gains from the sale of property that is held through a TRS, although such income will be subject to tax in the hands of the TRS at regular corporate income tax rates; we may therefore utilize our TRSs in transactions in which we might otherwise recognize dealer gains. Whether property is held as inventory or primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business is a question of fact that depends on all the facts and circumstances surrounding each particular transaction. Sections 857(b)(6)(C) and (E) of the IRC provide safe harbors pursuant to which limited sales of real property held for at least two years and meeting specified additional requirements will not be treated as prohibited transactions. However, compliance with the safe harbors is not always achievable in practice. We attempt to structure our activities to avoid transactions that are prohibited transactions, or otherwise conduct such activities through TRSs; but, we cannot be sure whether or not the IRS might successfully assert that one or more of our dispositions is subject to the 100% penalty tax. Gains subject to the 100% penalty tax are excluded from the 75% and 95% gross income tests, whereas real property gains that are not dealer gains or that are exempted from the 100% penalty tax on account of the safe harbors are considered qualifying gross income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests.
We believe that any gain from dispositions of assets that we have made, or that we might make in the future, including through any partnerships, will generally qualify as income that satisfies the 75% and 95% gross income tests, and will not be dealer gains or subject to the 100% penalty tax. This is because our general intent has been and is to: (a) own our assets for investment with a view to long-term income production and capital appreciation; (b) engage in the business of developing,
owning, leasing and managing our existing properties and acquiring, developing, owning, leasing and managing new properties; and (c) make occasional dispositions of our assets consistent with our long-term investment objectives.
If we fail to satisfy one or both of the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test in any taxable year, we may nevertheless qualify for taxation as a REIT for that year if we satisfy the following requirements: (a) our failure to meet the test is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect; and (b) after we identify the failure, we file a schedule describing each item of our gross income included in the 75% gross income test or the 95% gross income test for that taxable year. Even if this relief provision does apply, a 100% tax is imposed upon the greater of the amount by which we failed the 75% gross income test or the amount by which we failed the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year. This relief provision may apply to a failure of the applicable income tests even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.
Based on the discussion above, we believe that we have satisfied, and will continue to satisfy, the 75% and 95% gross income tests outlined above on a continuing basis beginning with our first taxable year as a REIT.
Asset Tests. At the close of each calendar quarter of each taxable year, we must also satisfy the following asset percentage tests in order to qualify for taxation as a REIT for federal income tax purposes:
•At least 75% of the value of our total assets must consist of “real estate assets,” defined as real property (including interests in real property and interests in mortgages on real property or on interests in real property), ancillary personal property to the extent that rents attributable to such personal property are treated as rents from real property in accordance with the rules described above, cash and cash items, shares in other REITs, debt instruments issued by “publicly offered REITs” as defined in Section 562(c)(2) of the IRC, government securities and temporary investments of new capital (that is, any stock or debt instrument that we hold that is attributable to any amount received by us (a) in exchange for our stock or (b) in a public offering of our five-year or longer debt instruments, but in each case only for the one-year period commencing with our receipt of the new capital).
•Not more than 25% of the value of our total assets may be represented by securities other than those securities that count favorably toward the preceding 75% asset test.
•Of the investments included in the preceding 25% asset class, the value of any one non-REIT issuer's securities that we own may not exceed 5% of the value of our total assets. In addition, we may not own more than 10% of the vote or value of any one non-REIT issuer's outstanding securities, unless the securities are “straight debt” securities or otherwise excepted as discussed below. Our stock and other securities in a TRS are exempted from these 5% and 10% asset tests.
•Not more than 20% of the value of our total assets may be represented by stock or other securities of our TRSs.
•Not more than 25% of the value of our total assets may be represented by “nonqualified publicly offered REIT debt instruments” as defined in Section 856(c)(5)(L)(ii) of the IRC.
Our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that, although the matter is not free from doubt, our investments in the equity or debt of a TRS of ours, to the extent that and during the period in which they qualify as temporary investments of new capital, will be treated as real estate assets, and not as securities, for purposes of the above REIT asset tests.
The above REIT asset tests must be satisfied at the close of each calendar quarter of each taxable year as a REIT. After a REIT meets the asset tests at the close of any quarter, it will not lose its qualification for taxation as a REIT in any subsequent quarter solely because of fluctuations in the values of its assets. This grandfathering rule may be of limited benefit to a REIT such as us that makes periodic acquisitions of both qualifying and nonqualifying REIT assets. When a failure to satisfy the above asset tests results from an acquisition of securities or other property during a quarter, the failure can be cured by disposition of sufficient nonqualifying assets within thirty days after the close of that quarter.
In addition, if we fail the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test or the 10% value test at the close of any quarter and we do not cure such failure within thirty days after the close of that quarter, that failure will nevertheless be excused if (a) the failure is de minimis and (b) within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify the failure, we either dispose of the assets causing the failure or otherwise satisfy the 5% asset test, the 10% vote test and the 10% value test. For purposes of this relief provision, the failure will be de minimis if the value of the assets causing the failure does not exceed $10,000,000. If our failure is not de minimis, or if any of the other REIT asset tests have been violated, we may nevertheless qualify for taxation as a REIT if (a) we provide the IRS with a description of each asset causing the failure, (b) the failure was due to reasonable cause
and not willful neglect, (c) we pay a tax equal to the greater of (1) $50,000 or (2) the highest regular corporate income tax rate imposed on the net income generated by the assets causing the failure during the period of the failure, and (d) within six months after the last day of the quarter in which we identify the failure, we either dispose of the assets causing the failure or otherwise satisfy all of the REIT asset tests. These relief provisions may apply to a failure of the applicable asset tests even if the failure first occurred in a year prior to the taxable year in which the failure was discovered.
The IRC also provides an excepted securities safe harbor to the 10% value test that includes among other items (a) “straight debt” securities, (b) specified rental agreements in which payment is to be made in subsequent years, (c) any obligation to pay “rents from real property,” (d) securities issued by governmental entities that are not dependent in whole or in part on the profits of or payments from a nongovernmental entity, and (e) any security issued by another REIT. In addition, any debt instrument issued by an entity classified as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, and not otherwise excepted from the definition of a security for purposes of the above safe harbor, will not be treated as a security for purposes of the 10% value test if at least 75% of the partnership's gross income, excluding income from prohibited transactions, is qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test.
We have maintained and will continue to maintain records of the value of our assets to document our compliance with the above asset tests and intend to take actions as may be required to cure any failure to satisfy the tests within thirty days after the close of any quarter or within the six month periods described above.
Based on the discussion above, we believe that we have satisfied, and will continue to satisfy, the REIT asset tests outlined above on a continuing basis beginning with our first taxable year as a REIT.
Our Relationships with Five Star. Prior to January 1, 2020, we owned a significant percentage (but less than 10%) of the outstanding common shares of Five Star. Commencing with our 2002 taxable year and through and including our 2019 taxable year, we expect that the rental income we received from Five Star and its subsidiaries constituted “rents from real property” under Section 856(d) of the IRC, and therefore qualifying income under the 75% and 95% gross income tests described above. From and after January 1, 2020, we have come to own (directly and indirectly through one of our TRSs) approximately 34% of the outstanding common shares of Five Star. We have not elected to treat Five Star as a TRS, and it is not otherwise an automatic TRS because no TRS of ours owns more than 35% of Five Star. This structure for our Five Star ownership permits our continued engagement of a corporate subsidiary of Five Star to manage health care facilities leased to our TRSs, as described below in greater detail.
Our Relationship with Our Taxable REIT Subsidiaries. We currently own properties that we purchased to be leased to our TRSs or which are being leased to our TRSs as a result of modifications to, or expirations of, a prior lease, all as agreed to by applicable parties. For example, in connection with past lease defaults and expirations, we have terminated occupancy of some of our health care properties by the defaulting or expiring tenants and immediately leased these properties to our TRSs and entered into new third-party management agreements for these properties. We may from time to time lease additional health care properties to our TRSs.
In lease transactions involving our TRSs, our general intent is for the rents paid to us by the TRS to qualify as “rents from real property” under the REIT gross income tests summarized above. In order for this to be the case, the manager operating the leased property on behalf of the applicable TRS must be an “eligible independent contractor” within the meaning of Section 856(d)(9)(A) of the IRC, and the properties leased to the TRS must be “qualified health care properties” within the meaning of Section 856(e)(6)(D) of the IRC. Qualified health care properties are defined as health care facilities and other properties necessary or incidental to the use of a health care facility.
For these purposes, a contractor qualifies as an “eligible independent contractor” if it is less than 35% affiliated with the REIT and, at the time the contractor enters into the agreement with the TRS to operate the qualified health care property, that contractor or any person related to that contractor is actively engaged in the trade or business of operating qualified health care properties for persons unrelated to the TRS or its affiliated REIT. For these purposes, an otherwise eligible independent contractor is not disqualified from that status on account of (a) the TRS bearing the expenses of the operation of the qualified health care property, (b) the TRS receiving the revenues from the operation of the qualified health care property, net of expenses for that operation and fees payable to the eligible independent contractor, or (c) the REIT receiving income from the eligible independent contractor pursuant to a preexisting or otherwise grandfathered lease of another property.
We have engaged as an intended eligible independent contractor a particular corporate subsidiary of Five Star. This contractor and its affiliates are actively engaged in the trade or business of operating qualified health care properties for their own accounts, including pursuant to management contracts among themselves; however, this contractor and its affiliates have few if any management contracts for qualified health care properties with third parties other than us and our TRSs. Based on a
plain reading of the statute as well as applicable legislative history, our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, has opined that this intended eligible independent contractor should in fact so qualify. If the IRS or a court determines that this opinion is incorrect, then the rental income we receive from our TRSs in respect of properties managed by this particular contractor would be nonqualifying income for purposes of the 75% and 95% gross income tests, possibly jeopardizing our compliance with one or both of these gross income tests. Under those circumstances, however, we expect we would qualify for the gross income tests' relief provision described above, and thereby would preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT. If the relief provision were to apply to us, we would be subject to tax at a 100% rate upon the greater of the amount by which we failed the 75% gross income test or the amount by which we failed the 95% gross income test, with adjustments, multiplied by a fraction intended to reflect our profitability for the taxable year; even though we have little or no nonqualifying income from other sources in a typical taxable year, imposition of this 100% tax in this circumstance would be material because all of the properties leased to our TRSs are managed for the TRSs by this contractor.
As explained above, we will be subject to a 100% tax on the rents paid to us by any of our TRSs if the IRS successfully asserts that those rents exceed an arm's length rental rate. Although there is no clear precedent to distinguish for federal income tax purposes among leases, management contracts, partnerships, financings, and other contractual arrangements, we believe that our leases and our TRSs' management agreements will be respected for purposes of the requirements of the IRC discussed above. Accordingly, we expect that the rental income from our current and future TRSs will qualify as “rents from real property,” and that the 100% tax on excessive rents from a TRS will not apply.
Annual Distribution Requirements. In order to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we are required to make annual distributions other than capital gain dividends to our shareholders in an amount at least equal to the excess of:
(1)the sum of 90% of our “real estate investment trust taxable income” and 90% of our net income after tax, if any, from property received in foreclosure, over
(2)the amount by which our noncash income (e.g., imputed rental income or income from transactions inadvertently failing to qualify as like-kind exchanges) exceeds 5% of our “real estate investment trust taxable income.”
For these purposes, our “real estate investment trust taxable income” is as defined under Section 857 of the IRC and is computed without regard to the dividends paid deduction and our net capital gain and will generally be reduced by specified corporate-level income taxes that we pay (e.g., taxes on built-in gains or foreclosure property income).
The IRC generally limits the deductibility of net interest expense paid or accrued on debt properly allocable to a trade or business to 30% of “adjusted taxable income,” subject to specified exceptions. Any deduction in excess of the limitation is carried forward and may be used in a subsequent year, subject to that year's 30% limitation. The CARES Act changed the limitation on adjusted taxable income, increasing it from 30% to 50%, but only for 2019 and 2020. Moreover, taxpayers can elect to use their adjusted taxable income from their 2019 tax year for their adjusted taxable income in their 2020 tax year for purposes of calculating the limitation. Provided a taxpayer makes an election (which is irrevocable), the applicable limitation on the deductibility of net interest expense does not apply to a trade or business involving real property development, redevelopment, construction, reconstruction, acquisition, conversion, rental, operation, management, leasing, or brokerage, within the meaning of Section 469(c)(7)(C) of the IRC. Treasury regulations provide that a real property trade or business includes a trade or business conducted by a REIT. We have made an election to be treated as a real property trade or business and accordingly do not expect the foregoing interest deduction limitations to apply to us or to the calculation of our "real estate investment trust taxable income."
Distributions must be paid in the taxable year to which they relate, or in the following taxable year if declared before we timely file our federal income tax return for the earlier taxable year and if paid on or before the first regular distribution payment after that declaration. If a dividend is declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record during one of those months and is paid during the following January, then for federal income tax purposes such dividend will be treated as having been both paid and received on December 31 of the prior taxable year to the extent of any undistributed earnings and profits.
The 90% distribution requirements may be waived by the IRS if a REIT establishes that it failed to meet them by reason of distributions previously made to meet the requirements of the 4% excise tax discussed below. To the extent that we do not distribute all of our net capital gain and all of our “real estate investment trust taxable income,” as adjusted, we will be subject to federal income tax at regular corporate income tax rates on undistributed amounts. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax to the extent we fail within a calendar year to make required distributions to our shareholders of 85% of our ordinary income and 95% of our capital gain net income plus the excess, if any, of the “grossed up required
distribution” for the preceding calendar year over the amount treated as distributed for that preceding calendar year. For this purpose, the term “grossed up required distribution” for any calendar year is the sum of our taxable income for the calendar year without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and all amounts from earlier years that are not treated as having been distributed under the provision. We will be treated as having sufficient earnings and profits to treat as a dividend any distribution by us up to the amount required to be distributed in order to avoid imposition of the 4% excise tax.
If we do not have enough cash or other liquid assets to meet our distribution requirements, or if we so choose, we may find it necessary or desirable to arrange for new debt or equity financing to provide funds for required distributions in order to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT. We cannot be sure that financing would be available for these purposes on favorable terms, or at all.
We may be able to rectify a failure to pay sufficient dividends for any year by paying “deficiency dividends” to shareholders in a later year. These deficiency dividends may be included in our deduction for dividends paid for the earlier year, but an interest charge would be imposed upon us for the delay in distribution. While the payment of a deficiency dividend will apply to a prior year for purposes of our REIT distribution requirements and our dividends paid deduction, it will be treated as an additional distribution to the shareholders receiving it in the year such dividend is paid.
In addition to the other distribution requirements above, to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT we are required to timely distribute all C corporation earnings and profits that we inherit from acquired corporations, as described below.
Acquisitions of C Corporations
We have engaged in and may in the future engage in transactions where we acquire all of the outstanding stock of a C corporation. Upon these acquisitions, except to the extent we have made or do make an applicable TRS election, each of our acquired entities and their various wholly-owned corporate and noncorporate subsidiaries generally became or will become our QRSs. Thus, after such acquisitions, all assets, liabilities and items of income, deduction and credit of the acquired and then disregarded entities have been and will be treated as ours for purposes of the various REIT qualification tests described above. In addition, we generally have been and will be treated as the successor to the acquired (and then disregarded) entities' federal income tax attributes, such as those entities' (a) adjusted tax bases in their assets and their depreciation schedules; and (b) earnings and profits for federal income tax purposes, if any. The carryover of these attributes creates REIT implications such as built-in gains tax exposure and additional distribution requirements, as described below. However, when we make an election under Section 338(g) of the IRC with respect to corporations that we acquire, as we have done from time to time in the past, we generally will not be subject to such attribute carryovers in respect of attributes existing prior to such election.
Built-in Gains from C Corporations. Notwithstanding our qualification and taxation as a REIT, under specified circumstances we may be subject to corporate income taxation if we acquire a REIT asset where our adjusted tax basis in the asset is determined by reference to the adjusted tax basis of the asset as owned by a C corporation. For instance, we may be subject to federal income taxation on all or part of the built-in gain that was present on the last date an asset was owned by a C corporation, if we succeed to a carryover tax basis in that asset directly or indirectly from such C corporation and if we sell the asset during the five year period beginning on the day the asset ceased being owned by such C corporation. To the extent of our income and gains in a taxable year that are subject to the built-in gains tax, net of any taxes paid on such income and gains with respect to that taxable year, our taxable dividends paid in the following year will be potentially eligible for taxation to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at the preferential tax rates for “qualified dividends” as described below under the heading “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders”. We generally do not expect to sell assets if doing so would result in the imposition of a material built-in gains tax liability; but if and when we do sell assets that may have associated built-in gains tax exposure, then we expect to make appropriate provision for the associated tax liabilities on our financial statements.
Earnings and Profits. Following a corporate acquisition, we must generally distribute all of the C corporation earnings and profits inherited in that transaction, if any, no later than the end of our taxable year in which the transaction occurs, in order to preserve our qualification for taxation as a REIT. However, if we fail to do so, relief provisions would allow us to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT provided we distribute any subsequently discovered C corporation earnings and profits and pay an interest charge in respect of the period of delayed distribution. C corporation earnings and profits that we inherit are, in general, specially allocated under a priority rule to the earliest possible distributions following the event causing the inheritance, and only then is the balance of our earnings and profits for the taxable year allocated among our distributions to the extent not already treated as a distribution of C corporation earnings and profits under the priority rule. The distribution of these C corporation earnings and profits is potentially eligible for taxation to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at the preferential tax rates for “qualified dividends” as described below under the heading “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders”.
Depreciation and Federal Income Tax Treatment of Leases
Our initial tax bases in our assets will generally be our acquisition cost. We will generally depreciate our depreciable real property on a straight-line basis over forty years and our personal property over the applicable shorter periods. These depreciation schedules, and our initial tax bases, may vary for properties that we acquire through tax-free or carryover basis acquisitions, or that are the subject of cost segregation analyses.
We are entitled to depreciation deductions from our properties only if we are treated for federal income tax purposes as the owner of the properties. This means that the leases of our properties must be classified for U.S. federal income tax purposes as true leases, rather than as sales or financing arrangements, and we believe this to be the case.
Distributions to our Shareholders
General. As described above, we expect to make distributions to our shareholders from time to time. These distributions may include cash distributions, in kind distributions of property (such as our pro rata distribution that we paid on January 1, 2020, to our shareholders of record as of December 13, 2019, of the right to receive an aggregate number of Five Star common shares that equaled approximately 51% of Five Star's outstanding common shares, or the Five Star Distribution), and deemed or constructive distributions resulting from capital market activities. The U.S. federal income tax treatment of our distributions will vary based on the status of the recipient shareholder as more fully described below under the headings “—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders,” “—Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders,” and “—Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders.”
Section 302 of the IRC treats a redemption of our shares for cash only as a distribution under Section 301 of the IRC, and hence taxable as a dividend to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits, unless the redemption satisfies one of the tests set forth in Section 302(b) of the IRC enabling the redemption to be treated as a sale or exchange of the shares. The redemption for cash only will be treated as a sale or exchange if it (a) is “substantially disproportionate” with respect to the surrendering shareholder's ownership in us, (b) results in a “complete termination” of the surrendering shareholder's entire share interest in us, or (c) is “not essentially equivalent to a dividend” with respect to the surrendering shareholder, all within the meaning of Section 302(b) of the IRC. In determining whether any of these tests have been met, a shareholder must generally take into account shares considered to be owned by such shareholder by reason of constructive ownership rules set forth in the IRC, as well as shares actually owned by such shareholder. In addition, if a redemption is treated as a distribution under the preceding tests, then a shareholder's tax basis in the redeemed shares generally will be transferred to the shareholder's remaining shares in us, if any, and if such shareholder owns no other shares in us, such basis generally may be transferred to a related person or may be lost entirely. Because the determination as to whether a shareholder will satisfy any of the tests of Section 302(b) of the IRC depends upon the facts and circumstances at the time that our shares are redeemed, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine the particular tax treatment of any redemption.
Five Star Distribution. The Five Star Distribution is treated as a 2020 distribution by us to our common shareholders in the amount of the fair market value of the Five Star common shares that a shareholder ultimately received (including any fractional shares deemed to have been received, as described in the next sentence). Any cash received by a shareholder in lieu of a fractional Five Star common share is treated as if such fractional Five Star common share had been (i) received by such shareholder and then (ii) sold for the amount of cash received. Because we had neither current nor accumulated earnings and profits in 2020, each of our 2020 distributions (including the Five Star Distribution) was treated as a return of capital that reduced such shareholder's adjusted tax basis in our common shares. A shareholder's tax basis in the Five Star common shares received equals the fair market value of such shares on the issuance date, and the holding period for such Five Star common shares began the day after the issuance date.
Because of the factual nature of value determinations, Sullivan & Worcester LLP is unable to render an opinion on the fair market value of the Five Star common shares received by our common shareholders. Nevertheless, we believe that the fair market value of the Five Star common shares may be properly determined for federal income tax purposes as the closing price of the Five Star common shares in the public market on December 31, 2019 (the last trading day before issuance), or $3.71 per share. Accordingly, we have performed all federal income tax reporting, including statements supplied to shareholders and to the IRS, on the basis of this price.
For additional considerations applicable to a shareholder that received the Five Star Distribution, see the information set forth below under the headings "—Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders," "—Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders," and "—Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders."
Taxation of Taxable U.S. Shareholders
For noncorporate U.S. shareholders, to the extent that their total adjusted income does not exceed applicable thresholds, the maximum federal income tax rate for long-term capital gains and most corporate dividends is generally 15%. For those noncorporate U.S. shareholders whose total adjusted income exceeds the applicable thresholds, the maximum federal income tax rate for long-term capital gains and most corporate dividends is generally 20%. However, because we are not generally subject to federal income tax on the portion of our “real estate investment trust taxable income” distributed to our shareholders, dividends on our shares generally are not eligible for these preferential tax rates, except that any distribution of C corporation earnings and profits and taxed built-in gain items will potentially be eligible for these preferential tax rates. As a result, our ordinary dividends generally are taxed at the higher federal income tax rates applicable to ordinary income (subject to the lower effective tax rates applicable to qualified REIT dividends via the deduction-without-outlay mechanism of Section 199A of the IRC, which is generally available to our noncorporate U.S. shareholders that meet specified holding period requirements for taxable years before 2026). To summarize, the preferential federal income tax rates for long-term capital gains and for qualified dividends generally apply to:
(1)long-term capital gains, if any, recognized on the disposition of our shares;
(2)our distributions designated as long-term capital gain dividends (except to the extent attributable to real estate depreciation recapture, in which case the distributions are subject to a maximum 25% federal income tax rate);
(3)our dividends attributable to dividend income, if any, received by us from C corporations such as TRSs;
(4)our dividends attributable to earnings and profits that we inherit from C corporations; and
(5)our dividends to the extent attributable to income upon which we have paid federal corporate income tax (such as taxes on foreclosure property income or on built-in gains), net of the corporate income taxes thereon.
As long as we qualify for taxation as a REIT, a distribution to our U.S. shareholders that we do not designate as a capital gain dividend generally will be treated as an ordinary income dividend to the extent of our available current or accumulated earnings and profits (subject to the lower effective tax rates applicable to qualified REIT dividends via the deduction-without-outlay mechanism of Section 199A of the IRC, which is generally available to our noncorporate U.S. shareholders that meet specified holding period requirements for taxable years before 2026). Distributions made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits that we properly designate as capital gain dividends generally will be taxed as long-term capital gains, as discussed below, to the extent they do not exceed our actual net capital gain for the taxable year. However, corporate shareholders may be required to treat up to 20% of any capital gain dividend as ordinary income under Section 291 of the IRC.
In addition, we may elect to retain net capital gain income and treat it as constructively distributed. In that case:
(1)we will be taxed at regular corporate capital gains tax rates on retained amounts;
(2)each of our U.S. shareholders will be taxed on its designated proportionate share of our retained net capital gains as though that amount were distributed and designated as a capital gain dividend;
(3)each of our U.S. shareholders will receive a credit or refund for its designated proportionate share of the tax that we pay;
(4)each of our U.S. shareholders will increase its adjusted basis in our shares by the excess of the amount of its proportionate share of these retained net capital gains over the U.S. shareholder's proportionate share of the tax that we pay; and
(5)both we and our corporate shareholders will make commensurate adjustments in our respective earnings and profits for federal income tax purposes.
If we elect to retain our net capital gains in this fashion, we will notify our U.S. shareholders of the relevant tax information within sixty days after the close of the affected taxable year.
If for any taxable year we designate capital gain dividends for our shareholders, then a portion of the capital gain dividends we designate will be allocated to the holders of a particular class of shares on a percentage basis equal to the ratio of the amount of the total dividends paid or made available for the year to the holders of that class of shares to the total dividends paid or made available for the year to holders of all outstanding classes of our shares. We will similarly designate the portion of any dividend that is to be taxed to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at preferential maximum rates (including any qualified dividend income and any capital gains attributable to real estate depreciation recapture that are subject to a maximum 25% federal income tax rate) so that the designations will be proportionate among all outstanding classes of our shares.
Distributions in excess of our current or accumulated earnings and profits will not be taxable to a U.S. shareholder to the extent that they do not exceed the shareholder's adjusted tax basis in our shares, but will reduce the shareholder's basis in such shares. To the extent that these excess distributions exceed a U.S. shareholder's adjusted basis in such shares, they will be included in income as capital gain, with long-term gain generally taxed to noncorporate U.S. shareholders at preferential maximum rates. No U.S. shareholder may include on its federal income tax return any of our net operating losses or any of our capital losses. In addition, no portion of any of our dividends is eligible for the dividends received deduction for corporate shareholders.
If a dividend is declared in October, November or December to shareholders of record during one of those months and is paid during the following January, then for federal income tax purposes the dividend will be treated as having been both paid and received on December 31 of the prior taxable year.
A U.S. shareholder will generally recognize gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder's adjusted basis in our shares that are sold or exchanged. This gain or loss will be capital gain or loss, and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shareholder's holding period in our shares exceeds one year. In addition, any loss upon a sale or exchange of our shares held for six months or less will generally be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any long-term capital gain dividends we paid on such shares during the holding period.
U.S. shareholders who are individuals, estates or trusts are generally required to pay a 3.8% Medicare tax on their net investment income (including dividends on our shares (without regard to any deduction allowed by Section 199A of the IRC) and gains from the sale or other disposition of our shares), or in the case of estates and trusts on their net investment income that is not distributed, in each case to the extent that their total adjusted income exceeds applicable thresholds. U.S. shareholders are urged to consult their tax advisors regarding the application of the 3.8% Medicare tax.
If a U.S. shareholder recognizes a loss upon a disposition of our shares in an amount that exceeds a prescribed threshold, it is possible that the provisions of Treasury regulations involving “reportable transactions” could apply, with a resulting requirement to separately disclose the loss-generating transaction to the IRS. These Treasury regulations are written quite broadly, and apply to many routine and simple transactions. A reportable transaction currently includes, among other things, a sale or exchange of our shares resulting in a tax loss in excess of (a) $10.0 million in any single year or $20.0 million in a prescribed combination of taxable years in the case of our shares held by a C corporation or by a partnership with only C corporation partners or (b) $2.0 million in any single year or $4.0 million in a prescribed combination of taxable years in the case of our shares held by any other partnership or an S corporation, trust or individual, including losses that flow through pass through entities to individuals. A taxpayer discloses a reportable transaction by filing IRS Form 8886 with its federal income tax return and, in the first year of filing, a copy of Form 8886 must be sent to the IRS's Office of Tax Shelter Analysis. The annual maximum penalty for failing to disclose a reportable transaction is generally $10,000 in the case of a natural person and $50,000 in any other case.
Noncorporate U.S. shareholders who borrow funds to finance their acquisition of our shares could be limited in the amount of deductions allowed for the interest paid on the indebtedness incurred. Under Section 163(d) of the IRC, interest paid or accrued on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry property held for investment is generally deductible only to the extent of the investor's net investment income. A U.S. shareholder's net investment income will include ordinary income dividend distributions received from us and, only if an appropriate election is made by the shareholder, capital gain dividend distributions and qualified dividends received from us; however, distributions treated as a nontaxable return of the shareholder's basis will not enter into the computation of net investment income.
Taxation of Tax-Exempt U.S. Shareholders
The rules governing the federal income taxation of tax-exempt entities are complex, and the following discussion is intended only as a summary of material considerations of an investment in our shares relevant to such investors. If you are a tax-exempt shareholder, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine the impact of federal, state, local and foreign
tax laws, including any tax return filing and other reporting requirements, with respect to your acquisition of or investment in our shares.
Our distributions made to shareholders that are tax-exempt pension plans, individual retirement accounts or other qualifying tax-exempt entities should not constitute UBTI, provided that the shareholder has not financed its acquisition of our shares with “acquisition indebtedness” within the meaning of the IRC, that the shares are not otherwise used in an unrelated trade or business of the tax-exempt entity, and that, consistent with our present intent, we do not hold a residual interest in a real estate mortgage investment conduit or otherwise hold mortgage assets or conduct mortgage securitization activities that generate “excess inclusion” income.
Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders
The rules governing the U.S. federal income taxation of non-U.S. shareholders are complex, and the following discussion is intended only as a summary of material considerations of an investment in our shares relevant to such investors. If you are a non-U.S. shareholder, we urge you to consult your own tax advisor to determine the impact of U.S. federal, state, local and foreign tax laws, including any tax return filing and other reporting requirements, with respect to your acquisition of or investment in our shares.
We expect that a non-U.S. shareholder's receipt of (a) distributions from us, and (b) proceeds from the sale of our shares, will not be treated as income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business and a non-U.S. shareholder will therefore not be subject to the often higher federal tax and withholding rates, branch profits taxes and increased reporting and filing requirements that apply to income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. This expectation and a number of the determinations below are predicated on our shares being listed on a U.S. national securities exchange, such as The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC, or Nasdaq. Each class of our shares has been listed on a U.S. national securities exchange; however, we cannot be sure that our shares will continue to be so listed in future taxable years or that any class of our shares that we may issue in the future will be so listed.
Distributions. A distribution by us to a non-U.S. shareholder that is not designated as a capital gain dividend will be treated as an ordinary income dividend to the extent that it is made out of our current or accumulated earnings and profits. A distribution of this type will generally be subject to U.S. federal income tax and withholding at the rate of 30%, or at a lower rate if the non-U.S. shareholder has in the manner prescribed by the IRS demonstrated to the applicable withholding agent its entitlement to benefits under a tax treaty. Because we cannot determine our current and accumulated earnings and profits until the end of the taxable year, withholding at the statutory rate of 30% or applicable lower treaty rate will generally be imposed on the gross amount of any distribution to a non-U.S. shareholder that we make and do not designate as a capital gain dividend. Notwithstanding this potential withholding on distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits, these excess portions of distributions are a nontaxable return of capital to the extent that they do not exceed the non-U.S. shareholder's adjusted basis in our shares, and the nontaxable return of capital will reduce the adjusted basis in these shares. To the extent that distributions in excess of our current and accumulated earnings and profits exceed the non-U.S. shareholder's adjusted basis in our shares, the distributions will give rise to U.S. federal income tax liability only in the unlikely event that the non-U.S. shareholder would otherwise be subject to tax on any gain from the sale or exchange of these shares, as discussed below under the heading “—Dispositions of Our Shares.” A non-U.S. shareholder may seek a refund from the IRS of amounts withheld on distributions to it in excess of such shareholder's allocable share of our current and accumulated earnings and profits.
For so long as a class of our shares is listed on a U.S. national securities exchange, capital gain dividends that we declare and pay to a non-U.S. shareholder on those shares, as well as dividends to a non-U.S. shareholder on those shares attributable to our sale or exchange of “United States real property interests” within the meaning of Section 897 of the IRC, or USRPIs, will not be subject to withholding as though those amounts were effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, and non-U.S. shareholders will not be required to file U.S. federal income tax returns or pay branch profits tax in respect of these dividends. Instead, these dividends will generally be treated as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding in the manner described above.
Tax treaties may reduce the withholding obligations on our distributions. Under some treaties, however, rates below 30% that are applicable to ordinary income dividends from U.S. corporations may not apply to ordinary income dividends from a REIT or may apply only if the REIT meets specified additional conditions. A non-U.S. shareholder must generally use an applicable IRS Form W-8, or substantially similar form, to claim tax treaty benefits. If the amount of tax withheld with respect to a distribution to a non-U.S. shareholder exceeds the shareholder's U.S. federal income tax liability with respect to the distribution, the non-U.S. shareholder may file for a refund of the excess from the IRS. Treasury regulations also provide special rules to determine whether, for purposes of determining the applicability of a tax treaty, our distributions to a non-U.S.
shareholder that is an entity should be treated as paid to the entity or to those owning an interest in that entity, and whether the entity or its owners are entitled to benefits under the tax treaty.
If, contrary to our expectation, a class of our shares was not listed on a U.S. national securities exchange and we made a distribution on those shares that was attributable to gain from the sale or exchange of a USRPI, then a non-U.S. shareholder holding those shares would be taxed as if the distribution was gain effectively connected with a trade or business in the United States conducted by the non-U.S. shareholder. In addition, the applicable withholding agent would be required to withhold from a distribution to such a non-U.S. shareholder, and remit to the IRS, up to 21% of the maximum amount of any distribution that was or could have been designated as a capital gain dividend. The non-U.S. shareholder also would generally be subject to the same treatment as a U.S. shareholder with respect to the distribution (subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of a nonresident alien individual), would be subject to fulsome U.S. federal income tax return reporting requirements, and, in the case of a corporate non-U.S. shareholder, may owe the up to 30% branch profits tax under Section 884 of the IRC (or lower applicable tax treaty rate) in respect of these amounts.
Dispositions of Our Shares. If as expected our shares are not USRPIs, then a non-U.S. shareholder's gain on the sale of these shares generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxation or withholding. We expect that our shares will not be USRPIs because one or both of the following exemptions will be available at all times.
First, for so long as a class of our shares is listed on a U.S. national securities exchange, a non-U.S. shareholder's gain on the sale of those shares will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxation as a sale of a USRPI. Second, our shares will not constitute USRPIs if we are a “domestically controlled” REIT. We will be a “domestically controlled” REIT if less than 50% of the value of our shares (including any future class of shares that we may issue) is held, directly or indirectly, by non-U.S. shareholders at all times during the preceding five years, after applying specified presumptions regarding the ownership of our shares as described in Section 897(h)(4)(E) of the IRC. For these purposes, we believe that the statutory ownership presumptions apply to validate our status as a “domestically controlled” REIT. Accordingly, we believe that we are and will remain a “domestically controlled” REIT.
If, contrary to our expectation, a gain on the sale of our shares is subject to U.S. federal income taxation (for example, because neither of the above exemptions were then available, i.e., that class of our shares were not then listed on a U.S. national securities exchange and we were not a “domestically controlled” REIT), then (a) a non-U.S. shareholder would generally be subject to the same treatment as a U.S. shareholder with respect to its gain (subject to any applicable alternative minimum tax and a special alternative minimum tax in the case of nonresident alien individuals), (b) the non-U.S. shareholder would also be subject to fulsome U.S. federal income tax return reporting requirements, and (c) a purchaser of that class of our shares from the non-U.S. shareholder may be required to withhold 15% of the purchase price paid to the non-U.S. shareholder and to remit the withheld amount to the IRS.
Information Reporting, Backup Withholding, and Foreign Account Withholding
Information reporting, backup withholding, and foreign account withholding may apply to distributions or proceeds paid to our shareholders under the circumstances discussed below. If a shareholder is subject to backup or other U.S. federal income tax withholding, then the applicable withholding agent will be required to withhold the appropriate amount with respect to a deemed or constructive distribution or a distribution in kind even though there is insufficient cash from which to satisfy the withholding obligation. To satisfy this withholding obligation, the applicable withholding agent may collect the amount of U.S. federal income tax required to be withheld by reducing to cash for remittance to the IRS a sufficient portion of the property that the shareholder would otherwise receive or own, and the shareholder may bear brokerage or other costs for this withholding procedure.
Amounts withheld under backup withholding are generally not an additional tax and may be refunded by the IRS or credited against the shareholder's federal income tax liability, provided that such shareholder timely files for a refund or credit with the IRS. A U.S. shareholder may be subject to backup withholding when it receives distributions on our shares or proceeds upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares, unless the U.S. shareholder properly executes, or has previously properly executed, under penalties of perjury an IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form that:
•provides the U.S. shareholder's correct taxpayer identification number;
•certifies that the U.S. shareholder is exempt from backup withholding because (a) it comes within an enumerated exempt category, (b) it has not been notified by the IRS that it is subject to backup withholding, or (c) it has been notified by the IRS that it is no longer subject to backup withholding; and
•certifies that it is a U.S. citizen or other U.S. person.
If the U.S. shareholder has not provided and does not provide its correct taxpayer identification number and appropriate certifications on an IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form, it may be subject to penalties imposed by the IRS, and the applicable withholding agent may have to withhold a portion of any distributions or proceeds paid to such U.S. shareholder. Unless the U.S. shareholder has established on a properly executed IRS Form W-9 or substantially similar form that it comes within an enumerated exempt category, distributions or proceeds on our shares paid to it during the calendar year, and the amount of tax withheld, if any, will be reported to it and to the IRS.
Distributions on our shares to a non-U.S. shareholder during each calendar year and the amount of tax withheld, if any, will generally be reported to the non-U.S. shareholder and to the IRS. This information reporting requirement applies regardless of whether the non-U.S. shareholder is subject to withholding on distributions on our shares or whether the withholding was reduced or eliminated by an applicable tax treaty. Also, distributions paid to a non-U.S. shareholder on our shares will generally be subject to backup withholding, unless the non-U.S. shareholder properly certifies to the applicable withholding agent its non-U.S. shareholder status on an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form. Information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to proceeds a non-U.S. shareholder receives upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares, if the non-U.S. shareholder properly certifies to the applicable withholding agent its non-U.S. shareholder status on an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form. Even without having executed an applicable IRS Form W-8 or substantially similar form, however, in some cases information reporting and backup withholding will not apply to proceeds that a non-U.S. shareholder receives upon the sale, exchange, redemption, retirement or other disposition of our shares if the non-U.S. shareholder receives those proceeds through a broker's foreign office.
Non-U.S. financial institutions and other non-U.S. entities are subject to diligence and reporting requirements for purposes of identifying accounts and investments held directly or indirectly by U.S. persons. The failure to comply with these additional information reporting, certification and other requirements could result in a 30% U.S. withholding tax on applicable payments to non-U.S. persons, notwithstanding any otherwise applicable provisions of an income tax treaty. In particular, a payee that is a foreign financial institution that is subject to the diligence and reporting requirements described above must enter into an agreement with the U.S. Department of the Treasury requiring, among other things, that it undertake to identify accounts held by “specified United States persons” or “United States owned foreign entities” (each as defined in the IRC and administrative guidance thereunder), annually report information about such accounts, and withhold 30% on applicable payments to noncompliant foreign financial institutions and account holders. Foreign financial institutions located in jurisdictions that have an intergovernmental agreement with the United States with respect to these requirements may be subject to different rules. The foregoing withholding regime generally applies to payments of dividends on our shares. In general, to avoid withholding, any non-U.S. intermediary through which a shareholder owns our shares must establish its compliance with the foregoing regime, and a non-U.S. shareholder must provide specified documentation (usually an applicable IRS Form W-8) containing information about its identity, its status, and if required, its direct and indirect U.S. owners. Non-U.S. shareholders and shareholders who hold our shares through a non-U.S. intermediary are encouraged to consult their own tax advisors regarding foreign account tax compliance.
Other Tax Considerations
Our tax treatment and that of our shareholders may be modified by legislative, judicial or administrative actions at any time, which actions may have retroactive effect. The rules dealing with federal income taxation are constantly under review by the U.S. Congress, the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and statutory changes, new regulations, revisions to existing regulations and revised interpretations of established concepts are issued frequently. Likewise, the rules regarding taxes other than U.S. federal income taxes may also be modified. No prediction can be made as to the likelihood of passage of new tax legislation or other provisions, or the direct or indirect effect on us and our shareholders. Revisions to tax laws and interpretations of these laws could adversely affect our ability to qualify and be taxed as a REIT, as well as the tax or other consequences of an investment in our shares. We and our shareholders may also be subject to taxation by state, local or other jurisdictions, including those in which we or our shareholders transact business or reside. These tax consequences may not be comparable to the U.S. federal income tax consequences discussed above.
ERISA PLANS, KEOGH PLANS AND INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS
General Fiduciary Obligations
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, or ERISA, the IRC and similar provisions to those described below under applicable foreign or state law, individually and collectively, impose certain duties on persons who are fiduciaries of any employee benefit plan subject to Title I of ERISA, or an ERISA Plan, or an individual retirement account or annuity, or an IRA, a Roth IRA, a tax-favored account (such as an Archer MSA, Coverdell education savings account or health savings account), a Keogh plan or other qualified retirement plan not subject to Title I of ERISA, each a Non-ERISA Plan. Under ERISA and the IRC, any person who exercises any discretionary authority or control over the administration of, or the management or disposition of the assets of, an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan, or who renders investment advice for a fee or other compensation to an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan, is generally considered to be a fiduciary of the ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan.
Fiduciaries of an ERISA Plan must consider whether:
•their investment in our shares or other securities satisfies the diversification requirements of ERISA;
•the investment is prudent in light of possible limitations on the marketability of our shares;
•they have authority to acquire our shares or other securities under the applicable governing instrument and Title I of ERISA; and
•the investment is otherwise consistent with their fiduciary responsibilities.
Fiduciaries of an ERISA Plan may incur personal liability for any loss suffered by the ERISA Plan on account of a violation of their fiduciary responsibilities. In addition, these fiduciaries may be subject to a civil penalty of up to 20% of any amount recovered by the ERISA Plan on account of a violation. Fiduciaries of any Non-ERISA Plan should consider that the Non-ERISA Plan may only make investments that are authorized by the appropriate governing instrument and applicable law.
Fiduciaries considering an investment in our securities should consult their own legal advisors if they have any concern as to whether the investment is consistent with the foregoing criteria or is otherwise appropriate. The sale of our securities to an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan is in no respect a representation by us or any underwriter of the securities that the investment meets all relevant legal requirements with respect to investments by the arrangements generally or any particular arrangement, or that the investment is appropriate for arrangements generally or any particular arrangement.
Prohibited Transactions
Fiduciaries of ERISA Plans and persons making the investment decision for Non-ERISA Plans should consider the application of the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA and the IRC in making their investment decision. Sales and other transactions between an ERISA Plan or a Non-ERISA Plan and disqualified persons or parties in interest, as applicable, are prohibited transactions and result in adverse consequences absent an exemption. The particular facts concerning the sponsorship, operations and other investments of an ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan may cause a wide range of persons to be treated as disqualified persons or parties in interest with respect to it. A non-exempt prohibited transaction, in addition to imposing potential personal liability upon ERISA Plan fiduciaries, may also result in the imposition of an excise tax under the IRC or a penalty under ERISA upon the disqualified person or party in interest. If the disqualified person who engages in the transaction is the individual on behalf of whom an IRA, Roth IRA or other tax-favored account is maintained (or his beneficiary), the IRA, Roth IRA or other tax-favored account may lose its tax-exempt status and its assets may be deemed to have been distributed to the individual in a taxable distribution on account of the non-exempt prohibited transaction, but no excise tax will be imposed. Fiduciaries considering an investment in our securities should consult their own legal advisors as to whether the ownership of our securities involves a non-exempt prohibited transaction.
“Plan Assets” Considerations
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a regulation defining “plan assets.” The regulation, as subsequently modified by ERISA, generally provides that when an ERISA Plan or a Non-ERISA Plan otherwise subject to Title I of ERISA and/or Section 4975 of the IRC acquires an interest in an entity that is neither a “publicly offered security” nor a security issued by an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, the assets of the ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan include both the equity interest and an undivided interest in each of the underlying assets of the entity, unless it is
established either that the entity is an operating company or that equity participation in the entity by benefit plan investors is not significant. We are not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
Each class of our equity (that is, our common shares and any other class of equity that we may issue) must be analyzed separately to ascertain whether it is a publicly offered security. The regulation defines a publicly offered security as a security that is “widely held,” “freely transferable” and either part of a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act, or sold under an effective registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, provided the securities are registered under the Exchange Act within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year of the issuer during which the offering occurred. Each class of our outstanding shares has been registered under the Exchange Act within the necessary time frame to satisfy the foregoing condition.
The regulation provides that a security is “widely held” only if it is part of a class of securities that is owned by 100 or more investors independent of the issuer and of one another. However, a security will not fail to be “widely held” because the number of independent investors falls below 100 subsequent to the initial public offering as a result of events beyond the issuer's control. Although we cannot be sure, we believe our common shares have been and will remain widely held, and we expect the same to be true of any future class of equity that we may issue.
The regulation provides that whether a security is “freely transferable” is a factual question to be determined on the basis of all relevant facts and circumstances. The regulation further provides that, where a security is part of an offering in which the minimum investment is $10,000 or less, some restrictions on transfer ordinarily will not, alone or in combination, affect a finding that these securities are freely transferable. The restrictions on transfer enumerated in the regulation as not affecting that finding include:
•any restriction on or prohibition against any transfer or assignment that would result in a termination or reclassification for federal or state tax purposes, or would otherwise violate any state or federal law or court order;
•any requirement that advance notice of a transfer or assignment be given to the issuer and any requirement that either the transferor or transferee, or both, execute documentation setting forth representations as to compliance with any restrictions on transfer that are among those enumerated in the regulation as not affecting free transferability, including those described in the preceding clause of this sentence;
•any administrative procedure that establishes an effective date, or an event prior to which a transfer or assignment will not be effective; and
•any limitation or restriction on transfer or assignment that is not imposed by the issuer or a person acting on behalf of the issuer.
We believe that the restrictions imposed under our declaration of trust on the transfer of shares do not result in the failure of our shares to be “freely transferable.” Furthermore, we believe that there exist no other facts or circumstances limiting the transferability of our shares that are not included among those enumerated as not affecting their free transferability under the regulation, and we do not expect or intend to impose in the future, or to permit any person to impose on our behalf, any limitations or restrictions on transfer that would not be among the enumerated permissible limitations or restrictions.
Assuming that each class of our shares will be “widely held” and that no other facts and circumstances exist that restrict transferability of these shares, our counsel, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, is of the opinion that our shares will not fail to be “freely transferable” for purposes of the regulation due to the restrictions on transfer of our shares in our declaration of trust and that under the regulation each class of our currently outstanding shares is publicly offered and our assets will not be deemed to be “plan assets” of any ERISA Plan or Non-ERISA Plan that acquires our shares in a public offering. This opinion is conditioned upon certain assumptions and representations, as discussed above under the heading “Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—Taxation as a REIT.”
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The summary below provides an overview of many of the risks we face that are described in this section. Additional risks, beyond those summarized below, discussed in this section or described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, may also materially and adversely impact our business, operations or financial results. Consistent with the foregoing, the risks we face include, but are not limited to, the following:
•the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic impact has materially adversely affected our business, operations, financial results and liquidity, and although we have taken several actions in an attempt to address the operating and financial impact from the COVID-19 pandemic and we continue to assess and explore other actions, those actions and plans may not be sufficient to avoid continued and potentially increased substantial harm to our business, operations and financial condition;
•we are dependent on Five Star for the operation of most of our senior living communities and we assume the operational risks and fund the operations and capital and maintenance requirements for those communities, and our results of operations are directly impacted by the operating results of those communities;
•changes and trends in the healthcare industry, including the continuing trend for seniors to delay or forgo moving to senior living communities, increases in labor costs and reduced payments for healthcare costs by third party payers, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations;
•our properties and their operations are subject to extensive regulations, and the nature of our manager's and other senior living community operators' businesses exposes us and them to litigation and regulatory and government proceedings;
•we have debt and may incur additional debt, and we are subject to the covenants and conditions contained in the agreements governing our debt, which may restrict our operations and ability to make investments and distributions;
•we may need waivers from our lenders or noteholders in order to avoid defaulting under our credit agreement or our public debt agreements, and the terms of such waivers may impose restrictions on our ability to pay distributions and to make capital investments, and we may lose some or all of the equity interests in certain of our subsidiaries or face foreclosure on properties on which we provide first mortgage liens;
•we may be unable to renew our leases with current tenants when our leases expire, lease our properties to new tenants without decreasing rents, incurring significant costs or otherwise;
•we and our manager and other operators and tenants face significant competition;
•changes in market interest rates, including changes that may result from the expected phase out of LIBOR, may adversely affect us;
•REIT distribution requirements and any limitations on our ability to access reasonably priced capital may adversely impact our ability to carry out our business plan and we are subject to risks associated with our qualification for taxation as a REIT;
•ownership of real estate is subject to environmental risks and liabilities, as well as risks from adverse weather, natural disasters and climate events;
•we may not be able to reduce our debt leverage, and our debt leverage may remain at or above current levels for an indefinite period;
•insurance may not adequately cover our losses, and insurance costs may continue to increase;
•we may not succeed in selling any assets we identify for sale, and the proceeds we receive from any sales we may complete may be less than expected, and we may incur losses with respect to any such sales;
•our existing and any future joint ventures may limit our flexibility with jointly owned investments and we may not realize the benefits we expect from these arrangements;
•we rely on RMR LLC's and Five Star's information technology and systems and the failure of such technology or systems could materially and adversely affect us;
•we depend upon RMR LLC to manage our business and implement our growth strategy, and RMR LLC has broad discretion in operating our day to day business;
•our management structure and agreements with RMR LLC and our relationships with our related parties, including our Managing Trustees, RMR LLC, Five Star and others affiliated with them, may create conflicts of interest;
•ownership limitations and certain provisions in our declaration of trust, bylaws and agreements, as well as certain provisions of Maryland law, may deter, delay or prevent a change in our control or unsolicited acquisition proposals;
•our rights and the rights of our shareholders to take action against our Trustees and officers are limited, and our bylaws contain provisions that could limit our shareholders' ability to obtain a judicial forum they deem favorable for certain disputes;
•we may change our operational, financing and investment policies without shareholder approval;
•our distributions to our shareholders may remain at $0.01 per share for an indefinite period or be eliminated and the form of payment could change; and
•our public debt is structurally subordinated to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries that do not guarantee the notes and is effectively subordinated to our and such subsidiaries' existing and future secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness.
The risks described below may not be the only risks we face but are risks we believe may be material at this time. Other risks of which we are not yet aware, or that we currently believe are not material, may also materially and adversely impact our business operations or financial results. If any of the events or circumstances described below occurs, our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations or ability to make distributions to our shareholders could be adversely impacted and the value of an investment in our securities could decline. Investors and prospective investors should consider the risks described below and the information contained under the caption “Warning Concerning Forward-Looking Statements” and elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K before deciding whether to invest in our securities.
Risks Related to Our Business
The COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic impact have materially adversely affected our business, operations, financial results and liquidity and the extent and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic are unknown and unpredictable.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial adverse impact on the global economy, including the U.S. economy. These conditions have materially adversely impacted our and many of our tenants' and our senior living communities' manager's businesses, results of operations and liquidity.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have experienced reduced occupancy at our senior living communities as a result of restrictions on allowing outside persons to enter senior living communities due to social distancing and other containment measures and perceptions that senior living communities are unsafe during a pandemic or other widespread illness, which have negatively impacted prospective residents visits and move-ins, as well as elevated levels of resident illness and move-outs. In addition, our senior living communities have experienced increased operating costs. These increased costs result from staffing, including overtime, particularly if a community experiences a reduction in available personnel due to illness or otherwise, the increased need and cost for supplies, including personal protective equipment, adopting enhanced disinfection measures and/or implementing quarantines for residents. We expect occupancy at our senior living communities to continue to decline as a result of the pandemic and that the costs for operating those senior living communities may continue at elevated levels or increase during the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, and these declines in occupancy and increases in operating costs may be significant. Those conditions would reduce the returns we realize from our senior living communities. Downturns or stagnation in the U.S. housing market as a result of an economic downturn could adversely affect the ability, or perceived ability, of seniors to afford the resident fees and services at our senior living communities as prospective residents may use the proceeds from the sale of their homes to cover the cost of such fees.
In addition, economic downturns and recessions in the United States have historically negatively impacted the commercial office real estate market, including increased tenant defaults, decreased occupancies and reduced rental rates. Our tenants have experienced and may continue to experience increased cancellations or rescheduling of elective procedures at the properties in our Office Portfolio due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may negatively impact our tenants' operating results at those properties and their ability or willingness to pay us rent. The current economic conditions have had, and we expect that they will continue to have, similar negative impacts on our Office Portfolio and we expect that the extent of those negative consequences will depend to a large extent on the duration and depth of the economic recession in the United States and the strength and sustainability of any economic recovery that may follow.
Further, despite the issuances of the EUAs, and potentially others for additional vaccines in the future, and Five Star's partnership with CVS Health Corporation to administer the COVID-19 vaccine, it is expected to take an extended period of time, and considerable effort and expense, to vaccinate residents and staff in our senior living communities who wish to be vaccinated and several months for the vaccines to be produced, distributed and administered to a sufficient number of people to enable the cessation of the pandemic. In addition, despite the protection of the PREP Act, which provides immunity protections under federal and state law for individuals and entities, or Covered Persons, against claims of loss relating to certain COVID-19 countermeasures, or Covered Countermeasures. We and our manager's personnel that administer Covered Countermeasures such as the COVID-19 vaccine are classified as Covered Persons immune to claims arising from COVID-19 vaccine administration with the exception of death or serious physical injury caused by willful misconduct.
We cannot predict the extent and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic or the severity and duration of its economic impact, but we expect that the ultimate adverse impact on our business will be substantial. Further, the extent and strength of any economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic ends or otherwise are uncertain and subject to various factors and conditions. Our business, operations and financial position may continue to be negatively impacted after the COVID-19 pandemic ends and may remain at depressed levels compared to prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and those conditions may continue for an extended period.
We have taken several actions in an attempt to address the operating and financial impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we continue to assess and explore other actions, but those actions and plans may not be sufficient to avoid continued and potentially increased substantial harm to our business, operations and financial condition.
As discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including Part I, Item 1, "Business," we have taken several actions in an attempt to address the operating and financial impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there can be no assurance that these actions or others that we may take will be successful or that they will enable us to maintain sufficient liquidity and withstand the current economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our investment activities, other than capital expenditures at our existing properties, have been significantly curtailed and we expect that to continue for an indefinite period.
We are not actively pursuing acquisitions at this time. In addition, we have reduced our expectations for capital spending significantly. In addition, our credit agreement limits our ability to make acquisitions. As a result, we will be limited in pursuing investments, which may limit our ability to grow and to act upon opportunities we believe would benefit us. Further, to the extent we defer capital expenditures, we may be required to make increased capital expenditures in later periods as a result and some of the expenditures may be greater in scope and amount than they may have been if made sooner.
We are limited in our ability to operate our senior living communities and depend upon Five Star to manage a substantial majority of our senior living communities, the results of operations for which represent a significant part of our consolidated operating results.
Because federal income tax laws restrict REITs and their subsidiaries from operating or managing healthcare facilities, we do not operate or manage our senior living communities. Instead, we lease our senior living communities to subsidiaries of ours that qualify as TRSs under the IRC and retain third parties to manage those senior living communities or we lease our senior living communities to third party operating companies. Our income from our properties may be adversely affected if our manager or other operators fail to provide quality services and amenities to residents. While we monitor the performance of our manager and other operators and apply asset management strategies and discipline, we have limited recourse under our management agreements and leases if we believe that our manager or other operators are not performing adequately. Any failure by our manager or other operators to fully perform the duties agreed to in our management agreements and leases could adversely affect our results of operations.
The senior living communities that Five Star manages for us represent most of our senior living communities. As a result, the success of our senior living communities depends upon Five Star's ability to efficiently and effectively operate them. Our ability to terminate our management agreements with Five Star is limited to the termination rights provided under such agreements or as may otherwise be recognized under law. As a result, we may be limited in our ability to replace Five Star as a manager if we determine it is in our best interests to do so, and we may be required to pay Five Star a significant termination fee if we terminate the management agreements. In addition, if Five Star were to cease managing our senior living communities, we may not be able to obtain a replacement manager as qualified as Five Star or at all and we may incur significant expenses in connection with any replacement manager, including transitioning operational costs, capital expenditures to renovate our senior living communities to the replacement manager's practices and standards and declines in residents fees and services revenue. Although we have various rights as owner under our management agreements, we rely on
Five Star's personnel, good faith, expertise, performance, technical resources, operating efficiencies, information systems, proprietary information and judgment. We also rely on the Five Star to set resident fees and otherwise operate our managed senior living communities in compliance with our management agreements. If Five Star does not manage our senior living communities profitably and in accordance with our expectations, our results of operations, financial condition and prospects, and the value of our senior living communities, may be materially adversely affected.
The trend for seniors to delay moving to senior living communities until they require greater care or to forgo moving to senior living communities altogether has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Seniors have been increasingly delaying their moves to senior living communities, until they require greater care or forgoing moving to senior living communities altogether. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and may continue to exacerbate these trends. Further, rehabilitation therapy and other services are increasingly being provided to seniors on an outpatient basis or in seniors' personal residences in response to market demand and government regulation, which may increase the trend for seniors to delay moving to senior living communities. Such delays may cause decreases in occupancy rates and increases in resident turnover rates at our senior living communities. Moreover, older aged persons may have greater care needs and require higher acuity services, which may increase costs at our senior living communities, expose our manager or other operators to additional liability or result in lost business and shorter stays at our senior living communities if our manager or other operators are not able to provide the requisite care services or fail to adequately provide those services. Further, if we or our manager or other operators fail to successfully act upon and address these and other trends and changes in seniors' needs and preferences or in the healthcare industry generally, we or they may be unable to offset associated lost revenues by growing other revenue sources, such as by offering new or increased service offerings to seniors, and our senior living communities may become unprofitable and the value of our senior living communities may decline.
Increases in labor costs at our managed senior living communities may have a material adverse effect on us.
Wages and employee benefits associated with the operations of our managed senior living communities represent a significant part of our managed senior living communities' operating expenses. Prior periods of low unemployment and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in increased labor costs, including higher health benefits costs, in the senior living industry. Further, legislation has been enacted and proposed to increase the minimum wage in various jurisdictions in recent years, which has put upward pressure on wages.
The market for qualified nurses and other healthcare professionals is highly competitive, and periodic or geographic area shortages of such healthcare professionals may require our manager or other operators to increase the wages and benefits they offer to their employees in order to attract and retain them or to utilize temporary personnel at an increased cost. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath may result in our manager or other operators being unable to fully staff our senior living communities or having to pay overtime to adequately staff our senior living communities. In addition, employee benefit costs, including health insurance and workers' compensation insurance costs, have materially increased in recent years.
Our labor costs at our managed senior living communities have increased, including due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot be sure that labor costs at our managed senior living communities will not continue to increase or that any increases will eventually be recovered by corresponding increases in the rates charged to residents or otherwise. Any significant failure by our manager or other operators to prudently control labor costs or to pass any increases on to residents through rate increases could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Staffing turnover at our senior living communities is common, and may increase in a competitive labor market and during the COVID-19 pandemic and the competitive environment in the senior living industry. Heightened levels of staffing turnover at our senior living communities, particularly with respect to key and skilled positions, such as management, regional and executive directors and other skilled and qualified personnel, may disrupt operations, limit or slow the execution of business strategies, and decrease revenues and increase costs at our managed senior living communities, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.
Third party payers continue to try to reduce healthcare costs.
Third party payers such as insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid continue their efforts to control healthcare costs through direct contracts with healthcare providers, increased utilization review practices and greater enrollment in managed care programs and preferred provider organizations. These efforts to limit the amount of payments we receive for healthcare services could adversely affect us. Future changes in the reimbursement rates or methods of third party payers, or the implementation of other measures to reduce payments for our services could result in a substantial reduction in our NOI with respect to our managed senior living communities.
Termination of assisted living resident agreements and resident attrition could adversely affect revenues and earnings at our senior living communities.
Unlike apartment leases that typically have a one-year term, state regulations governing assisted living communities typically require that senior living community residents have the right to terminate their assisted living resident agreements for any reason on reasonable (for example, 30 days') notice. Should a large number of our residents elect to terminate their resident agreements at or around the same time, revenues and earnings at our senior living communities could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, the advanced ages of our senior living residents may result in high resident turnover rates.
The high levels of infected COVID-19 patients and deaths at senior living communities and resulting negative publicity may have a long term significant detrimental impact on the senior living industry, including us, even if our senior living communities do not experience similar levels of COVID-19 infections and deaths as others in the industry.
COVID-19 has proven to be particularly harmful to seniors and persons with other pre-existing health conditions. If the senior living industry continues to experience high levels of residents infected with COVID-19 and related deaths, and news accounts emphasize these experiences, seniors may increasingly delay or forgo moving into senior living communities or using other services provided by senior living healthcare providers. As a result, our operating results from our senior living communities, and the values of those communities, may experience a long term significant detrimental impact.
The nature of our manager's and other senior living community operators' businesses exposes us and them to litigation and regulatory and government proceedings.
Our manager and other senior living community operators have been, are currently, and expect in the future to be involved in claims, lawsuits and regulatory and government audits, investigations and proceedings arising in the ordinary course of their and our businesses, some of which may involve material amounts, and we may also be involved in such claims, lawsuits and regulatory and government audits, investigations and proceedings at our managed communities. The defense and resolution of such claims, lawsuits and other proceedings may require our manager or other operators or us to incur significant expenses. In several well publicized instances, private litigation by residents of senior living communities for alleged abuses has resulted in large damage awards against senior living companies. Also, our manager and other operators may face increased exposures to lawsuits or other legal proceedings related to COVID-19 outbreaks. Some lawyers and law firms specialize in bringing litigation against senior living community operators. As a result, the cost of liability insurance continues to increase. Medical liability insurance reforms have not generally been adopted, and we expect that insurance costs may continue to increase. Insurance costs related to our managed senior living communities are, and the costs, claims, lawsuits and regulatory and government audits, investigations and proceedings related to our managed senior living communities may be, included as operating expenses of those communities, which reduce our returns from those communities.
Depressed U.S. housing market conditions and other factors may reduce the willingness or ability of seniors to relocate to our senior living communities.
Downturns or stagnation in the U.S. housing market could adversely affect the ability, or perceived ability, of seniors to afford our senior living community entrance and resident fees, as prospective residents frequently use the proceeds from the sale of their homes to cover the cost of such fees. If seniors have difficulty selling their homes, their ability to relocate to our senior living communities or finance their stays at our senior living communities with private resources could be adversely affected. Recent high unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic may also reduce the ability of family members to relocate seniors to senior living communities, and family members' willingness and ability to offer free care may also affect seniors' relocation to senior living communities. If these and other factors reduce seniors' willingness or ability to relocate to our senior living communities, occupancy rates, revenues and cash flows at our senior living communities and our results of operations could be negatively impacted.
REIT distribution requirements and limitations on our ability to access reasonably priced capital may adversely impact our ability to carry out our business plan.
To maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we are required to satisfy distribution requirements imposed by the IRC. See “Material United States Federal Income Tax Considerations—REIT Qualification Requirements—Annual Distribution Requirements” included in Part I, Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Accordingly, we may not be able to retain sufficient cash to fund our operations, repay our debts, invest in our properties or fund our acquisitions and development and redevelopment efforts. Our business strategies therefore depend, in part, upon our ability to raise additional capital at reasonable costs. The volatility in the availability of capital to businesses on a global basis in most debt and equity markets generally may limit our ability to raise reasonably priced capital. We may also be unable to raise reasonably priced
capital because of reasons related to our business, market perceptions of our prospects, the terms of our indebtedness, the extent of our leverage or for reasons beyond our control, such as market conditions. Because the earnings we are permitted to retain are limited by the rules governing REIT qualification and taxation, if we are unable to raise reasonably priced capital, we may not be able to carry out our business plan.
We have a substantial amount of debt and may incur additional debt.
As of December 31, 2020, our consolidated indebtedness was $3.5 billion and our consolidated net debt to total gross assets ratio was 42.4%.
We are subject to numerous risks associated with our debt, including the risk that our cash flows could be insufficient for us to make required payments on our debt. There are no limits in our organizational documents on the amount of debt we may incur, and we may incur substantial debt. Our debt obligations could have important consequences to our securityholders. Our incurrence of debt may increase our vulnerability to adverse economic, market and industry conditions, limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business, and place us at a disadvantage in relation to competitors that have lower debt levels. Our incurrence of debt could also increase the costs to us of incurring additional debt, increase our exposure to floating interest rates or expose us to potential events of default (if not cured or waived) under covenants contained in debt instruments that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Excessive debt could reduce the available cash flow to fund, or limit our ability to obtain financing for, working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, construction projects, refinancing, lease obligations or other purposes or to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders. If our credit ratings decline, our interest rates may increase.
If we default under any of our debt obligations, we may be in default under the agreements governing other debt obligations of ours which have cross default provisions, including our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements. In such case, our lenders may demand immediate payment of any outstanding indebtedness and we could be forced to liquidate our assets for less than the values we would receive in a more orderly process.
We may need additional waivers from our lenders or noteholders in order to avoid defaulting under our credit agreement or our public debt agreements, and the terms of our current waivers under our credit agreement impose restrictions on our ability to pay distributions and make capital investments, and any future waiver or amendment may impose similar or additional restrictions.
In June 2020, we amended certain financial covenants under our credit and term loan agreements through June 30, 2021 in order to provide us with additional flexibility, and in January 2021, we further amended our credit and term loan agreements to, among other things, obtain waivers from compliance with certain financial covenants through June 2022. To obtain these waivers, we agreed to restrictions on our ability to pay distributions, other than as currently contemplated or to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT and to avoid the payment of certain income and excise taxes, and make capital investments. We may need to obtain additional waivers from our lenders or waivers from our noteholders in the future in order to avoid failing to satisfy certain financial covenants under our debt agreements, but our lenders or noteholders are not required to grant any such waivers and may determine not to do so. If we fail to receive any required waiver, we may be in default under our credit agreement and the lenders could terminate our revolving credit facility and term loan and require us to pay our then outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility and term loan. Any future waiver we may obtain may impose similar or additional restrictions, which may limit our ability to pay or increase distributions to our shareholders, make investments that we believe we should make and could reduce our ability to pursue business opportunities, grow our business and improve our operating results. In addition, continued availability of borrowings under our revolving credit facility is subject to our satisfying certain financial covenants and other credit facility conditions.
We may fail to comply with the terms of our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements, which could adversely affect our business, would limit our ability to incur indebtedness and may prevent our making distributions to our shareholders.
Our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements include various conditions, covenants and events of default. We may not be able to satisfy all of these conditions or may default on some of these covenants for various reasons, including for reasons beyond our control. For example, our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements require us to maintain certain debt service ratios. Our ability to comply with such covenants will depend upon the net rental income and returns we receive from our properties. If the occupancy at our properties declines or if our rents or returns decline, we may be unable to borrow under our revolving credit facility. Complying with these covenants may limit our ability to take actions that may be beneficial to us and our securityholders. In addition, continued availability of borrowings under our revolving credit facility is subject to our satisfying certain financial covenants
and other credit facility conditions. If our operating results and financial condition are significantly negatively impacted by the current economic conditions or otherwise, we may fail to satisfy covenants and conditions under our credit agreement or fail to satisfy our public debt covenants. We expect the ratio of consolidated income available for debt service to debt service could fall below the 1.5x requirement under our revolving credit facility and our public debt covenants in the first half of 2021. We will not be allowed to incur additional debt while this ratio is below 1.5x, which could materially and adversely impact our business, operations, financial results and liquidity, and could cause us to borrow amounts available under our credit agreement earlier than we may otherwise choose to do so. An inability to incur additional indebtedness would require us to meet our capital needs from other sources, such as cash on hand, operating cash flow, equity financing or asset sales, which may not be available to us on attractive terms or at all and we may be unable to meet our obligations or grow our business by acquiring additional properties or otherwise.
Further, if we default under our credit agreement, our lenders may demand immediate payment and may elect not to fund future borrowings. During the continuance of any event of default under our credit agreement, we may be limited or in some cases prohibited from making distributions to our shareholders. Any default under our credit or term loan agreements that results in acceleration of our obligations to repay outstanding indebtedness or in our no longer being permitted to borrow under our revolving credit facility would likely have serious adverse consequences to us and would likely cause the value of our securities to decline.
In the future, we may obtain additional debt financing, and the covenants and conditions which apply to any such additional debt may be more restrictive than the covenants and conditions that are contained in our credit or term loan agreements or our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements.
Secured indebtedness exposes us to the possibility of foreclosure, which could result in the loss of our investment in certain of our subsidiaries or in a property or group of properties or other assets that secure that indebtedness.
At December 31, 2020, we had $684.5 million aggregate principal amount of mortgage notes (excluding premiums, discounts and net debt issuance costs) secured by seven properties, of which $620.0 million is related to a joint venture arrangement in which we own a 55% equity interest. We also had two properties subject to finance leases with lease obligations totaling $7.8 million at December 31, 2020. In addition, in connection with the January 2021 amendments to our credit and term loan agreements, we pledged certain equity interests of subsidiaries owning properties to secure our obligations under our credit and term loan agreements. We also agreed to provide first mortgage liens on 91 properties owned by certain pledged subsidiaries with an undepreciated book value of $1.4 billion as of December 31, 2020, to secure our obligations, which pledges and/or mortgage liens may be removed or new ones may be added during the Amendment Period based on outstanding debt amounts, among other things.
Incurring secured indebtedness, including mortgage indebtedness, increases our risk of asset and property losses because defaults on indebtedness secured by our assets may result in foreclosure actions initiated by lenders and ultimately our loss of the property or other assets securing our obligations under our credit agreement if we default on such obligations. Any foreclosure on a property or group of properties could have a material adverse effect on the overall value of our portfolio of properties and more generally on us. For tax purposes, a foreclosure of any of our properties would be treated as a sale of the property for a purchase price equal to the outstanding balance of the indebtedness secured by the mortgage. If the outstanding balance of the indebtedness secured by the mortgage exceeds our tax basis in the property, we would recognize taxable income on foreclosure, but would not receive any cash proceeds, which could materially and adversely affect us.
Changes in market interest rates, including changes that may result from the expected phase out of LIBOR, may adversely affect us.
Interest rates have remained at relatively low levels on a historical basis, and the U.S. Federal Reserve System, or the U.S. Federal Reserve, has indicated that it does not expect to raise interest rates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and current market conditions until at least the end of 2023. There can be no assurance, however, that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise rates prior to that time. Low market interest rates, particularly if they remain over a sustained period, may increase our use of debt capital to fund property acquisitions, lower capitalization rates for property purchases and increase competition for property purchases, which may reduce our ability to acquire new properties.
In addition, as noted in Part II, Item 7A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, LIBOR is currently expected to be phased out for new contracts by December 31, 2021 and for pre-existing contracts by June 30, 2023. The interest rates under our revolving credit facility and term loan are based on LIBOR and the interest we may pay on any future debt we may incur may also be based on LIBOR. We currently expect that the determination of interest under our credit agreement would be based on the alternative rates provided under those agreements or would be revised to provide for an interest rate that approximates
the existing interest rate as calculated in accordance with LIBOR. Despite our current expectations, we cannot be sure that, if LIBOR is phased out or transitioned, the changes to the determination of interest under our credit agreement would approximate the current calculation in accordance with LIBOR. An alternative interest rate index that may replace LIBOR may result in our paying increased interest. Interest rate increases may materially and negatively affect us in several ways, including:
•Investors may consider whether to buy or sell our common shares based upon the distribution rate on our common shares relative to the then prevailing market interest rates. If market interest rates go up, investors may expect a higher distribution rate than we are able to pay, which may increase our cost of capital, or they may sell our common shares and seek alternative investments that offer higher distribution rates. Sales of our common shares may cause a decline in the value of our common shares;
•Property values are often determined, in part, based upon a capitalization of rental income formula. When market interest rates increase, property investors often demand higher capitalization rates and that causes property values to decline. Increases in interest rates could lower the value of our properties and cause the value of our securities to decline; and
•Amounts outstanding under our revolving credit facility and term loan require interest to be paid at floating interest rates. When interest rates increase, our interest costs will increase, which could adversely affect our cash flows, our ability to pay principal and interest on our debt, our cost of refinancing our fixed rate debts when they become due and our ability to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders. Additionally, if we choose to hedge our interest rate risk, we cannot be sure that the hedge will be effective or that our hedging counterparty will meet its obligations to us.
Our properties and their operations are subject to extensive laws and regulations which we and our manager and other senior living community operators are required to comply with.
Licensing, Medicare and Medicaid laws require our manager and other operators who operate senior living communities, clinics and other healthcare communities to comply with extensive standards governing their operations. The revenues our manager or other operators receive from Medicare and Medicaid may be subject to statutory and regulatory changes, retroactive rate adjustments, recovery of program overpayments or set offs, administrative rulings and policy interpretations, and payment delays. In addition, certain laws prohibit fraud by senior living operators, and other healthcare communities, including civil and criminal laws that prohibit false claims in Medicare, Medicaid and other programs and that regulate patient referrals. In recent years, the federal and state governments have devoted increasing resources to monitoring the quality of care at senior living communities and to anti-fraud investigations in healthcare operations generally. The ACA also facilitates the DOJ's ability to investigate allegations of wrongdoing or fraud at SNFs. When violations of anti-fraud, false claims, anti-kickback or physician referral laws are identified, federal or state authorities may impose civil monetary damages, treble damages, repayment requirements and criminal sanctions. Healthcare communities may also be subject to license revocation or conditional licensure and exclusion from Medicare and Medicaid participation or conditional participation. When quality of care deficiencies or improper billing are identified, various laws may authorize civil money penalties or fines; the suspension, modification or revocation of a license or Medicare/Medicaid participation; the suspension or denial of admissions of residents; the denial of payments in full or in part; the implementation of state oversight, temporary management or receivership; and the imposition of criminal penalties. We, our manager and other operators receive notices of potential sanctions from time to time, and government authorities impose such sanctions from time to time on our communities which our manager or other operators operate. If our manager or other operators are unable to cure deficiencies which have been identified or which are identified in the future, these sanctions may be imposed, and if imposed, may adversely affect our returns and our ability to identify substitute operators. Federal and state requirements for change in control of healthcare communities, including, as applicable, approvals of the proposed operator for licensure, CONs, and Medicare and Medicaid participation, may also limit or delay our ability to find substitute operators. If any of our operators becomes unable to operate our properties because it has violated government regulations or payment laws, such incidents may trigger a default or termination right under our management agreements or leases and our or our manager's or other operators' credit agreements, and we may experience difficulty in finding a substitute operator or selling the affected property for a fair and commercially reasonable price, and the value of an affected property may decline materially.
Various laws administered by the FDA and other agencies regulate the operations of our tenants that operate biotechnology laboratories that develop, manufacture, market or distribute pharmaceuticals or medical devices. Once a product is approved, the FDA maintains oversight of the product and its developer and can withdraw its approval, recall products or suspend their production, impose or seek to impose civil or criminal penalties on the developer or take other actions for the developer's failure to comply with regulatory requirements, including anti-fraud, false claims, anti-kickback or physician referral laws. Other concerns affecting our biotechnology laboratory tenants include the potential for subsequent discovery of safety concerns and related litigation, ensuring that the product qualifies for reimbursement under Medicare, Medicaid or other
federal or state programs, cost control initiatives of payment programs, the potential for litigation over the validity or infringement of intellectual property rights related to the product, the eventual expiration of relevant patents and the need to raise additional capital. The cost of compliance with these regulations and the risks described in this paragraph, among others, could adversely affect the ability of our biotechnology laboratory tenants to pay rent to us.
Our manager or other operators may fail to comply with laws relating to the operation of our senior living communities.
We and our manager and other senior living community operators are subject to, or impacted by, extensive and frequently changing federal, state and local laws and regulations, including: licensure laws; laws protecting consumers against deceptive practices; laws relating to the operation of our properties and how our manager and other operators conduct their operations, such as with respect to health and safety, fire and privacy matters; laws affecting communities that participate in Medicaid; laws affecting SNFs, clinics and other healthcare facilities that participate in both Medicare and Medicaid which mandate allowable costs, pricing, reimbursement procedures and limitations, quality of services and care, food service and physical plants; resident rights laws (including abuse and neglect laws) and fraud laws; anti-kickback and physician referral laws; the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar laws; and safety and health standards established by OSHA. We and our manager and other operators are also required to comply with federal and state laws governing the privacy, security, use and disclosure of individually identifiable information, including financial information and protected health information under HIPAA.
We and our manager and other operators expend significant resources to maintain compliance with these laws and regulations. However, if we or our manager or other operators are alleged to fail, or do fail, to comply with applicable legal requirements, we or they may have to expend significant resources to respond to such allegations, and if we or they are unable to cure deficiencies, certain sanctions may be imposed and we or they may be obligated to return payments and pay fines and interest, which may adversely affect the profitability of our senior living communities and ability to obtain, renew or maintain licenses at those communities.
We and our manager and other operators and tenants face significant competition.
We face significant competition for acquisition opportunities from other investors, including publicly traded and private REITs, numerous financial institutions, individuals, foreign investors and other public and private companies. Because of competition, we may be unable to acquire, or may pay a significantly increased purchase price for, a desired property, which would reduce our expected returns from that property. Some of our competitors may have greater financial and other resources than us. Further, during prior periods of economic recession, some investors have focused on healthcare real estate investments because of a belief that these types of investments may be less affected by general economic circumstances than most other investments. Low historical market interest rates and increased leverage utilized by financial and other buyers have caused purchase prices for healthcare real estate investments to increase, therefore decreasing rates of returns. Such conditions have resulted in increased competition for investments, fewer available investment opportunities and lower spreads over the cost of capital. If such conditions continue for a protracted period, our ability to grow our business and improve our financial results may be materially and adversely affected.
We also face competition for tenants at our properties, particularly at our medical office and life science properties. Some competing properties may be newer, better located or more attractive to tenants. Competing properties may have lower rates of occupancy than our properties, which may result in competing owners offering available space at lower rents than we offer at our properties. Development activities may increase the supply of properties of the type we own in the leasing markets in which we own properties and increase the competition we face. Competition may make it difficult for us to attract and retain tenants and may reduce the rents we are able to charge and the values of our properties.
In recent years, a significant number of new senior living communities have been developed and continue to be developed. Although the rate of new development of senior living communities has slowed, which decline has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the increased supply of senior living communities from recent development activity has increased competitive pressures on our manager and other operators, particularly in certain geographic markets where we own senior living communities, and we expect these competitive challenges to continue for at least the next few years. Further, our senior living communities compete with numerous other senior living service providers, such as home healthcare companies and other real estate based service providers. Some of these senior living competitors are larger and have greater financial resources than our manager or other senior living community operators do, and some of these competitors are not for-profit entities which have endowment income and may not face the same financial pressures that they do. We cannot be sure that our manager or other operators will be able to attract a sufficient number of residents to our senior living communities at rates that will generate acceptable returns or that they will be able to attract employees and keep wages and other employee benefits,
insurance costs and other operating expenses at levels which will allow them to compete successfully and operate our senior living communities profitably.
These competitive challenges may prevent our manager and other operators from maintaining or improving occupancy and rates at our senior living communities, which may reduce our returns from our senior living communities and adversely affect the profitability of our senior living communities, and may cause the values of our properties to decline.
We may be unable to lease our properties when our leases expire.
Although we typically will seek to renew our leases with current tenants when they expire, we cannot be sure that we will be successful in doing so. If our tenants do not renew their leases, we may be unable to obtain new tenants to maintain or increase the historical occupancy rates of, or rents from, our properties.
We may experience declining rents or incur significant costs to renew our leases with current tenants or to lease our properties to new tenants.
When we renew our leases with current tenants or lease to new tenants, we may experience rent decreases, and we may have to spend substantial amounts for leasing commissions, tenant improvements or other tenant inducements. Moreover, many of our medical office and life science properties have been specially designed for the particular businesses of our tenants; if the current leases for such properties are terminated or are not renewed, we may be required to renovate such properties at substantial costs, decrease the rents we charge or provide other concessions in order to lease such properties to new tenants.
Ownership of real estate is subject to environmental risks and liabilities.
Ownership of real estate is subject to risks associated with environmental hazards. Under various laws, owners as well as tenants and operators of real estate may be required to investigate and clean up or remove hazardous substances present at or migrating from properties they own, lease or operate and may be held liable for property damage or personal injuries that result from hazardous substances. These laws also expose us to the possibility that we may become liable to government agencies or third parties for costs and damages they incur in connection with hazardous substances. The costs and damages that may arise from environmental hazards may be substantial and are difficult to assess and estimate for numerous reasons, including uncertainty about the extent of contamination, alternative treatment methods that may be applied, the location of the property which subjects it to differing local laws and regulations and their interpretations, as well as the time it may take to remediate contamination. In addition, these laws also impose various requirements regarding the operation and maintenance of properties and recordkeeping and reporting requirements relating to environmental matters that require us or the operators or tenants of our properties to incur costs to comply with. We may incur substantial liabilities and costs for environmental matters.
Ownership of real estate is subject to risks from adverse weather, natural disasters and climate events.
Severe weather may have an adverse effect on properties we own. Flooding caused by rising sea levels and severe weather events, including hurricanes, tornadoes and widespread fires, may have an adverse effect on properties we own and result in significant losses to us and interruption of our business. When major weather, natural disasters or climate-related events, such as hurricanes, floods and wildfires, occur near our properties, we or our manager or other operators or tenants may be required to relocate the residents of those senior living properties to alternative locations for their safety and we or they may close or limit the operations of the impacted senior living communities or medical office or life science properties until the event has ended and the property is ready for operation. We or our manager or other operators or tenants of our properties may incur significant costs and losses as a result of these activities, both in terms of operating, preparing and repairing our properties in anticipation of, during and after a severe weather, natural disaster or climate-related event and in terms of potential lost business due to the interruption in operating our properties. Our or our manager's or other operators' or tenants' insurance may not adequately compensate us or them for these costs and losses.
Also, concerns about climate change have resulted in various treaties, laws and regulations that are intended to limit carbon emissions and address other environmental concerns. These and other laws may cause energy or other costs at our properties to increase. Laws enacted to mitigate climate change may make some of our buildings obsolete or cause us to make material investments in our properties, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition or the financial condition of our manager or other operators or tenants and their ability to generate sufficient returns for, or pay rent to, us and cause the values of our properties to decline. In addition, concerns about climate change and increasing storm intensities may increase the cost of our insurance for our properties or potentially render it unavailable to obtain.
Real estate ownership creates risks and liabilities.
In addition to the risks discussed above, our business is subject to other risks associated with real estate ownership, including:
•the illiquid nature of real estate markets, which limits our ability to sell our assets rapidly to respond to changing market conditions;
•the subjectivity of real estate valuations and changes in such valuations over time;
•current and future adverse national and local real estate trends, including increasing vacancy rates, declining rental rates and general deterioration of market conditions;
•costs that may be incurred relating to property maintenance and repair, and the need to make expenditures due to changes in government regulations; and
•liabilities and litigations arising from injuries on our properties or otherwise incidental to the ownership of our properties.
RMR LLC and Five Star rely on information technology and systems in their respective provision of services to us, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security failure of that technology or those systems could materially and adversely affect us.
RMR LLC and Five Star rely on information technology and systems, including the Internet and cloud-based infrastructures, commercially available software and their respective internally developed applications, to process, transmit, store and safeguard information and to manage or support a variety of their business processes (including managing our building systems), including financial transactions and maintenance of records, which may include personal identifying information of employees, residents and tenants and lease data. If these systems experience material security or other failures, inadequacies or interruptions of its information technology, we could incur material costs and losses and our operations could be disrupted as a result. Each of RMR LLC and Five Star takes various actions, and incurs significant costs, to maintain and protect the operation and security of its information technology and systems, including the data maintained in those systems. However, these measures may not prevent the systems' improper functioning or a compromise in security.
Security breaches, computer viruses, attacks by hackers, online fraud schemes and similar breaches can create significant system disruptions, shutdowns, fraudulent transfer of assets or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. Our cybersecurity risks are heightened by, among other things, the evolving nature of the threats faced, advances in computer capabilities, new discoveries in the field of cryptography and new and increasingly sophisticated methods used to perpetrate illegal or fraudulent activities, including cyberattacks, email or wire fraud and other attacks exploiting security vulnerabilities in RMR LLC's, Five Star's or other third parties' information technology networks and systems or operations. Any failure by us or our third party vendors to maintain the security, proper function and availability of RMR LLC's or Five Star's information technology and systems could result in financial losses, interrupt our operations, damage our reputation, cause us to be in default of material contracts and subject us to liability claims or regulatory penalties, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and the value of our securities.
Real estate construction and redevelopment creates risks.
Our business plans involve the development of new properties or the redevelopment of some of our existing properties as the existing leases expire, as our operators' or tenants' needs change or to pursue any other opportunities that we believe are desirable. The development and redevelopment of new and existing buildings involves significant risks in addition to those involved in the ownership and operation of leased properties, including the risks that construction may not be completed on schedule or within budget, resulting in increased construction costs and delays in leasing such properties and generating cash flows. Development activities are also subject to risks relating to the inability to obtain, or delays in obtaining, all necessary zoning, land use, building, occupancy, and other required government permits and authorizations. Once completed, any new properties may perform below anticipated financial results. The occurrence of one or more of these circumstances in connection with our development and redevelopment activities could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the values of our properties.
Insurance may not adequately cover our losses, and insurance costs may continue to increase.
We or our tenants are generally responsible for the costs of insurance coverage for our properties and the operations conducted on them, including for casualty, liability, malpractice, fire, extended coverage and rental or business interruption loss insurance. In the past few years, the costs of insurance have increased significantly, and these increased costs have had an adverse effect on us and our manager and other operators and tenants. Increased insurance costs may adversely affect our manager's and other operators' ability to operate our properties profitably and provide us with desirable returns and our tenants' abilities to pay us rent or result in downward pressure on rents we can charge under new or renewed leases. In the future, we may acquire additional properties for which we are responsible for the costs of insurance. Losses of a catastrophic nature, such as those caused by hurricanes, flooding, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, among other things, losses as a result of outbreaks of pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, or losses from terrorism, may be covered by insurance policies with limitations such as large deductibles or co-payments that we or a tenant may not be able to pay. Insurance proceeds may not be adequate to restore an affected property to its condition prior to loss or to compensate us for our losses, including lost revenues or other costs. Certain losses, such as losses we may incur as a result of known or unknown environmental conditions, are not covered by our insurance. Market conditions or our loss history may limit the scope of insurance or coverage available to us on economic terms. If we determine that an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occurs and if we are not able to recover amounts from our manager and other operators and tenants from certain losses, we may have to incur uninsured costs to mitigate such losses or lose all or a portion of the capital invested in a property, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the property.
We may not succeed in selling properties we have identified for sale and any proceeds we may receive from sales we do complete may be less than expected, and we may incur losses with respect to any such sales.
To reduce our leverage, we have sold properties and other assets, with a focus on the sale of underperforming senior living communities and non-core assets. However, as a result of current market conditions, including those related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sales of some of our properties that we previously identified for sale have and we expect will continue to be delayed. Our ability to sell properties or any other assets and the prices we receive upon any sale, may be affected by various factors, including those related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we may be unable to execute our strategy to reduce our leverage. In particular, these factors could arise from weaknesses in or a lack of established markets for the properties we have identified for sale, changes in the financial condition or prospects of prospective purchasers for and the tenants of the properties, the terms of leases with tenants at certain of the properties, the characteristics, quality and prospects of the properties, the availability of financing to potential purchasers on reasonable terms, the number of prospective purchasers, the number of competing properties in the market, unfavorable local, national or international economic conditions, industry trends and changes in laws, regulations or fiscal policies of jurisdictions in which the properties are located. We may not succeed in selling properties or other assets and any sales may be delayed or may not occur or, if sales do occur, the terms may not meet our expectations, and we may incur losses in connection with any sales. In addition, we may elect to change or abandon our strategy to reduce leverage and forego or abandon property or other asset sales. If we are unable to realize proceeds from the sale of assets sufficient to allow us to reduce our leverage to a level we believe appropriate or which ratings agencies and possible financing sources believe appropriate, our credit ratings may be further lowered, and we may further reduce our acquisition activity or investments in our existing properties.
Our existing and any future joint ventures may limit our flexibility with jointly owned investments and we may not realize the benefits we expect from these arrangements.
We are party to a joint venture with an institutional investor for one of our life science properties located in Boston, Massachusetts, and we may in the future sell or contribute additional properties to, or acquire, develop or recapitalize properties in, this joint venture or other joint ventures that we may enter. Our participation in our existing joint venture is subject to risks, including the following:
•we share approval rights over major decisions affecting the ownership or operation of the joint venture and any property owned by the joint venture;
•we may need to contribute additional capital in order to preserve, maintain or grow the joint venture and its investments;
•our joint venture investor may have economic or other business interests or goals that are inconsistent with our business interests or goals and that could affect our ability to lease, relet or operate the property owned by the joint venture or maintain our or the joint venture's qualification for taxation as a REIT;
•our joint venture investor may be subject to different laws or regulations than us, or may be structured differently than us for tax purposes, which could create conflicts of interest and/or affect our ability to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT;
•our ability to sell our interest in the joint venture or the joint venture's ability to sell additional interests of, or properties owned by, the joint venture when we so desire are subject to the approval rights of the other joint venture investor under the terms agreements governing the joint venture; and
•disagreements with our joint venture investor could result in litigation or arbitration that could be expensive and distracting to management and could delay important decisions.
Any of the foregoing risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, these, similar, enhanced or additional risks, including possible mandatory capital contribution requirements, may apply to any future additional or amended joint ventures that we may enter into.
Bankruptcy law may adversely impact us.
The occurrence of a tenant bankruptcy could reduce the rent we receive from that tenant. In addition, the continued existence of the COVID-19 pandemic may increase the risk of our tenants and operators filing for bankruptcy. If a tenant becomes bankrupt, federal law may prohibit us from evicting that tenant based solely upon its bankruptcy. In addition, a bankrupt tenant may be authorized to reject and terminate its lease with us. Any claims against a bankrupt tenant for unpaid future rent would be subject to statutory limitations that may be substantially less than the contractually specified rent we are owed under the lease, and any claim we have for unpaid past rent may not be paid in full. Further, if any of our operators files for bankruptcy, we may experience delays in enforcing our rights, may be limited in our ability to replace the operator and may incur substantial costs in protecting our investment and re-leasing or finding a replacement operator.
A severe cold or flu season, epidemics or any other widespread illnesses could adversely affect the occupancy of our senior living communities.
Our revenues and our manager's and other operators' and tenants' revenues with respect to our senior living communities are dependent on occupancy. If a severe cold or flu season, an epidemic such as the COVID-19 pandemic or any other widespread illnesses occurred in locations where our senior living communities are located, our and our applicable operators' and tenants' revenues from those communities would likely be significantly and negatively impacted. During such occasions, we and our manager and other operators and tenants may experience a decline in occupancy due to residents leaving our communities and, we, our manager or other operators and tenants may be required, or we, our manager or other operators and tenants may otherwise determine that it would be prudent, to quarantine some or all of the senior living community and not to permit new residents during that time. Further, depending on the severity of the occurrence, we, our manager or other operators and tenants may be required to incur costs to identify, contain and remedy the impacts of those occurrences at those senior living communities. As a result, these occurrences could significantly and adversely affect our and our manager's and other operators' and tenants' results of operations and adversely affect the ability of our applicable tenants to pay us rent. See “—Our business, operations, financial results and liquidity have been materially and adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is not known what the duration of this pandemic will be or what its ultimate adverse impact on us and our business will be, but we expect it will be substantial.” above for information regarding the risks from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and results of operations.
The benefits we have realized and may continue to realize from participating in relief programs provided under the CARES Act may not be sufficient to enable us to withstand the current economic conditions and any extended economic downturn or recession which may result from the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have received funds under the CARES Act, and have benefited from other relief measures pursuant to the CARES Act, including the deferral of employer payroll taxes. Receipt of additional government funds and other benefits from the CARES Act is subject to, in certain circumstances, a detailed application and approval process and it is unclear whether we will meet any eligibility requirements, receive any funds and the extent to which these funds may offset our COVID-19 pandemic related cash flow disruptions. Further, funds we have received or may receive, either directly through participation in government programs, or indirectly through increased revenues attributable to a possible economic recovery generated in whole or in part by the CARES Act, may not be sufficient to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Changes within the life science industry may adversely impact our revenues and results of operations.
For the year ended December 31, 2020, life science properties in our Office Portfolio accounted for approximately 11% and 34% of our total revenues and NOI, respectively. Our life science investments could be adversely affected if the life science industry is impacted by an economic, financial, or banking crisis or if the life science industry migrates from the U.S. to other countries or to areas outside of primary life science markets in San Francisco, California, San Diego, California, and Boston, Massachusetts. Our ability to negotiate increases in rental rates will depend upon market conditions and the demand for life science properties at the time the leases are negotiated. If economic, financial or industry conditions adversely affect our life science tenants, we may not be able to lease or relet our properties in a timely manner or at favorable rates, which would negatively impact our revenues and results of operations. For example, some of our properties may be better suited for a particular life science industry client tenant and could require modification before we are able to relet vacant space to another life science industry client tenant, which may delay the reletting process and result in unrecovered costs. Additionally, some of our life science properties may not be suitable for lease to traditional office client tenants without significant expenditures on renovations, which could delay an attempt to reposition the property for rent to non-life science tenants. Because infrastructure improvements for life science properties typically are significantly more costly than improvements to other property types due to the highly specialized nature of the properties, and life science tenants typically require greater lease square footage relative to medical office tenants, repositioning efforts would have a disproportionate adverse effect on our life science segment performance.
Risks Related to Our Relationships with RMR LLC and Five Star
We are dependent upon RMR LLC to manage our business and implement our growth strategy.
We have no employees. Personnel and services that we require are provided to us by RMR LLC pursuant to our management agreements with RMR LLC. Our ability to achieve our business objectives depends on RMR LLC and its ability to effectively manage our properties, to appropriately identify and complete our acquisitions and dispositions and to execute our growth strategy. Accordingly, our business is dependent upon RMR LLC's business contacts, its ability to successfully hire, train, supervise and manage its personnel and its ability to maintain its operating systems. If we lose the services provided by RMR LLC or its key personnel, our business and growth prospects may decline. We may be unable to duplicate the quality and depth of management available to us by becoming internally managed or by hiring another manager. In the event RMR LLC is unwilling or unable to continue to provide management services to us, our cost of obtaining substitute services may be greater than the fees we pay RMR LLC under our management agreements, and as a result our expenses may increase.
RMR LLC has broad discretion in operating our day to day business.
Our manager, RMR LLC, is authorized to follow broad operating and investment guidelines and, therefore, has discretion in identifying the properties that will be appropriate investments for us, as well as our individual operating and investment decisions. Our Board of Trustees periodically reviews our operating and investment guidelines and our operating activities and investments but it does not review or approve each decision made by RMR LLC on our behalf. In addition, in conducting periodic reviews, our Board of Trustees relies primarily on information provided to it by RMR LLC. RMR LLC may exercise its discretion in a manner that results in investment returns that are substantially below expectations or that results in losses.
Our management structure and agreements and relationships with RMR LLC and RMR LLC's and its controlling shareholder's relationships with others may create conflicts of interest, or the perception of such conflicts, and may restrict our investment activities.
RMR LLC is a majority-owned subsidiary of RMR Inc. The Chair of our Board of Trustees who is also one of our Managing Trustees, Adam Portnoy, as the sole trustee of ABP Trust, is the controlling shareholder of RMR Inc. and is a managing director and the president and chief executive officer of RMR Inc. and an officer and employee of RMR LLC. RMR LLC or its subsidiary also act as the manager to four other Nasdaq listed REITs: Office Properties Income Trust, or OPI, which primarily owns office properties leased to single tenants and high credit quality tenants, including government tenants; Industrial Logistics Properties Trust, or ILPT, which owns and leases industrial and logistics properties; Service Properties Trust, or SVC, which owns a diverse portfolio of hotels and net lease service and necessity-based retail properties; and Tremont Mortgage Trust, or TRMT, which focuses on originating and investing in first mortgage whole loans secured by middle market and transitional commercial real estate. RMR LLC also provides services to other publicly and privately owned companies, including: Five Star, the manager of our managed senior living communities and of which we own 33.7% of its outstanding common shares as of December 31, 2020; TravelCenters of America Inc., or TA, which operates and franchises travel centers, standalone truck service facilities and restaurants; and Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, which operates, manages and
franchises hotels, resorts and cruise boats. A subsidiary of RMR LLC is an investment adviser to RMR Mortgage Trust (formerly known as RMR Real Estate Income Fund), or RMRM, which recently converted from a registered investment company to a publicly traded mortgage REIT. Mr. Portnoy serves as chair of the board of trustees or board of directors, as applicable, of OPI, ILPT, SVC, Five Star and TA and as managing director, managing trustee, director or trustee, as applicable, of the companies managed by RMR LLC or its subsidiaries.
Jennifer Francis, our President and Chief Operating Officer, Richard Siedel, Jr., our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, and Jennifer Clark, our Secretary and one of our Managing Trustees, are also officers and employees of RMR LLC. Mr. Siedel is also the chief financial officer and treasurer of ILPT, and Ms. Clark is also a managing director of Five Star and is the secretary of RMR Inc. and the other public companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services. Mses. Francis and Clark and Mr. Siedel have duties to RMR LLC, and Mr. Siedel has duties to ILPT, as well as to us, and we do not have their undivided attention. They and other RMR LLC personnel may have conflicts in allocating their time and resources between us and RMR LLC and other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide services. Some of our Independent Trustees also serve as independent directors or independent trustees of other public companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services.
In addition, we may in the future enter into additional transactions with RMR LLC, its affiliates or entities managed by it or its subsidiaries. In addition to his investments in RMR Inc. and RMR LLC, Adam Portnoy holds equity investments in other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services and some of these companies have significant cross ownership interests, including, for example: as of December 31, 2020, Mr. Portnoy beneficially owned, in aggregate, 1.1% of our outstanding common shares, 6.3% of Five Star's outstanding common shares (including through ABP Trust), 1.2% of ILPT's outstanding common shares, 1.5% of OPI's outstanding common shares, 2.3% of RMRM's outstanding common shares, 1.1% of SVC's outstanding common shares, 4.5% of TA's outstanding common shares (including through RMR LLC) and 19.4% of TRMT's outstanding common shares (including through Tremont Realty Advisors LLC); and we owned 33.7% of Five Star's outstanding common shares. Our executive officers may also own equity investments in other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services. These multiple responsibilities, relationships and cross ownerships may give rise to conflicts of interest or the perception of such conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, RMR Inc., RMR LLC, our Managing Trustees, the other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services and their related parties. Conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our common shares and other securities and we may be subject to increased risk of litigation as a result.
In our management agreements with RMR LLC, we acknowledge that RMR LLC may engage in other activities or businesses and act as the manager to any other person or entity (including other REITs) even though such person or entity has investment policies and objectives similar to our policies and objectives and we are not entitled to preferential treatment in receiving information, recommendations and other services from RMR LLC. Accordingly, we may lose investment opportunities to, and may compete for tenants with, other businesses managed by RMR LLC or its subsidiaries. We cannot be sure that our Code of Conduct or our governance guidelines, or other procedural protections we adopt will be sufficient to enable us to identify, adequately address or mitigate actual or alleged conflicts of interest or ensure that our transactions with related persons are made on terms that are at least as favorable to us as those that would have been obtained with an unrelated person.
Our management agreements with RMR LLC were not negotiated on an arm's length basis and their fee and expense structure may not create proper incentives for RMR LLC, which may increase the risk of an investment in our common shares.
As a result of our relationships with RMR LLC and its current and former controlling shareholder(s), our management agreements with RMR LLC were not negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore, while such agreements were negotiated with the use of a special committee and disinterested Trustees, the terms, including the fees payable to RMR LLC, may not be as favorable to us as they would have been if they were negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties. Our property management fees are calculated based on rents we receive and construction supervision fees for construction at our properties overseen and managed by RMR LLC, and our base business management fee is calculated based upon the lower of the historical costs of our real estate investments and our market capitalization. We pay RMR LLC substantial base management fees regardless of our financial results. These fee arrangements could incentivize RMR LLC to pursue acquisitions, capital transactions, tenancies and construction projects or to avoid disposing of our assets in order to increase or maintain its management fees and might reduce RMR LLC's incentive to devote its time and effort to seeking investments that provide attractive returns for us. If we do not effectively manage our investment, disposition and capital transactions and leasing, construction and other property management activities, we may pay increased management fees without proportional benefits to us. In addition, we are obligated under our management agreements to reimburse RMR LLC
for employment and related expenses of RMR LLC's employees assigned to work exclusively or partly at our properties, our share of the wages, benefits and other related costs of RMR LLC's centralized accounting personnel and our share of RMR LLC's costs for providing our internal audit function. We are also required to pay for third party costs incurred with respect to us. Our obligation to reimburse RMR LLC for certain of its costs and to pay third party costs may reduce RMR LLC's incentive to efficiently manage those costs, which may increase our costs.
The termination of our management agreements with RMR LLC may require us to pay a substantial termination fee, including in the case of a termination for unsatisfactory performance, which may limit our ability to end our relationship with RMR LLC.
The terms of our management agreements with RMR LLC automatically extend on December 31 of each year so that such terms thereafter end on the 20th anniversary of the date of the extension. We have the right to terminate these agreements: (1) at any time on 60 days' written notice for convenience, (2) immediately upon written notice for cause, as defined in the agreements, (3) on written notice given within 60 days after the end of any applicable calendar year for a performance reason, as defined in the agreements, and (4) by written notice during the 12 months following a manager change of control, as defined in the agreements. However, if we terminate a management agreement for convenience, or if RMR LLC terminates a management agreement with us for good reason, as defined in such agreement, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC a termination fee in an amount equal to the sum of the present values of the monthly future fees, as defined in the applicable agreement, payable to RMR LLC for the term that was remaining before such termination, which, depending on the time of termination, would be between 19 and 20 years. Additionally, if we terminate a management agreement for a performance reason, as defined in the agreement, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC the termination fee calculated as described above, but assuming a remaining term of 10 years. These provisions substantially increase the cost to us of terminating the management agreements without cause, which may limit our ability to end our relationship with RMR LLC as our manager. The payment of the termination fee could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, including our ability to pay dividends to our shareholders.
Our management arrangements with RMR LLC may discourage a change of control of us.
Our management agreements with RMR LLC have continuing 20 year terms that renew annually. As noted in the preceding risk factor, if we terminate either of these management agreements other than for cause or upon a change of control of our manager, we are obligated to pay RMR LLC a substantial termination fee. For these reasons, our management agreements with RMR LLC may discourage a change of control of us, including a change of control which might result in payment of a premium for our common shares.
Our business dealings with Five Star comprise a significant part of our business and operations and they may create conflicts of interest or the perception of such conflicts of interest.
Five Star was originally organized as our subsidiary. We distributed substantially all of our Five Star common shares to our shareholders on December 31, 2001. RMR LLC provides management services to both us and Five Star. Adam Portnoy, the Chair of our Board who is also one of our Managing Trustees, as the sole trustee of ABP Trust, is a significant shareholder of Five Star, beneficially owning 6.3% of Five Star's outstanding common shares as of December 31, 2020. Five Star manages most of our senior living communities. In addition, Mr. Portnoy is the chair of Five Star's board of directors and one of its managing directors and our other Managing Trustee and Secretary, Jennifer B. Clark, is Five Star's other managing director and secretary.
The historical and continuing relationships which we, RMR LLC and Mr. Portnoy have with Five Star could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving us, the other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services and their related parties. As a result of these relationships, our agreements with Five Star were not negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties, and therefore the terms thereof may be different from those negotiated on an arm's length basis between unrelated parties. Conflicts of interest or the perception of conflicts of interest could have a material adverse impact on our reputation, business and the market price of our common shares and other securities and we may be subject to increased risk of litigation as a result.
We may not realize the benefits we expect from our investment in Five Star common shares.
As of December 31, 2020, we owned 10,691,658 Five Star common shares, or approximately 33.7% of Five Star's outstanding common shares. Our investment in Five Star is subject to various risks, including, among others, the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath; the highly competitive nature of the senior living industry; medical advances and healthcare services that allow some potential residents to defer the time when they require the special services available at senior living
communities that Five Star manages; a competitive labor market within the senior living industry that are increasing our and Five Star's employment costs, including labor costs that Five Star incurs and which we are not obligated to fund or reimburse; significant regulatory requirements imposed on Five Star's business; and other factors. Many of these factors are beyond our and Five Star's control. As a result, we may not realize the benefits we expect from our investment in Five Star common shares, and we could incur losses from our investment.
We may be required to pay a substantial termination fee to Five Star if Five Star terminates our management agreements due to our default.
If Five Star terminates our management agreements due to certain defaults by us, we are required to pay Five Star a termination fee equal to the present value of the base management fees that we would have paid to Five Star and the allocated incentive fee for the applicable communities, if any, between the date of termination and the scheduled initial expiration date of such management agreements (but not for a period exceeding 10 years), with such amounts determined based on the average base management and incentive fees for the applicable communities for each of the three calendar years ended prior to the date of termination. Further, the payment of the termination fee could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, including our ability to pay distributions to our shareholders.
We are party to transactions with related parties that may increase the risk of allegations of conflicts of interest, and such allegations may impair our ability to realize the benefits we expect from these transactions.
We are party to transactions with related parties, including with entities controlled by Adam Portnoy or to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services. Our agreements with related parties or in respect of transactions among related parties may not be on terms as favorable to us as they would have been if they had been negotiated among unrelated parties. We are subject to the risk that our shareholders or the shareholders of Five Star, RMR Inc. or other related parties may challenge any such related party transactions and the agreements entered into as part of them. If such a challenge were to be successful, we might not realize the benefits expected from the transactions being challenged. Moreover, any such challenge could result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management's attention, could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business and growth and could adversely affect our ability to realize the benefits expected from the transactions, whether or not the allegations have merit or are substantiated.
We may be at an increased risk for dissident shareholder activities due to perceived conflicts of interest arising from our management structure and relationships.
Companies with business dealings with related persons and entities may more often be the target of dissident shareholder trustee nominations, dissident shareholder proposals and shareholder litigation alleging conflicts of interest in their business dealings. Our relationships with RMR LLC, Five Star, the other companies to which RMR LLC or its subsidiaries provide management services, Adam Portnoy and other related persons of RMR LLC may precipitate such activities. Certain proxy advisory firms which have significant influence over the voting by shareholders of public companies have, in the past, recommended, and in the future may recommend, that shareholders withhold votes for the election of our incumbent Trustees, vote against our say on pay vote or other management proposals or vote for shareholder proposals that we oppose. These recommendations by proxy advisory firms have affected the outcomes of past Board of Trustees elections and votes on our say on pay, and similar recommendations in the future would likely affect the outcome of future Board of Trustees elections and votes on our say on pay, which may increase shareholder activism and litigation. These activities, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and diversion of our management's attention and could have a material adverse impact on our reputation and business.
Risks Related to Our Organization and Structure
We may change our operational, financing and investment policies without shareholder approval.
Our Board of Trustees determines our operational, financing and investment policies and may amend or revise our policies, including our policies with respect to our intention to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT, acquisitions, dispositions, growth, operations, indebtedness, capitalization and distributions, or approve transactions that deviate from these policies, without a vote of, or notice to, our shareholders. Policy changes could adversely affect the market price of our common shares and our ability to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders. Our Board of Trustees may alter or eliminate our current policy on borrowing at any time without shareholder approval. In addition, a change in our investment policies, including the manner in which we allocate our resources across our portfolio or the types of assets in which we seek to invest, may increase our exposure to interest rate risk, real estate market fluctuations and liquidity risk.
Ownership limitations and certain provisions in our declaration of trust, bylaws and agreements, as well as certain provisions of Maryland law, may deter, delay or prevent a change in our control or unsolicited acquisition proposals.
Our declaration of trust prohibits any shareholder, other than RMR LLC and its affiliates (as defined under Maryland law) and certain persons who have been exempted by our Board of Trustees, from owning, directly and by attribution, more than 9.8% of the number or value of shares (whichever is more restrictive) of any class or series of our outstanding shares of beneficial interest, including our common shares. This provision of our declaration of trust is intended to, among other purposes, assist with our REIT compliance under the IRC and otherwise promote our orderly governance. However, this provision may also inhibit acquisitions of a significant stake in us and may deter, delay or prevent a change in control of us or unsolicited acquisition proposals that a shareholder may consider favorable. Additionally, provisions contained in our declaration of trust and bylaws or under Maryland law may have a similar impact, including, for example, provisions relating to:
•the current division of our Trustees into classes until our 2023 annual meeting of shareholders, with three classes remaining with terms expiring in 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively, (although effective at our 2021 annual meeting of shareholders, Trustees of the class of trustees whose term expires at that meeting or expires at a subsequent annual meeting of shareholders will be elected annually, with all of our Trustees being elected annually as of our 2023 annual meeting of shareholders, and with a majority of our current Trustees having terms expiring at our 2022 annual meeting of shareholders);
•limitations on shareholder voting rights with respect to certain actions that are not approved by our Board of Trustees;
•the authority of our Board of Trustees, and not our shareholders, to adopt, amend or repeal our bylaws and to fill vacancies on our Board of Trustees;
•shareholder voting standards which require a supermajority of shares for approval of certain actions;
•the fact that only our Board of Trustees, or, if there are no Trustees, our officers, may call shareholder meetings and that shareholders are not entitled to act without a meeting;
•required qualifications for an individual to serve as a Trustee and a requirement that certain of our Trustees be “Managing Trustees” and other Trustees be “Independent Trustees,” as defined in our governing documents;
•limitations on the ability of our shareholders to propose nominees for election as Trustees and propose other business to be considered at a meeting of our shareholders;
•limitations on the ability of our shareholders to remove our Trustees;
•the authority of our Board of Trustees to create and issue new classes or series of shares (including shares with voting rights and other rights and privileges that may deter a change in control) and issue additional common shares;
•restrictions on business combinations between us and an interested shareholder that have not first been approved by our Board of Trustees (including a majority of Trustees not related to the interested shareholder); and
•the authority of our Board of Trustees, without shareholder approval, to implement certain takeover defenses.
As changes occur in the marketplace for corporate governance policies, the above provisions may change, be removed, or new ones may be added.
Our rights and the rights of our shareholders to take action against our Trustees and officers are limited.
Our declaration of trust limits the liability of our Trustees and officers to us and our shareholders for money damages to the maximum extent permitted under Maryland law. Under current Maryland law, our Trustees and officers will not have any liability to us and our shareholders for money damages other than liability resulting from:
•actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or
•active and deliberate dishonesty by the Trustee or officer that was established by a final judgment as being material to the cause of action adjudicated.
Our declaration of trust and indemnification agreements require us to indemnify, to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law, any present or former Trustee or officer who is made or threatened to be made a party to a proceeding by reason of his or her service in these and certain other capacities. In addition, we may be obligated to pay or reimburse the expenses incurred by our present and former Trustees and officers without requiring a preliminary determination of their ultimate entitlement to indemnification. As a result, we and our shareholders may have more limited rights against our present and former Trustees and officers than might otherwise exist absent the provisions in our declaration of trust and indemnification agreements or that might exist with other companies, which could limit our shareholders' recourse in the event of actions not in their best interest.
Shareholder litigation against us or our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or other agents may be referred to mandatory arbitration proceedings, which follow different procedures than in-court litigation and may be more restrictive to shareholders asserting claims than in-court litigation.
Our shareholders agree, by virtue of becoming shareholders, that they are bound by our governing documents, including the arbitration provisions of our bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time. Our bylaws provide that certain actions by one or more of our shareholders against us or any of our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or other agents, other than disputes, or any portion thereof, regarding the meaning, interpretation or validity of any provision of our declaration of trust or bylaws, will be referred to mandatory, binding and final arbitration proceedings if we, or any other party to such dispute, including any of our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or other agents, unilaterally so demands. As a result, we and our shareholders would not be able to pursue litigation in state or federal court against us or our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or other agents, including, for example, claims alleging violations of federal securities laws or breach of fiduciary duties or similar director or officer duties under Maryland law, if we or any of our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or other parties against whom the claim is made unilaterally demands the matter be resolved by arbitration. Instead, our shareholders would be required to pursue such claims through binding and final arbitration.
Our bylaws provide that such arbitration proceedings would be conducted in accordance with the procedures of the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association, as modified in our bylaws. These procedures may provide materially more limited rights to our shareholders than litigation in a federal or state court. For example, arbitration in accordance with these procedures does not include the opportunity for a jury trial, document discovery is limited, arbitration hearings generally are not open to the public, there are no witness depositions in advance of arbitration hearings and arbitrators may have different qualifications or experiences than judges. In addition, although our bylaws' arbitration provisions contemplate that arbitration may be brought in a representative capacity or on behalf of a class of our shareholders, the rules governing such representation or class arbitration may be different from, and less favorable to shareholders than, the rules governing representative or class action litigation in courts. Our bylaws also generally provide that each party to such an arbitration is required to bear its own costs in the arbitration, including attorneys' fees, and that the arbitrators may not render an award that includes shifting of such costs or, in a derivative or class proceeding, award any portion of our award to any shareholder or such shareholder's attorneys. The arbitration provisions of our bylaws may discourage our shareholders from bringing, and attorneys from agreeing to represent our shareholders wishing to bring, litigation against us or our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or other agents. Our agreements with Five Star and RMR LLC have similar arbitration provisions to those in our bylaws.
We believe that the arbitration provisions in our bylaws are enforceable under both state and federal law, including with respect to federal securities laws claims. We are a Maryland real estate investment trust and Maryland courts have upheld the enforceability of arbitration bylaws. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld agreements to arbitrate other federal statutory claims, including those that implicate important federal policies. However, some academics, legal practitioners and others are of the view that charter or bylaw provisions mandating arbitration are not enforceable with respect to federal securities laws claims. It is possible that the arbitration provisions of our bylaws may ultimately be determined to be unenforceable.
By agreeing to the arbitration provisions of our bylaws, shareholders will not be deemed to have waived compliance by us with federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.
Our bylaws designate the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland as the sole and exclusive forum for certain actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our shareholders, which could limit our shareholders' ability to obtain a judicial forum they deem favorable for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or agents.
Our bylaws currently provide that, unless the dispute has been referred to binding arbitration, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland will be the sole and exclusive forum for: (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; (2) any action asserting a claim for breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee
of ours to us or our shareholders; (3) any action asserting a claim against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours arising pursuant to Maryland law, our declaration of trust or bylaws brought by or on behalf of a shareholder, either on his, her or its own behalf, on our behalf or on behalf of any series or class of shares of beneficial interest of ours or by shareholders against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours, including any disputes, claims or controversies relating to the meaning, interpretation, effect, validity, performance or enforcement of our declaration of trust or bylaws; or (4) any action asserting a claim against us or any Trustee, officer, manager, agent or employee of ours that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our bylaws currently also provide that the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland will be the sole and exclusive forum for any dispute, or portion thereof, regarding the meaning, interpretation or validity of any provision of our declaration of trust or bylaws. The exclusive forum provision of our bylaws does not apply to any action for which the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland does not have jurisdiction or to a dispute that has been referred to binding arbitration in accordance with our bylaws. The exclusive forum provision of our bylaws does not establish exclusive jurisdiction in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland for claims that arise under the Securities Act, the Exchange Act or other federal securities laws if there is exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction in the federal courts. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in our shares of beneficial interest shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to these provisions of our bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time. The arbitration and exclusive forum provisions of our bylaws may limit a shareholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that the shareholder believes is favorable for disputes with us or our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or agents, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our Trustees, officers, employees, managers or agents.
Risks Related to Our Taxation
Our failure to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC could have significant adverse consequences.
As a REIT, we generally do not pay federal or most state income taxes as long as we distribute all of our REIT taxable income and meet other qualifications set forth in the IRC. However, actual qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC depends on our satisfying complex statutory requirements, for which there are only limited judicial and administrative interpretations. We believe that we have been organized and have operated, and will continue to be organized and to operate, in a manner that qualified and will continue to qualify us to be taxed as a REIT under the IRC. However, we cannot be sure that the IRS, upon review or audit, will agree with this conclusion. Furthermore, we cannot be sure that the federal government, or any state or other taxation authority, will continue to afford favorable income tax treatment to REITs and their shareholders.
Maintaining our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC will require us to continue to satisfy tests concerning, among other things, the nature of our assets, the sources of our income and the amounts we distribute to our shareholders. In order to meet these requirements, it may be necessary for us to sell or forgo attractive investments.
If we cease to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, then our ability to raise capital might be adversely affected, we will be in breach under our revolving credit facility and term loan agreements, we may be subject to material amounts of federal and state income taxes, our cash available for distribution to our shareholders could be reduced, and the market price of our common shares could decline. In addition, if we lose or revoke our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC for a taxable year, we will generally be prevented from requalifying for taxation as a REIT for the next four taxable years.
Distributions to shareholders generally will not qualify for reduced tax rates applicable to “qualified dividends.”
Dividends payable by U.S. corporations to noncorporate shareholders, such as individuals, trusts and estates, are generally eligible for reduced federal income tax rates applicable to “qualified dividends.” Distributions paid by REITs generally are not treated as “qualified dividends” under the IRC and the reduced rates applicable to such dividends do not generally apply. However, for tax years beginning before 2026, REIT dividends paid to noncorporate shareholders are generally taxed at an effective tax rate lower than applicable ordinary income tax rates due to the availability of a deduction under the IRC for specified forms of income from passthrough entities. More favorable rates will nevertheless continue to apply to regular corporate “qualified” dividends, which may cause some investors to perceive that an investment in a REIT is less attractive than an investment in a non-REIT entity that pays dividends, thereby reducing the demand and market price of our common shares.
REIT distribution requirements could adversely affect us and our shareholders.
We generally must distribute annually at least 90% of our REIT taxable income, subject to specified adjustments and excluding any net capital gain, in order to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT under the IRC. To the extent that we satisfy this distribution requirement, federal corporate income tax will not apply to the earnings that we distribute, but if we
distribute less than 100% of our REIT taxable income, then we will be subject to federal corporate income tax on our undistributed taxable income. We intend to make distributions to our shareholders to comply with the REIT requirements of the IRC. In addition, we will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax if the actual amount that we pay out to our shareholders in a calendar year is less than a minimum amount specified under federal tax laws.
From time to time, we may generate taxable income greater than our income for financial reporting purposes prepared in accordance with GAAP or differences in timing between the recognition of taxable income and the actual receipt of cash may occur. If we do not have other funds available in these situations, among other things, we may borrow funds on unfavorable terms, sell investments at disadvantageous prices or distribute amounts that would otherwise be invested in future acquisitions in order to make distributions sufficient to enable us to pay out enough of our taxable income to satisfy the REIT distribution requirement and to avoid corporate income tax and the 4% excise tax in a particular year. These alternatives could increase our costs or reduce our shareholders' equity. Thus, compliance with the REIT distribution requirements may hinder our ability to grow, which could cause the market price of our common shares to decline.
Even if we remain qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we may face other tax liabilities that reduce our cash flow.
Even if we remain qualified for taxation as a REIT under the IRC, we may be subject to federal, state and local taxes on our income and assets, including taxes on any undistributed income, excise taxes, state or local income, property and transfer taxes, and other taxes. Also, some jurisdictions may in the future limit or eliminate favorable income tax deductions, including the dividends paid deduction, which could increase our income tax expense. In addition, in order to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the IRC, prevent the recognition of particular types of non-cash income, or avert the imposition of a 100% tax that applies to specified gains derived by a REIT from dealer property or inventory, we may hold or dispose of some of our assets and conduct some of our operations through our TRSs or other subsidiary corporations that will be subject to corporate level income tax at regular rates. In addition, while we intend that our transactions with our TRSs will be conducted on arm's length bases, we may be subject to a 100% excise tax on a transaction that the IRS or a court determines was not conducted at arm's length. Any of these taxes would decrease cash available for distribution to our shareholders.
If arrangements involving our TRSs fail to comply as intended with the REIT qualification and taxation rules, we may fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC or be subject to significant penalty taxes.
We lease most of our properties to our TRSs pursuant to arrangements that, under the IRC, are intended to qualify the rents we receive from our TRSs as income that satisfies the REIT gross income tests. We also intend that our transactions with our TRSs be conducted on arm's length bases so that we and our TRSs will not be subject to penalty taxes under the IRC applicable to mispriced transactions. While relief provisions can sometimes excuse REIT gross income test failures, significant penalty taxes may still be imposed.
For those TRS arrangements intended to comply with the REIT qualification and taxation rules under the IRC, a number of requirements must be satisfied, including:
•our TRSs may not directly or indirectly operate or manage a healthcare facility, as defined by the IRC;
•the leases to our TRSs must be respected as true leases for federal income tax purposes and not as service contracts, partnerships, joint ventures, financings or other types of arrangements;
•the leased properties must constitute qualified healthcare properties (including necessary or incidental property) under the IRC;
•our leased properties must be managed and operated on behalf of the TRSs by independent contractors who are less than 35% affiliated with us and who are actively engaged (or have affiliates so engaged) in the trade or business of managing and operating qualified healthcare properties for any person unrelated to us; and
•the rental and other terms of the leases must be arm's length.
We cannot be sure that the IRS or a court will agree with our assessment that our TRS arrangements comply as intended with REIT qualification and taxation rules. If arrangements involving our TRSs fail to comply as we intended, we may fail to qualify for taxation as a REIT under the IRC or be subject to significant penalty taxes.
Legislative or other actions affecting REITs could materially and adversely affect us and our shareholders.
The rules dealing with U.S. federal, state, and local taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the IRS, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and other taxation authorities. Changes to the tax laws, with or without retroactive application, could materially and adversely affect us and our shareholders. We cannot predict how changes in the tax laws might affect us or our shareholders. New legislation, Treasury regulations, administrative interpretations or court decisions could significantly and negatively affect our ability to remain qualified for taxation as a REIT or the tax consequences of such qualification to us and our shareholders.
Risks Related to Our Securities
We reduced our quarterly cash distribution rate on our common shares to $0.01 per share and future distributions may remain at this level for an indefinite period or be eliminated and the form of payment could change.
Beginning in the second quarter of 2020, we reduced our quarterly cash distribution rate on our common shares to $0.01 per share. We currently intend to continue to make quarterly distributions to our shareholders at this rate at least through the Amendment Period, and possibly thereafter, subject to applicable REIT tax requirements. However:
•our ability to make or sustain the rate of distributions may continue to be adversely affected by the negative impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath on our business, results of operations and liquidity;
•our making of distributions is subject to restrictions contained in our credit agreement, including being limited to amounts required to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT and $0.01 per common share per quarter during the Amendment Period, and may be subject to restrictions in future debt obligations we may incur; during the continuance of any event of default under our credit agreement, we may be limited or in some cases prohibited from making distributions to our shareholders; and
•the timing and amount of any distributions will be determined at the discretion of our Board of Trustees and will depend on various factors that our Board of Trustees deems relevant, including our funds from operations attributable to common shareholders, or FFO attributable to common shareholders, our normalized funds from operations attributable to common shareholders, or Normalized FFO attributable to common shareholders, requirements to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT, limitations in the agreements governing our debt, the availability to us of debt and equity capital, our expectation of our future capital requirements and operating performance and our expected needs for and availability of cash to pay our obligations.
For these reasons, among others, our distribution rate may not increase for an indefinite period or we may cease making distributions to our shareholders.
Further, in order to preserve liquidity, we may elect to pay distributions to our shareholders in part in a form other than cash, such as issuing additional common shares of ours to our shareholders, as permitted by the applicable tax rules.
We may use future debt leverage to pay distributions to our shareholders.
If our earnings are at any time insufficient to fund distributions to our shareholders at the level which may in the future be established by our Board of Trustees, we may pay distributions to our shareholders with the proceeds of borrowings or other leverage or from sales of our assets. The use of borrowings or sale proceeds for distributions may dilute our shareholders' ownership interests in us. In addition, funding distributions to our shareholders from our future borrowings or asset sales may constitute a return of capital to our investors, which would have the effect of reducing our shareholders' bases in our common shares.
The Notes and the Guarantees are structurally subordinated to the payment of all indebtedness and other liabilities and any preferred equity of our subsidiaries that do not guarantee the 2025 Notes and the 2031 Notes.
We are the sole obligor on our outstanding senior unsecured notes and any notes or other debt securities we may issue in the future, or, together with our outstanding senior unsecured notes, the Notes. Our subsidiaries that guarantee our 9.75% senior notes due 2025, or the 2025 Notes, and our 4.375% senior notes due 2031, or the 2031 Notes, are the sole obligor on the guarantees of such notes, or the Guarantees. The subsidiaries that guarantee our 2025 Notes and 2031 Notes do not currently guarantee any of our other Notes. Our non-guarantor subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any amounts due on the Notes or the Guarantees, or to make any funds available therefor,
whether by dividend, distribution, loan or other payments. The rights of holders of the Notes to benefit from any of the assets of our non-guarantor subsidiaries are subject to the prior satisfaction of claims of those subsidiaries' creditors and any preferred equity holders. As a result, the Notes and the Guarantees are, and, except to the extent that future Notes are guaranteed by our non-guarantor subsidiaries, will be, structurally subordinated to all indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries that do not guarantee the 2025 Notes and the 2031 Notes, including guarantees of or pledges under other indebtedness of ours, payment obligations under lease agreements, trade payables and preferred equity. As of December 31, 2020, our non-guarantor subsidiaries had total indebtedness and other liabilities of approximately $765.9 million (including guarantees of other indebtedness and trade payables, but excluding liabilities to us or a subsidiary guarantor), which are structurally senior to the 2025 Notes and the 2031 Notes.
The Notes and the Guarantees are unsecured and effectively subordinated to our and the subsidiary guarantors' existing and future secured indebtedness to the extent of the value of the assets securing such indebtedness.
The outstanding Notes and Guarantees are not secured and any Notes we may issue in the future may not be secured. Upon any distribution to our creditors in a bankruptcy, liquidation, reorganization or similar proceeding relating to us or our property, the holders of our secured debt, including debt under our credit agreement (to the extent such debt remains outstanding and is still then secured), will be entitled to exercise the remedies available to a secured lender under applicable law and pursuant to the instruments governing such debt and to be paid in full, from the assets securing that secured debt before any payment may be made with respect to the Notes that are not secured by those assets. In that event, because such Notes and the Guarantees will not be secured by any of our assets, it is possible that there will be no assets from which claims of holders of such Notes can be satisfied or, if any assets remain, that the remaining assets will be insufficient to satisfy those claims in full. If the value of such remaining assets is less than the aggregate outstanding principal amount of such Notes and accrued interest and all future debt ranking equally with such Notes and the Guarantees, we will be unable to fully satisfy our obligations under such Notes. In addition, if we fail to meet our payment or other obligations under our secured debt, the holders of that secured debt would be entitled to foreclose on our assets securing that secured debt and liquidate those assets. Accordingly, we may not have sufficient funds to pay amounts due on such Notes. As a result, noteholders may lose a portion or the entire value of their investment in such Notes. Further, the terms of the outstanding Notes and the Guarantees permit, and the terms of any Notes we may issue in the future may permit, us to incur additional secured indebtedness subject to compliance with certain debt ratios. The Notes and the Guarantees will be effectively subordinated to any such additional secured indebtedness.
Federal and state statutes allow courts, under specific circumstances, to void guarantees and require holders of notes to return payments received from guarantors.
Under the federal bankruptcy law and comparable provisions of state fraudulent transfer laws, a guarantee of the 2025 Notes (or any future Notes that are guaranteed by our subsidiaries) could be voided, or claims in respect of a guarantee could be subordinated to all other debts of that guarantor if, among other things, the guarantor, at the time it incurred the debt evidenced by its guarantee:
•received less than reasonably equivalent value or fair consideration for the incurrence of such guarantee; and
•was insolvent or rendered insolvent by reason of such incurrence;
•was engaged in a business or transaction for which the guarantor's remaining assets constituted unreasonably small capital; or
•intended to incur, or believed that it would incur, debts beyond its ability to pay such debts as they mature.
In addition, any payment by that guarantor pursuant to its guarantee could be voided and required to be returned to the guarantor, or to a fund for the benefit of our creditors or the creditors of the guarantor.
The measures of insolvency for purposes of these fraudulent transfer laws will vary depending upon the law applied in any proceeding to determine whether a fraudulent transfer has occurred. Generally, however, a guarantor would be considered insolvent if:
•the sum of its debts, including contingent liabilities, was greater than the fair saleable value of all of its assets;
•the present fair saleable value of its assets was less than the amount that would be required to pay its probable liability on its existing debts, including contingent liabilities, as they become absolute and mature; or
•it could not pay its debts as they become due.
We cannot be sure as to what standard a court would apply in making these determinations. In addition, each Guarantee contains, and any future guarantees may contain, a provision intended to limit the guarantor's liability to the maximum amount that it could incur without causing the incurrence of obligations under its guarantee to be a fraudulent transfer. This provision may not be effective to protect the Guarantees or any future guarantees from being voided under fraudulent transfer laws, or may eliminate the guarantor's obligations or reduce the guarantor's obligations to an amount that effectively makes the guarantee worthless.
There may be no public market for certain of the Notes, and one may not develop, be maintained or be liquid.
We have not applied for listing of certain of the Notes on any securities exchange or for quotation on any automatic dealer quotation system, and we may not do so for Notes issued in the future. We can give no assurances concerning the liquidity of any market that may develop for such Notes, the ability of any holder to sell such Notes or the price at which holders would be able to sell such Notes. If a market for such Notes does not develop, holders may be unable to resell such Notes for an extended period of time, if at all. If a market for such Notes does develop, it may not continue or it may not be sufficiently liquid to allow holders to resell such Notes. Consequently, holders of the Notes may not be able to liquidate their investment readily, and lenders may not readily accept such Notes as collateral for loans.
The Notes may trade at a discount from their initial issue price or principal amount, depending upon many factors, including prevailing interest rates, the ratings assigned by rating agencies, the market for similar securities and other factors, including general economic conditions and our financial condition, performance and prospects. Any decline in market prices, regardless of cause, may adversely affect the liquidity and trading markets for the Notes.
A downgrade in credit ratings could materially adversely affect the market price of the Notes and may increase our cost of capital.
The outstanding Notes are rated by two rating agencies and any Notes we may issue in the future may be rated by one or more rating agencies. These credit ratings are continually reviewed by rating agencies and may change at any time based upon, among other things, our results of operations and financial condition. In February 2021, Moody's Investors Service, or Moody's, downgraded our senior unsecured debt rating from Ba2 to B1 and our 9.75% senior notes due 2025 rating from Ba1 to Ba3 and assigned a Ba3 rating to our 4.375% senior notes due 2031 and Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, or Standard & Poor's, downgraded our senior unsecured debt rating from BB to BB- and our 9.75% senior notes due 2025 rating from BB+ to BB and assigned a BB rating to our 4.375% senior notes due 2031, respectively. Negative changes in the ratings assigned to our debt securities could have an adverse effect on the market price of the Notes and our cost and availability of capital, which could in turn have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our ability to satisfy our debt service obligations.
We may not have the ability to raise the funds necessary to finance the repurchase of the 2025 Notes upon a change of control event as will be required by the indenture for the notes.
Upon the occurrence of a change of control, we will be required to offer to repurchase the outstanding 2025 Notes and 2031 Notes at 101% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest on such Notes, if any, to, but not including, the date of repurchase. However, it is possible that we will not have sufficient funds, or the ability to raise sufficient funds, at the time of the change of control to make the required repurchase of such Notes. In addition, the occurrence of certain events that constitute a change of control would constitute an event of default under our credit agreement, and restrictions under future debt we may incur may not allow us to repurchase such Notes upon a change of control, which could result in such debt becoming immediately due and payable and the commitments thereunder terminated. If we could not refinance such debt or otherwise obtain a waiver from the holders of such debt, we would be prohibited from repurchasing the 2025 Notes and the 2031 Notes, which would constitute an event of default under the indenture and related supplements governing such Notes, which in turn would constitute a default under such debt arrangements. In addition, certain important corporate events, such as leveraged recapitalizations that would increase the level of our indebtedness, would not constitute a “Change of Control” under the indenture and related supplements governing the 2025 Notes and the 2031 Notes although these types of transactions could affect our capital structure or credit ratings and the holders of such Notes. Further, courts interpreting change of control provisions under New York law (which is the governing law of the indenture governing the 2025 Notes) have not provided clear and consistent meanings of such change of control provisions which leads to subjective judicial interpretation of what may constitute a “Change of Control.”
Some or all of the Guarantees may be released automatically.
A subsidiary guarantor may be released from its Guarantee under certain circumstances. Such release may occur at any time upon a sale, disposition or transfer, in compliance with the provisions of the indenture and related supplements governing the 2025 Notes and the 2031 Notes, of the capital stock of such subsidiary guarantor or of substantially all of the assets of such subsidiary guarantor, or if such subsidiary guarantor becomes an Excluded Subsidiary or a Foreign Subsidiary, as such terms are defined in the applicable supplemental indenture. In addition, if the notes have a Mid-BBB Investment Grade Rating, as such term is defined in the applicable supplemental indenture, by both Moody's and Standard & Poor's and at such time no default or event of default under the indenture and related supplements governing the 2025 Notes and the 2031 notes has occurred and is continuing, the Guarantees and all other obligations of the subsidiary guarantors under the indenture will automatically terminate and be released. Accordingly, the 2025 Notes and the 2031 Notes may not at all times be guaranteed by some or all of the subsidiaries which guaranteed the 2025 Notes or the 2031 Notes on the date they were initially issued.
Redemption may adversely affect noteholders' return on the Notes.
We have the right to redeem some or all of the outstanding Notes prior to maturity and may have such a right with respect to any Notes we issue in the future. We may redeem such Notes at times when prevailing interest rates may be relatively low compared to the interest rate of such Notes. Accordingly, noteholders may not be able to reinvest the redemption proceeds in a comparable security at an effective interest rate as high as that of the Notes.
Further issuances of debt or equity securities may adversely affect our shareholders.
As a REIT, we generally will not be able to retain sufficient cash to fund our operations, repay our debts, invest in our properties and fund acquisitions and development and redevelopment efforts, and therefore, our ability to execute our business strategy depends on our access to an appropriate blend of debt financing, which may include secured and unsecured debt, and equity financing, which may include common and preferred shares.
The interests of our existing shareholders could be diluted if we issue additional equity securities. In addition, if we decide in the future to issue debt or equity securities that rank senior to our common shares, it is likely that they will be governed by an indenture or other instrument containing covenants restricting our operating flexibility. Also, any convertible or exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have rights, preferences and privileges more favorable than those of our common shares and may result in further dilution to our shareholders. Because our decision to issue debt or equity securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or even estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future capital offerings. Thus, our shareholders will bear the risk of our future offerings reducing the market price of our common shares and diluting the value of their common shares.
Changes in interest rates could adversely affect the value of our securities.
We believe that one of the factors that investors consider important in deciding whether to buy or sell equity securities of a REIT is the distribution rate, considered as a percentage of the price of the equity securities, relative to market interest rates. Interest rates have been at historically low levels for an extended period of time. There is a general market perception that REIT shares outperform in low interest rate environments and underperform in rising interest rate environments when compared to the broader market. The U.S. Federal Reserve has indicated that it does not expect to raise interest rates in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and current market conditions until at least the end of 2023. There can be no assurance, however, that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise rates prior to that time. If the U.S. Federal Reserve increases interest rates or if there is a market expectation of such increases, prospective purchasers of REIT equity securities may want to achieve a higher distribution rate. Thus, higher market interest rates, or the expectation of higher interest rates, could cause the value of our securities to decline.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.
Item 2. Properties.
At December 31, 2020, we had real estate investments in 397 properties. The gross book value of real estate assets at cost plus certain acquisition costs, before depreciation and purchase price allocations and less impairment write downs, of these investments totaled $8.2 billion at December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, nine properties with gross book value of real estate assets at cost plus certain acquisition costs, before depreciation and purchase price allocations and less impairment write
downs, of $982.3 million and a net book value of $822.2 million were subject to secured financing and finance lease obligations with an aggregate principal balance of $692.3 million, of which $620.0 million is related to a joint venture arrangement in which we own a 55% equity interest. The principal amounts for these debts have not been adjusted to reflect the equity interests in the joint venture that we do not own.
The following table summarizes certain information about our properties as of December 31, 2020. All dollar amounts are in thousands:
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Office Portfolio
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Senior Housing Operating Portfolio
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All Other
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Consolidated
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State
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Number
of
Properties
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Gross Book Value of Real Estate Assets(1)
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Net Book
Value
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Number of
Properties
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Gross Book Value of Real Estate Assets(1)
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Net Book
Value
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Number of
Properties
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Gross Book Value of Real Estate Assets(1)
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Net Book
Value
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Number of
Properties
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Gross Book Value of Real Estate Assets(1)
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Net Book
Value
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AL
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—
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$
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—
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$
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—
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8
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$
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95,147
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$
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71,273
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—
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$
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—
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$
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—
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8
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$
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95,147
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$
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71,273
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AR
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—
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—
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—
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3
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42,632
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27,327
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—
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—
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—
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3
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42,632
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27,327
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AZ
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4
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69,135
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53,307
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6
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139,310
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89,057
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1
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3,510
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2,119
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11
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211,955
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144,483
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CA
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13
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626,433
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486,255
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9
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185,792
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126,483
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1
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7,281
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4,784
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23
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819,506
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617,522
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CO
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2
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20,532
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13,534
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8
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88,129
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59,786
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2
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18,652
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13,380
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12
|
127,313
|
|
86,700
|
|
|
CT
|
|
1
|
7,616
|
|
5,721
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
1
|
7,616
|
|
5,721
|
|
|
DC
|
|
2
|
106,596
|
|
87,262
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
2
|
106,596
|
|
87,262
|
|
|
DE
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
6
|
96,637
|
|
63,003
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
6
|
96,637
|
|
63,003
|
|
|
FL
|
|
7
|
40,250
|
|
29,143
|
|
|
19
|
607,804
|
|
413,539
|
|
|
2
|
12,326
|
|
11,021
|
|
|
28
|
660,380
|
|
453,703
|
|
|
GA
|
|
5
|
74,542
|
|
50,423
|
|
|
17
|
234,055
|
|
158,886
|
|
|
5
|
96,916
|
|
74,799
|
|
|
27
|
405,513
|
|
284,108
|
|
|
HI
|
|
1
|
77,691
|
|
59,966
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
1
|
77,691
|
|
59,966
|
|
|
ID
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
2
|
22,185
|
|
16,538
|
|
|
2
|
22,185
|
|
16,538
|
|
|
IL
|
|
4
|
69,740
|
|
46,748
|
|
|
11
|
176,420
|
|
111,902
|
|
|
1
|
20,641
|
|
14,583
|
|
|
16
|
266,801
|
|
173,233
|
|
|
IN
|
|
1
|
22,362
|
|
13,654
|
|
|
11
|
168,497
|
|
124,746
|
|
|
2
|
68,927
|
|
53,472
|
|
|
14
|
259,786
|
|
191,872
|
|
|
KS
|
|
2
|
61,912
|
|
41,287
|
|
|
3
|
60,876
|
|
40,358
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
5
|
122,788
|
|
81,645
|
|
|
KY
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
9
|
103,585
|
|
62,017
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
9
|
103,585
|
|
62,017
|
|
|
MA
|
|
10
|
1,295,908
|
|
838,344
|
|
|
1
|
31,848
|
|
20,027
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
11
|
1,327,756
|
|
858,371
|
|
|
MD
|
|
3
|
45,565
|
|
31,618
|
|
|
11
|
243,110
|
|
175,265
|
|
|
1
|
20,964
|
|
15,841
|
|
|
15
|
309,639
|
|
222,724
|
|
|
MI
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
5
|
15,942
|
|
9,668
|
|
|
5
|
15,942
|
|
9,668
|
|
|
MN
|
|
9
|
117,080
|
|
84,975
|
|
|
1
|
15,130
|
|
14,795
|
|
|
2
|
6,319
|
|
3,853
|
|
|
12
|
138,529
|
|
103,623
|
|
|
MO
|
|
3
|
138,727
|
|
96,221
|
|
|
5
|
69,574
|
|
48,052
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
8
|
208,301
|
|
144,273
|
|
|
NC
|
|
2
|
60,103
|
|
44,970
|
|
|
16
|
223,893
|
|
175,335
|
|
|
1
|
6,839
|
|
4,141
|
|
|
19
|
290,835
|
|
224,446
|
|
|
NE
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
1
|
7,611
|
|
5,127
|
|
|
1
|
26,702
|
|
19,890
|
|
|
2
|
34,313
|
|
25,017
|
|
|
NJ
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
4
|
106,357
|
|
75,129
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
4
|
106,357
|
|
75,129
|
|
|
NM
|
|
2
|
38,461
|
|
29,040
|
|
|
1
|
32,721
|
|
20,646
|
|
|
3
|
33,303
|
|
22,805
|
|
|
6
|
104,485
|
|
72,491
|
|
|
NV
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
2
|
82,650
|
|
61,181
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
2
|
82,650
|
|
61,181
|
|
|
NY
|
|
5
|
114,518
|
|
86,581
|
|
|
1
|
113,027
|
|
86,160
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
6
|
227,545
|
|
172,741
|
|
|
OH
|
|
1
|
18,601
|
|
12,539
|
|
|
1
|
44,342
|
|
28,288
|
|
|
1
|
4,284
|
|
1,832
|
|
|
3
|
67,227
|
|
42,659
|
|
|
OR
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
1
|
45,965
|
|
43,921
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
1
|
45,965
|
|
43,921
|
|
|
PA
|
|
5
|
61,545
|
|
45,262
|
|
|
9
|
82,900
|
|
54,448
|
|
|
2
|
3,535
|
|
2,179
|
|
|
16
|
147,980
|
|
101,889
|
|
|
SC
|
|
2
|
15,075
|
|
9,655
|
|
|
14
|
114,616
|
|
85,051
|
|
|
2
|
3,935
|
|
2,445
|
|
|
18
|
133,626
|
|
97,151
|
|
|
TN
|
|
1
|
9,522
|
|
6,448
|
|
|
14
|
166,112
|
|
134,481
|
|
|
2
|
15,667
|
|
11,462
|
|
|
17
|
191,301
|
|
152,391
|
|
|
TX
|
|
13
|
266,669
|
|
186,420
|
|
|
13
|
351,189
|
|
248,367
|
|
|
1
|
20,502
|
|
14,961
|
|
|
27
|
638,360
|
|
449,748
|
|
|
VA
|
|
8
|
122,537
|
|
84,532
|
|
|
11
|
137,807
|
|
97,496
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
19
|
260,344
|
|
182,028
|
|
|
WA
|
|
2
|
38,226
|
|
25,885
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
2
|
18,665
|
|
12,159
|
|
|
4
|
56,891
|
|
38,044
|
|
|
WI
|
|
10
|
169,236
|
|
124,690
|
|
|
7
|
112,254
|
|
83,670
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
17
|
281,490
|
|
208,360
|
|
|
WY
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
2
|
8,294
|
|
3,601
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
2
|
8,294
|
|
3,601
|
|
|
Total
|
|
118
|
3,688,582
|
|
2,594,480
|
|
|
225
|
3,988,284
|
|
2,809,417
|
|
|
39
|
427,095
|
|
311,932
|
|
|
382
|
8,103,961
|
|
5,715,829
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Held for Sale
|
|
5
|
75,345
|
|
65,437
|
|
|
10
|
39,433
|
|
39,334
|
|
|
—
|
—
|
|
—
|
|
|
15
|
114,778
|
|
104,771
|
|
|
Grand Total
|
|
123
|
$
|
3,763,927
|
|
$
|
2,659,917
|
|
|
235
|
$
|
4,027,717
|
|
$
|
2,848,751
|
|
|
39
|
$
|
427,095
|
|
$
|
311,932
|
|
|
397
|
$
|
8,218,739
|
|
$
|
5,820,600
|
|
(1) Represents gross book value of real estate assets at cost plus certain acquisition costs, before depreciation and purchase price allocations and less impairment write downs, if any.
