UDR (UDR) Risk Factors

From time to time, we are involved in legal proceedings, lawsuits, and other claims with respect to our properties or operations. For example, we are currently a defendant in a consolidated class action lawsuit and a lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia involving RealPage, which is one of our vendors. An unfavorable resolution of any litigation may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Further, being involved in litigation, whether the result is favorable or unfavorable, could negatively impact our reputation. Additionally, litigation has in the past and may in the future result in substantial costs and expenses and could significantly divert the attention of management.

In the past we have pursued the development and construction of apartment communities, and we intend to do so in the future as appropriate opportunities arise. Development activities have been, and in the future may be, conducted through wholly-owned affiliated companies or through joint ventures with unaffiliated parties. Our development and construction activities are subject to the following risks, among others: - if we chose to seek construction financing we may be unable to obtain such financing for development activities on favorable terms, or at all, which could cause us to delay or even abandon potential developments;- we may experience supply chain constraints, which could result in increased development costs or delay initial occupancy dates for all or a portion of a development community;- we may be unable to obtain, or face delays in obtaining, necessary zoning, land-use, building, occupancy and other required governmental or quasi-governmental permits and authorizations, which could result in increased development costs, delay initial occupancy dates for all or a portion of a development community, and require us to abandon our activities entirely with respect to a project for which we are unable to obtain permits or authorizations;- costs may be higher or yields may be less than anticipated as a result of delays in completing projects, costs that exceed budget, defaults by our counterparties, and/or higher than expected concessions for lease-up and lower rents than expected;- we may abandon development opportunities that we have already begun to explore, and we may be unable to recover expenses already incurred in connection with exploring such development opportunities;- we may be unable to complete construction and lease-up of a community on schedule, or we may incur development or construction costs that exceed our original estimates, and we may be unable to charge rents that would compensate for any increase in such costs;- occupancy rates, rents and concessions at a newly developed community may fluctuate depending on a number of factors, including market and economic conditions, preventing us from meeting our expected return on our investment and our overall profitability goals; and - when we sell communities or properties that we developed or renovated to third parties, we may be subject to warranty or construction defect claims that are uninsured or exceed the limits of our insurance.

Our success depends upon the retention of our senior management, whose continued service is not guaranteed. We may not be able to find qualified replacements for the individuals who make up our senior management if their services should no longer be available to us. The loss of services of one or more members of our senior management team could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

There is an increasing focus from certain investors, tenants, employees, and other stakeholders concerning corporate responsibility, specifically related to environmental, social and governance factors. In addition, there is an increased focus on such matters by various regulatory authorities, including the SEC and the state of California, and the activities and expense required to comply with new laws, regulations or standards may be significant. Some investors may use these factors to guide their investment strategies and, in some cases, may choose not to invest in us if they believe our policies relating to corporate responsibility are inadequate. Third-party providers of corporate responsibility ratings and reports on companies have increased in number, resulting in varied and in some cases inconsistent standards. In addition, the criteria by which companies' corporate responsibility practices are assessed and the regulations applicable thereto are evolving, which could result in greater expectations of us and cause us to undertake costly initiatives or activities to satisfy such new criteria or regulations. Further, if we elect not to or are unable to satisfy such new criteria or do not meet the criteria of a specific third-party provider or investor, some investors may conclude that our policies with respect to corporate responsibility are inadequate. We may face reputational damage in the event that our corporate responsibility procedures or standards do not meet the standards set by various constituencies. Furthermore, if our competitors' corporate responsibility performance is perceived to be greater than ours, potential or current investors may elect to invest in our competitors instead. In addition, we have communicated certain initiatives and goals regarding environmental, social and governance matters, and we may in the future communicate revised or additional initiatives or goals. We could fail, or be perceived to fail, in our achievement of such initiatives or goals, or we could be criticized for the scope of such initiatives or goals. If we fail to satisfy the expectations of investors, tenants and other stakeholders, our initiatives are not executed as planned, or we do not satisfy our goals, our reputation and financial results could be adversely affected.

We have in the past developed and may in the future develop initiatives that are intended to drive operating efficiencies and grow NOI, including smart home technologies and self-service options that are accessible to residents through smart devices or otherwise. Such initiatives in the past have involved and in the future may involve our associates having new or different responsibilities and processes. We may incur significant costs and divert resources in connection with such initiatives, and these initiatives may not perform as projected, which could adversely affect our results of operations and the market price of our common stock.

We rely on information technology systems, including the internet and networks and systems and software developed, maintained and controlled by third party vendors and other third parties, to process, transmit and store information and to manage or support our business processes. Third party vendors may collect and hold personally identifiable information and other confidential information of our tenants, prospective tenants and employees. We also maintain such information and financial and business information regarding us and persons and entities with which we do business on our information technology systems. While we take steps, and generally require third party vendors to take steps, to protect the security of the information maintained in our and third party vendors' information technology systems, including associate training and testing and the use of commercially available systems, software, tools and monitoring to provide security for processing, transmitting and storing of the information, it is possible that our or our third party vendors' security measures will not be able to prevent human error or the systems' or software's improper functioning, or the loss, misappropriation, disclosure or corruption of personally identifiable information or other confidential or sensitive information, including information about our tenants and employees. Cybersecurity breaches, including physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses, malware, phishing scams, attacks by hackers, breaches due to employee error or misconduct, and similar breaches, can create system disruptions, shutdowns or unauthorized access to information maintained on our information technology systems or the information technology systems of our third party vendors or other third parties or otherwise cause disruption or negative impacts to occur to our business and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. While we maintain cyber risk insurance to provide some coverage for certain risks arising out of cybersecurity breaches, there is no assurance that such insurance would cover all or a significant portion of the costs or consequences associated with a cybersecurity breach or other occurrence or that such insurance will continue to be available at rates that we consider reasonable or at all. We have in the past experienced cybersecurity breaches on our information technology systems or relating to software or third party vendor systems that we utilize, and, while none to date have been material to us, we expect such breaches may occur in the future. As the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to information technology systems become more varied and sophisticated and the occurrence of such breaches becomes more frequent, we and our third party vendors and other third parties may be unable to adequately anticipate these techniques or breaches or implement appropriate preventative measures. Any failure to prevent cybersecurity breaches and maintain the proper function, security and availability of our or our third party vendors' and other third parties' information technology systems could interrupt our operations, damage our reputation and brand, damage our competitive position, make it difficult for us to attract and retain residents or other tenants, and subject us to liability claims or regulatory penalties that could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Certain of our properties include retail or commercial space that we lease to third parties. The long-term nature of our retail and commercial leases (generally five to ten years with market-based or fixed-price renewal options) and the characteristics of many of our tenants (small and/or local businesses) may subject us to certain risks. The longer-term leases could result in below market lease rates over time, particularly in an inflationary environment. We may require guarantees and other credit support which may prove to be inadequate or uncollectable, and the failure rate of small and/or local businesses may be higher than average. We may not be able to lease new space for rents that are consistent with our projections or for market rates. Also, when leases for our retail or commercial space terminate either at the end of the lease or because a tenant leaves early, the space may, and spaces have in the past, take longer than expected to relet, may not be relet or the terms of reletting, including the cost of allowances and concessions to tenants, may be less favorable than the prior lease terms, or we may incur additional expenses related to modifications of the spaces in order to satisfy new tenants. Our properties compete with other properties with retail or commercial space. The presence of competitive alternatives may adversely affect our ability to lease space and the level of rents we can obtain. Our retail or commercial tenants may experience financial distress or bankruptcy, or may fail to comply with their contractual obligations, and may seek concessions in order to continue operations or cease their operations, all of which have happened in the past and may occur again in the future, which could adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

We periodically dispose of apartment communities that no longer meet our strategic objectives, but adverse market conditions, among other factors, may make it difficult to sell apartment communities we own. We cannot predict whether we will be able to sell any property for the price or on the terms we set, or whether any price or other terms offered by a prospective purchaser would be acceptable to us. We also cannot predict the length of time needed to find a willing purchaser or to close the sale of a property. Furthermore, we may be required to expend funds to correct defects or to make improvements before a property can be sold or the purchase price may be reduced to cover any cost of correcting defects or making improvements. These conditions may limit our ability to dispose of properties and to change our portfolio in order to meet our strategic objectives, which could in turn adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations or our ability to fund other activities in which we may want to engage such as the purchase of properties, development or redevelopment, or funding the Debt and Preferred Equity Program. We are also subject to the following risks in connection with sales of our apartment communities, among others: - a significant portion of the proceeds from some property sales may be held by intermediaries in order for such sales to qualify as like-kind exchanges under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the "Code," so that any related capital gain can be deferred for federal income tax purposes. As a result, we may not have immediate access to all of the cash proceeds generated from our property sales; and - federal tax laws limit our ability to profit on the sale of communities or interests in communities that we have owned for less than two years, and this limitation may prevent us from selling communities when market conditions are favorable or that we may otherwise desire to sell.

The use of social media could cause us to suffer brand damage or unintended information disclosure. Negative posts or communications about us on a social networking website could damage our reputation. Further, employees or others may disclose non-public information regarding us or our business or otherwise make negative comments regarding us on social networking or other websites, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations. As social media evolves, we will be presented with new risks and challenges.