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Commitments and Contingent Liabilities | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2013
Commitments And Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract] |
Commitments and Contingent Liabilities |
13. | Commitments and Contingent Liabilities
NVR is committed under multiple non-cancelable operating leases involving office space, model homes, production facilities, automobiles and equipment. Future minimum lease payments under these operating leases as of December 31, 2013 are as follows:
Year Ending December 31, |
2014 |  | $ | 21,998 |
2015 |  |  | 16,265 |
2016 |  |  | 13,804 |
2017 |  |  | 12,281 |
2018 |  |  | 10,021 |
Thereafter |  |  | 35,837 |
|  |  | 110,206 |
Sublease income |  |  | (352 | )
|  | $ | 109,854 |
Total rent expense incurred under operating leases was $39,608, $33,399 and $33,607 for the years ended December 31, 2013, 2012 and 2011, respectively. The Company generally does not engage in the land development business. Instead, the Company typically acquires finished building lots at market prices from various development entities under fixed price purchase agreements. The purchase agreements require deposits that may be forfeited if the Company fails to perform under the agreement. The deposits required under the purchase agreements are in the form of cash or letters of credit in varying amounts, and typically range up to 10% of the aggregate purchase price of the finished lots. The Company believes this lot acquisition strategy reduces the financial requirements and risks associated with direct land ownership and land development. The Company generally seeks to maintain control over a supply of lots believed to be suitable to meet its five-year business plan. At December 31, 2013, assuming that contractual development milestones are met, the Company is committed to placing additional forfeitable deposits with land developers under existing lot option contracts of $73,292. The Company also has two specific performance contracts pursuant to which the Company is committed to purchase 13 finished lots at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $1,710. During the ordinary course of operating the homebuilding and mortgage banking businesses, the Company is required to enter into bond or letter of credit arrangements with local municipalities, government agencies, or land developers to collateralize its obligations under various contracts. The Company had approximately $54,500 of contingent obligations under such agreements, including $8,354 for letters of credit issued under an uncommitted, collateralized letter of credit facility as of December 31, 2013. The Company believes it will fulfill its obligations under the related contracts and does not anticipate any material losses under these bonds or letters of credit. The following table reflects the changes in the Company’s warranty reserve (see Note 1 herein for further discussion of warranty/product liability reserves):
|  | Year Ended December 31, |
|  | 2013 |  |  | 2012 |  |  | 2011 |
Warranty reserve, beginning of year |  | $ | 62,742 |  |  | $ | 64,008 |  |  | $ | 69,787 |
Provision |  |  | 82,860 |  |  |  | 41,138 |  |  |  | 37,040 |
Payments |  |  | (44,095 | ) |  |  | (42,404 | ) |  |  | (42,819 | )
Warranty reserve, end of year |  | $ | 101,507 |  |  | $ | 62,742 |  |  | $ | 64,008 |
The warranty reserve provision for 2013 includes two warranty accrual charges totaling approximately $31,600. The first charge of approximately $15,600 was made in the second quarter of 2013 related to remediation of primarily water infiltration issues in a single completed community. The water infiltration issues were the result of a design issue with several products developed for and built exclusively in that one community. The second charge of approximately $16,000 was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2013 to increase the warranty accrual for a non-recurring service issue unrelated to the second quarter service issue. On July 18, 2007, former and current employees filed lawsuits against the Company in the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and Hamilton County, Ohio, in Superior Court in Durham County, North Carolina, and in the Circuit Court in Montgomery County, Maryland, and on July 19, 2007 in the Superior Court in New Jersey, alleging that the Company incorrectly classified its sales and marketing representatives as being exempt from overtime wages. These lawsuits are similar in nature to another lawsuit filed on October 29, 2004 by another former employee in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York captioned Tracy v. NVR, Inc. The lawsuits filed in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and North Carolina have been stayed pending further developments in the Tracy action. The complaints described above seek injunctive relief, an award of unpaid wages, including fringe benefits, liquidated damages equal to the overtime wages allegedly due and not paid, attorney and other fees and interest, and where available, multiple damages. While the suits were filed as purported class actions, none of them have been certified as such. On April 29, 2013, the Western District of New York ruled that the claims asserted in the Tracy case were not appropriate for class action treatment and dismissed a number of individuals who had filed consents to join that action from the case. The trial on the remaining individual plaintiff’s claims was held in October 2013. On October 23, 2013, the jury in that trial ruled in the Company’s favor that the plaintiff was an exempt outside salesman. On May 29, 2013, attorneys representing the individuals dismissed from the Tracy action filed another lawsuit on behalf of those individuals in the New York Supreme Court for Monroe County captioned Anderson v. NVR, Inc. The Company removed the Anderson action to the Western District of New York on June 18, 2013. Plaintiffs subsequently filed a motion to stay the Anderson action pending final disposition of the Tracy action, which the Company opposed. The Company also filed a motion to sever the multitude of individuals participating in the Anderson action, leaving each plaintiff to pursue his or her claim individually to the extent that they chose to do so. The Company believes that its compensation practices in regard to sales and marketing representatives are entirely lawful and in compliance with two letter rulings from the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued in January 2007. Courts that have considered similar claims against other homebuilders have acknowledged the DOL’s position that sales and marketing representatives were properly classified as exempt from overtime wages and the only court to have directly addressed the exempt status of such employees concluded that the DOL’s position was valid. In addition, the jury verdict in the Tracy v. NVR, Inc. matter in October 2013 upheld the Company’s classification of the position. Accordingly, the Company has vigorously defended and intends to continue to vigorously defend these lawsuits. In light of the points noted above, the Company has not recorded any associated liabilities on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets in conjunction with the Anderson v. NVR, Inc. case or any other legal challenges to the exempt status of the Company’s sales and marketing representatives. In June 2010, the Company received a Request for Information from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) pursuant to Section 308 of the Clean Water Act. The request sought information about storm water discharge practices in connection with homebuilding projects completed or underway by the Company in New York and New Jersey. The Company cooperated with this request, and provided information to the EPA. The Company was subsequently informed by the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) that the EPA forwarded the information on the matter to the DOJ, and the DOJ requested that the Company meet with the government to discuss the status of the case. Meetings took place in January 2012 and August 2012 with representatives from both the EPA and DOJ. It is as yet unclear what next steps the DOJ will take in the matter. The Company intends to continue cooperating with any future EPA and/or DOJ inquiries. At this time, the Company cannot predict the outcome of this inquiry, nor can it reasonably estimate the potential costs that may be associated with its eventual resolution. The Company and its subsidiaries are also involved in various other litigation arising in the ordinary course of business. In the opinion of management, and based on advice of legal counsel, this litigation is not expected to have a material adverse effect on the financial position, results of operations or cash flows of the Company. Legal costs incurred in connection with outstanding litigation are expensed as incurred.

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