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Commitments and Contingent Liabilities | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2014
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, 2014 are as follows:
Year Ending December 31, |  |  |  |
2015 |  | $ | 24,012 |
2016 |  |  | 17,352 |
2017 |  |  | 15,024 |
2018 |  |  | 11,654 |
2019 |  |  | 11,155 |
Thereafter |  |  | 28,092 |
|  |  | 107,289 |
Sublease income |  |  | (282 | )
|  | $ | 107,007 |
Total rent expense incurred under operating leases was $45,508, $39,608 and $33,399 for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, 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, 2014, 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 approximately $75,200. The Company also has one specific performance contract pursuant to which the Company is committed to purchase 10 finished lots at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $1,500. 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 $59,400 of contingent obligations under such agreements, including approximately $11,400 for letters of credit issued under an uncommitted, collateralized letter of credit facility as of December 31, 2014. 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, |
|  | 2014 |  |  | 2013 |  |  | 2012 |
Warranty reserve, beginning of year |  | $ | 101,507 |  |  | $ | 62,742 |  |  | $ | 64,008 |
Provision |  |  | 51,668 |  |  |  | 82,860 |  |  |  | 41,138 |
Payments |  |  | (59,115 | ) |  |  | (44,095 | ) |  |  | (42,404 | )
Warranty reserve, end of year |  | $ | 94,060 |  |  | $ | 101,507 |  |  | $ | 62,742 |
The warranty reserve provision for 2013 included two warranty accrual charges totaling approximately $31,600. The first charge of approximately $15,600 related to remediation of primarily water infiltration issues in a single completed community. The second charge of approximately $16,000 was recorded to increase the warranty accrual for a non-recurring service issue. In October 2004, Patrick Tracy, whom NVR had employed as a Sales and Marketing Representative (“SMR”), filed a lawsuit against the Company in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York alleging that NVR had misclassified him and other SMRs as outside sales personnel exempt from certain state and federal wage laws, including overtime pay requirements. Mr. Tracy’s attorneys subsequently filed several other lawsuits in various courts asserting substantially similar claims on behalf of various classes or groups of SMRs. None of those courts have held that the claims are appropriate for class, collective, or other group treatment, and the Western District of New York ruled in April 2013 that the claims in Mr. Tracy’s case could not proceed on such a basis. The Western District of New York reached the same conclusion in July 2014 regarding a separate case that Mr. Tracy’s attorneys brought on behalf of other SMRs. In October 2013, Mr. Tracy’s individual claims were tried by a jury, which returned a unanimous verdict in NVR’s favor and found that the Company had properly classified Mr. Tracy as an exempt outside sales person. The plaintiff has sought review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in which he challenges the legal standard that the trial court applied in crafting its jury instructions regarding the outside sales exemption, in addition to rulings that the trial court made at earlier stages of the case. That appeal is fully briefed, and the parties are awaiting a ruling or an oral argument date. The remainder of the cases noted above are in various stages of pre-trial proceedings, many of them stayed or administratively closed pending a final disposition of the Tracy action. The Company believes that the compensation practices in regard to SMRs are entirely lawful and have vigorously defended all claims challenging those practices. In light of the points noted above, the Company has not recorded any associated liabilities on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets in conjunction with any of those claims. 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, August 2012 and November 2014 with representatives from both the EPA and DOJ. The Company has continued discussions with 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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