OFFICE PROPERTIES INCOME TRUST 10-K

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 under the caption “Risk Factors” 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: • we may be unable to renew our leases with current tenants when our leases expire or lease our properties to new tenants without decreasing rents or incurring significant costs, providing certain concessions or otherwise; • the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic impact may materially adversely affect our and our tenants’ businesses, operations, financial results and liquidity; • our tenants may be unable to satisfy their lease obligations to us, which could materially and adversely affect us; • remote working and related changes to business practices resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, together with current office space utilization trends, could impact our business; • some of our properties depend upon a private sector single or majority tenant for all or a significant portion of their rental income; therefore, our financial condition, including our ability to make distributions to shareholders, may be adversely affected by the bankruptcy or insolvency, a downturn in the business, or a lease termination of such a single or majority tenant; • the concentration of our investments in properties leased to private sector single or majority tenants and properties located in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. market area may result in us being adversely affected by cyclical economic conditions or changes in market conditions in that area and subject us to greater risks of loss than if our properties had more tenant or geographic diversity; • government budgetary pressures and priorities and trends in government employment and office leasing may adversely impact our business, and a prolonged U.S. government shutdown may adversely impact our operations, financial results and liquidity; • our capital recycling program may not be successful; • we may be unable to grow our business by acquiring additional properties, and we face significant competition for acquisition opportunities and for tenants; • risks associated with the development, redevelopment or repositioning of our properties may cause delays in leasing those properties and generating cash flows from those properties; • 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; • some tenants have the right to terminate their leases prior to their lease expiration date and changes in our tenants’ demands and requirements for leased space may adversely affect us; • we have debt and we 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; • changes in market interest rates, including changes resulting from the phase out of LIBOR, may adversely affect us; 25 Table of Contents • ownership of real estate is subject to environmental risks and liabilities, as well as risks from adverse weather, natural disasters and climate change and climate related events, and we may incur significant costs and invest significant amounts with respect to these matters; • insurance may not adequately cover our losses, and insurance costs may continue to increase; • 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; • any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security breach of RMR LLC’s information technology or systems could materially harm us; • our management structure and agreements with RMR LLC and our relationships with our related parties, including our Managing Trustees, RMR LLC 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 declaration of trust and 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 and we may become more highly leveraged, which may increase our risk of default under our debt obligations and/or result in downgrades in our credit ratings, and any such downgrades may increase our cost of capital; • our distributions to our shareholders may be reduced or eliminated and the form of payment could change; and • our public debt is structurally subordinated to the indebtedness and other liabilities of our subsidiaries. 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 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 lease our properties to new tenants, and any rent increases that we do achieve may not exceed our costs. 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 properties have been specially designed for the particular businesses of our tenants; if the current leases for those properties are terminated or are not renewed, we may be required to renovate those properties at substantial costs, decrease the rents we charge or provide other concessions in order to lease those properties to new tenants. In addition, any rent increases that we do achieve may not exceed our costs associated with renewing our leases with current tenants or leasing our properties to new tenants, which costs have and are expected to continue to increase as a result of inflation and supply chain challenges, among other things. 26 Table of Contents The COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting economic impact may materially adversely affect our and our tenants’ businesses, operations, financial results and liquidity. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial adverse impact on the global economy, including the U.S. economy, during various stages of the pandemic. Government requirements to stay in place and temporarily close businesses had a substantial negative impact on the economy. Government spending during the pandemic, and subsequent easing of the government restrictions, have since helped avert extended negative impacts to the economy and are believed to have helped foster a return to economic growth. However, the progression of the pandemic has been unpredictable, with infection rates rising and falling and new variants of the virus continuing to emerge. Those variants may have negative impacts on public health, including possibly being more transmissible, including to people who have been otherwise immunized due to natural immunity as a result of being previously infected with COVID-19 or vaccination. Variants of COVID-19 could have similar or worse impacts on the economy and public health as previous versions of COVID-19. Although, to date, the COVID-19 pandemic has not had a significant adverse impact on our business, certain of our tenants requested relief from their obligations to pay rent due to us in response to the economic conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and in response to such requests, as of December 31, 2021, we had granted requests to defer aggregate rent payments of $2,483 to 18 tenants. Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused supply chain challenges in the global economy, which has impacted the U.S. economy. The challenges have resulted, at times, in reduced availability of goods and inflation. If these challenges continue, or if governments take actions in response to these challenges, such as increasing interest rates, the economy could experience negative consequences, including slowed economic growth or an economic downturn. The ultimate adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain and subject to change. We do not yet know the full extent of potential impacts on our business and operations, our tenants’ businesses and operations or the global economy as a whole. While the spread of COVID-19 may eventually be contained or mitigated, there is no guarantee that a future outbreak or any other widespread epidemics will not occur, or that the global economy will recover and not experience future downturns as a result, any of which could materially harm our business. The COVID-19 pandemic presents material uncertainty and risk with respect to our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows. Moreover, many risk factors set forth in this section should be interpreted as heightened risks as a result of the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our business depends upon our tenants satisfying their lease obligations to us, which, with respect to our private sector tenants, depends, to a large degree, on those tenants’ abilities to successfully operate their businesses, and, with respect to our government tenants, depends on discretionary funding from federal, state and local governments. Our business depends on our tenants satisfying their lease obligations to us. The financial capacities of our private sector tenants to pay us rent will depend upon their abilities to successfully operate their businesses, which may be adversely affected by factors over which we and they have no control, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The failure of our private sector tenants and any applicable parent guarantor to satisfy their lease obligations to us, whether due to a downturn in their business or otherwise, could materially and adversely affect us. In addition, our government tenants are subject to discretionary funding from federal, state and local governments, as applicable. Federal government programs are subject to annual congressional budget authorization and appropriation processes, and state and local government programs are often subject to similar processes. For many federal programs, Congress appropriates funds on a fiscal year basis even though the program performance period may extend over several years. Laws and plans adopted by federal, state and local governments relating to, along with pressures on and uncertainty surrounding, budgets, potential changes in priorities and spending levels, sequestration, the appropriations process and the permissible debt limits, could adversely affect the funding for our government tenants. The budget environment and uncertainty surrounding the appropriations processes remain significant long-term risks as budget cuts could adversely affect the viability of our government tenants. Remote working and related changes to business practices may reduce the demand for office leasing. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and governmental orders and market practices in response, there has been a significant increase in alternative work arrangements in the United States, including work from home practices. It is uncertain to what extent and for how long work from home arrangements may continue. In addition, it is possible that hybrid work arrangements could continue or increase, such as workspace sharing or hoteling of office space. If these arrangements continue and a return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic office work practices is meaningfully reduced or delayed, demand for office space, including at our properties, may be materially adversely impacted, and our business, operating results and financial condition may be materially harmed as a result. 27 Table of Contents Some of our properties depend upon a private sector single or majority tenant for all or a significant portion of their rental income; therefore, our financial condition, including our ability to make distributions to shareholders, may be adversely affected by the bankruptcy or insolvency, a downturn in the business, or a lease termination of such a single or majority tenant. As of December 31, 2021, 44.8% of our annualized rental income was from our properties leased to private sector single tenants or majority occupied tenants. The value of the properties leased to these tenants is materially dependent on their performance under their respective leases. These tenants face competition within their industries and other factors that could reduce their ability to pay us rent. Lease payment defaults by these tenants could cause us to reduce the amount of distributions that we pay to our shareholders. A default by a single or majority tenant, the failure of a guarantor to fulfill its obligations or other premature termination of a lease to such a tenant or such tenant’s election not to extend a lease upon its expiration could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and ability to pay distributions to our shareholders. We currently have a concentration of properties in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. market area and are exposed to changes in market conditions in this area. As of December 31, 2021, we derived approximately 21.8% of our annualized rental income from our consolidated properties located in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. market area. In addition, the three properties owned by two joint ventures in which we own 51% and 50% interests are also located in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. market area. A downturn in economic conditions in this area, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, could result in reduced demand from tenants for our properties, reduced rents that our tenants in this area are willing to pay when our leases expire and increased lease concessions for new leases and renewals. Additionally, in recent years there has been a decrease in demand for new leased space by the U.S. government in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. market area, and that could increase competition for government tenants and adversely affect our ability to retain government tenants when our leases expire. Thus, adverse developments and/or conditions in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. market area could reduce demand for space, impact the credit worthiness of our tenants or force our tenants to curtail operations, which could impair their ability to meet their rent obligations to us and, accordingly, could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and ability to pay distributions to our shareholders. Government budgetary pressures and priorities and trends in government employment and office leasing, including as a result of the significant impacts that COVID-19 has had on workplace practices and other office space utilization trends, may adversely impact our business. We believe that recent government budgetary and spending priorities and enhancements in technology have resulted in a decrease in government office use for employees. Furthermore, over the past several years, government tenants have reduced their space utilization per employee and consolidated government tenants into existing government owned properties. This activity has reduced the demand for government leased space. Our historical experience with respect to properties of the type we own that are majority leased to government tenants has been that government tenants frequently renew leases to avoid the costs and disruptions that may result from relocating their operations. However, efforts to manage space utilization rates may result in our tenants exercising early termination rights under our leases, vacating our properties upon expiration of our leases in order to relocate, or renewing their leases for less space than they currently occupy. Also, our government tenants’ desire to reconfigure leased office space to manage utilization per employee may require us to spend significant amounts for tenant improvements, and tenant relocations are often more prevalent in those circumstances. Increasing uncertainty with respect to government agency budgets and funding to implement relocations, consolidations and reconfigurations has resulted in delayed decisions by some of our government tenants and their reliance on short term lease renewals; however, activity prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic suggested that the U.S. government had begun to shift its leasing strategy to include longer term leases and was actively exploring 10 to 20 year lease terms at renewal, in some instances. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath have had negative impacts on government budgets and resources, although there are indications that to date, certain of those impacts may not have been as negative as originally expected; it is unclear what the effect of these impacts will be on government demand for leasing office space. Given the significant uncertainties, including as to the COVID-19 pandemic, its economic impact and its aftermath, we are unable to reasonably project what the financial impact of market conditions or changing government circumstances will be on the demand for leased space at our properties and our financial results for future periods. A prolonged U.S. government shutdown may adversely impact our operations, financial results and liquidity. Under our leases with the U.S. government, the tenants pay us rent monthly in arrears. If the U.S. government experiences a prolonged shutdown, these tenants may not pay us rent during the pendency of the shutdown. Although we expect that these tenants would pay us any outstanding rents after the shutdown ends, our available cash and leverage targets may be adversely 28 Table of Contents impacted during the period we do not receive rents from these tenants. A failure to receive rents during a government shutdown may impair our ability to fund our operations and investments, pay our debt obligations, make capital expenditures and pay distributions to our shareholders. In addition, the impact of a prolonged government shutdown on government personnel resources could hinder our ability to renew expiring leases or initiate or complete renovation, construction and other capital maintenance of the affected properties. Moreover, some of our tenants are government contractors that rely on government business. If a government shutdown results in our government contractor tenants not paying us rent, the negative impact on us from a government shutdown may be compounded. Our capital recycling program may not be successful. Through our capital recycling program, we seek to selectively sell certain properties from time to time to fund future acquisitions and to manage leverage at levels we believe appropriate with a goal of (1) improving the asset quality of our portfolio by reducing the average age of our properties, lengthening the weighted average lease term of our leases and increasing the likelihood of retaining our tenants and (2) increasing our cash available for distribution. However, our ability to sell our properties we identify for sale, and the prices we receive upon a sale, may be affected by many factors, and we may be unable to execute our strategy. In particular, these factors could arise from weakness in or the lack of an established market for a property, changes in the financial condition or prospects of prospective purchasers and the availability of financing to potential purchasers on reasonable terms, the number of prospective purchasers, the number of competing properties on the market, unfavorable local, national or international economic conditions, including as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, industry trends, and changes in laws, regulations or fiscal policies of jurisdictions in which the property is located. We may not succeed in selling properties that we identify for sale, the terms of any such sales may not meet our expectations and we may incur losses in connection with those sales. Further, we may not succeed in identifying and acquiring properties that improve the asset quality of our portfolio and enable us to increase our cash available for distribution and we may not succeed in managing leverage at levels we believe appropriate. As a result, our capital recycling program may not be successful. We are exposed to risks associated with property development, redevelopment and repositioning that could adversely affect us, including our financial condition and results of operations. We currently have properties under development and we intend to continue to engage in development, redevelopment and repositioning activities with respect to our properties, and, as a result, we are subject to certain risks, which could adversely affect us, including our financial condition and results of operations. These risks include cost overruns and untimely completion of construction due to, among other things, weather or labor conditions, inflation, labor or material shortages or delays in receiving permits or other governmental approvals. In addition, current and expected inflation and current supply chain challenges have generally resulted in increased costs for construction materials and some delays in construction activities. These risks could result in substantial unanticipated delays and increased development and renovation costs and could prevent the initiation or the completion of development, redevelopment or repositioning activities and cause delays in leasing these properties and generating cash flows from these properties or possible loss of tenancies, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We may be unable to grow our business by acquiring additional properties, and we might encounter unanticipated difficulties and expenditures relating to our acquired properties. Our business plans involve the acquisition of additional properties. Our ability to make profitable acquisitions is subject to risks, including, but not limited to, risks associated with: • competition from other investors; • contingencies in our acquisition agreements; and • the availability, terms and cost of debt and equity capital. We might encounter unanticipated difficulties and expenditures relating to our acquired properties. For example: • notwithstanding pre-acquisition due diligence, we could acquire a property that contains undisclosed defects in design or construction or unknown liabilities, including those related to undisclosed environmental contamination; • an acquired property may be located in a new market where we may face risks associated with investing in an unfamiliar market; • the market in which an acquired property is located may experience unexpected changes that adversely affect the property’s value; and 29 Table of Contents • property operating costs for our acquired properties may be higher than anticipated, which may result in tenants that pay or reimburse us for those costs terminating their leases or our acquired properties not yielding expected returns. For these reasons, among others, we might not realize the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, and our business plan to acquire additional properties may not succeed or may cause us to experience losses. 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 or development, redevelopment or repositioning 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 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. Some of our competitors may have greater financial and other resources than us. Because of competition for acquisitions, we may be unable to acquire desirable properties or we may pay higher prices for, and realize lower net cash flows than we hope to achieve from, acquisitions. We also face competition for tenants at our 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. Some tenants have the right to terminate their leases prior to their lease expiration date. Some of our leases allow the tenants to vacate the leased premises before the stated terms of the leases expire with little or no liability. In particular: • Tenants occupying approximately 5.6% of our rentable square feet and responsible for approximately 5.7% of our annualized rental income as of December 31, 2021 have currently exercisable rights to terminate their leases before the stated term of their leases expire. • As of December 31, 2021, pursuant to leases with 14 of our tenants, these tenants have rights to terminate their leases if their respective legislature or other funding authority does not appropriate rent amounts in their respective annual budgets. These 14 tenants represented approximately 6.0% of our rentable square feet and 6.6% of our annualized rental income as of December 31, 2021. For various reasons, some or all of our tenants may decide to exercise early termination rights under our leases or vacate our properties upon expiration of our leases. Also, our tenants may seek to reduce the space they occupy at our properties or otherwise modify their space utilization in response to the COVID-19 pandemic or for other reasons. If a significant number of our leases are terminated pursuant to these termination rights, our income and cash flow may materially decline, our ability to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders may be negatively impacted and the values of our properties may decline. We have debt and we may incur additional debt. As of December 31, 2021, our consolidated indebtedness was $2.6 billion. We had no amounts outstanding under our revolving credit facility and $750.0 million available for borrowing as of December 31, 2021 and February 15, 2022. Our credit 30 Table of Contents agreement includes a feature under which the maximum borrowing availability may be increased to up to $1.95 billion in certain circumstances. 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 security holders. 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 and hinder our ability to maintain investment grade ratings from nationally recognized credit rating agencies or to make or sustain distributions to our shareholders. 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 or noteholders 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 fail to comply with the terms of the agreements governing our debt, which could adversely affect our business and may prevent our making distributions to our shareholders. The agreements governing our debt 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. Complying with these covenants may limit our ability to take actions that may be beneficial to us and our security holders. For example, our credit agreement and our senior unsecured notes indentures and their supplements require us to comply with certain financial and other covenants. Our ability to comply with such covenants will depend upon the net rental income we receive from our properties. If the occupancy at our properties declines or if our rents decline, we may be unable to borrow under our revolving credit facility. If we are unable to borrow under our revolving credit facility, we may be unable to meet our obligations or grow our business by acquiring additional properties. 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 agreement 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 the existing agreements governing our debt. Changes in market interest rates, including changes resulting from the phase out of LIBOR, may adversely affect us. Changes in market interest rates may be sudden and may significantly impede our growth. Interest rates have remained at relatively low levels on a historical basis, but the U.S. Federal Reserve recently indicated that, in light of the economic recovery and higher than anticipated inflation, it expects to raise interest rates as early as March 2022. However the timing, number and amount of any such future interest rate increases are uncertain. In addition, as noted in Part II, Item 7A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, LIBOR has been phased out for new contracts and is expected to be phased out for pre-existing contracts by June 30, 2023. We are required to pay interest on borrowings under our revolving credit facility at floating rates based on LIBOR, and interest we may pay on any future borrowings under our revolving credit facility may also require that we pay interest based upon LIBOR. We currently expect that the determination of interest under our revolving credit facility will be revised as provided under our credit agreement or amended as necessary 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 any changes to the determination of interest under our credit agreement would approximate the current calculation in accordance with LIBOR. We cannot be certain of what standard, if any, will replace LIBOR, and any alternative interest rate index that may replace LIBOR may result in our paying increased interest. 31 Table of Contents 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; • amounts outstanding under our revolving credit facility 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; and • 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. A downgrade in the credit rating of our debt could materially adversely affect our business and financial condition. Our outstanding senior unsecured debt is rated investment grade by S&P Global Ratings and Moody's Investors Service. In determining our credit ratings, the rating agencies consider a number of both quantitative and qualitative factors, including earnings, fixed charges, cash flows, total debt outstanding, total secured debt, off balance sheet obligations, total capitalization and various ratios calculated from these factors. The rating agencies also consider predictability of cash flows, business strategy, joint venture activity, property development risks, industry conditions and contingencies. Therefore, any deterioration in our operating performance could cause our investment grade rating to come under pressure. Our corporate credit rating at S&P Global Ratings is currently “BBB-” with a stable outlook, and our corporate credit rating at Moody’s Investor Service is currently “Baa3” with a stable outlook. However, we cannot be sure that our credit ratings will not be lowered or withdrawn in their entirety. A negative change in our ratings outlook or any downgrade in our current investment grade credit ratings by rating agencies could adversely affect our cost and access to sources of liquidity and capital. Additionally, a downgrade could, among other things, increase the costs of borrowing under our revolving credit facility, adversely impact our ability to obtain unsecured debt or refinance our unsecured debt on competitive terms in the future, or require us to take certain actions to support our obligations, any of which would adversely affect our business and financial condition. 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 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 tenants of our properties to incur costs to comply with. While our leases with non-government tenants generally require our tenants to operate in compliance with applicable law and to indemnify us against any environmental liabilities arising from their activities on our properties, applicable law may make us subject to strict liability by virtue of our ownership interests. Also, our tenants may have insufficient financial resources to satisfy their indemnification obligations under our leases or they may resist doing so. The U.S. government is not required to indemnify us for environmental hazards they create at our properties and therefore could hold us liable for environmental hazards they create at our properties and we could have no recourse to them. We may incur substantial liabilities and costs for environmental matters. 32 Table of Contents We are subject to risks from adverse weather, natural disasters and climate change and climate related events, and we incur significant costs and invest significant amounts with respect to these matters. We are subject to risks and could be exposed to additional costs from adverse weather, natural disasters and climate change and climate related events. For example, our properties could be severely damaged or destroyed from either singular extreme weather events (for example floods, storms and wildfires) or through long-term impacts of climatic conditions (such as precipitation frequency, weather instability and rise of sea levels). Such events could also adversely impact us or the tenants of our properties if we or they are unable to operate our or their businesses due to damage resulting from such events. If we fail to adequately prepare for such events, our revenues, results of operations and financial condition may be impacted. In addition, we may incur significant costs in preparing for possible future climate change or climate related events or in response to our tenants’ requests for such investments and we may not realize desirable returns on those investments. RMR LLC relies on information technology and systems in providing services to us, and any material failure, inadequacy, interruption or security breach of that technology or those systems could materially harm us. RMR LLC relies on information technology and systems, including the internet and cloud-based infrastructures, commercially available software and its internally developed applications, to process, transmit, store and safeguard information and to manage or support a variety of its business processes (including managing our building systems), including financial transactions and maintenance of records, which may include personal identifying information of employees, tenants and guarantors and lease data. If these systems experience material failures, inadequacies or interruptions, we could incur material costs and losses and our operations could be disrupted as a result. RMR LLC takes various actions, and incurs significant costs, to maintain and protect the operation and security of 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. The risk of a security breach or disruption, particularly through cyberattack or cyber intrusion, including by computer hackers, foreign governments and cyber terrorists, has generally increased as the number, intensity and sophistication of attempted attacks and intrusions from around the world have increased. 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 or other third parties’ information technology networks and systems or operations. The COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact RMR LLC’s ability to maintain the security, proper function and availability of information technology and systems since a continued period of remote working by its employees or individuals with whom RMR LLC works outside of its organization could strain its technology resources and introduce operational risk, including heightened cybersecurity risk. Remote working environments may be less secure and more susceptible to hacking attacks, including phishing and social engineering attempts that seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. Although most of RMR LLC’s office-based employees have returned to the office, the ongoing transition to in person work arrangements, or any return to remote work in light of the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic may result in the continuation of many of the risks of offsite work arrangements. In addition, RMR LLC’s data security, data privacy, investor reporting and business continuity processes could be impacted by a third party’s inability to perform due to the COVID-19 pandemic or by the failure of, or attack on, their information systems and technology. Any failure by RMR LLC or third party vendors to maintain the security, proper function and availability of RMR LLC’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. Third party expectations relating to ESG factors may impose additional costs and expose us to new risks. There is an increasing focus from certain investors and certain of our tenants and other stakeholders concerning corporate responsibility, specifically related to ESG factors. Some investors may use these factors to guide their investment strategies and, in some cases, may choose not to invest in us, or otherwise do business with us, if they believe our or RMR LLC’s 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 are evolving, which could result in greater expectations of us and RMR LLC and cause us and RMR LLC to undertake costly initiatives to satisfy such new criteria. Alternatively, if we or RMR LLC elect not to or are unable to satisfy such new criteria or do not meet the criteria of a specific third party provider, some investors may conclude that our or RMR LLC’s policies with respect to corporate responsibility are inadequate. We and RMR LLC may face reputational damage in the event that our or their corporate responsibility procedures or standards do not meet the standards set by various constituencies. If we and RMR LLC fail to satisfy the expectations of investors and our 33 Table of Contents tenants and other stakeholders or our or RMR LLC’s initiatives are not executed as planned, our and RMR LLC’s reputation and financial results could be adversely affected, and our revenues, results of operations and ability to grow our business may be negatively impacted. Insurance may not adequately cover our losses, and insurance costs may continue to increase. We or the tenants are generally responsible for the costs of insurance at our properties, including for casualty, liability, fire, extended coverage and rental or business interruption loss insurance. In the future, we may acquire properties for which we are responsible for the costs of 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 certain of our tenants. Increased insurance costs may adversely affect our applicable tenants’ abilities to pay us rent or result in downward pressure on rents we can charge under new or renewed leases. 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 responsible tenant may not be able to pay. Insurance proceeds may not be adequate to restore an affected property to its condition prior to a 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 or our applicable tenants 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 applicable tenants for certain losses, we may have to incur uninsured costs as a result or lose all or a portion of the capital invested in a property, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the property. Risks Related to Our Relationships with RMR LLC 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 acts as the manager to certain other Nasdaq listed companies and private companies, as noted elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and Mr. Portnoy serves as a managing director, managing trustee, director or trustee, as applicable, of those companies, and as chair of the board of trustees or board of directors, as applicable, of certain of those companies. Christopher Bilotto, our President and Chief Operating Officer, and Matthew Brown, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, are also officers and employees of RMR LLC and Jennifer Clark, our other Managing Trustee, is also an employee of RMR LLC. Messrs. Portnoy, Bilotto and Brown and Ms. Clark have duties to RMR LLC, as well as to us, and we do not 34 Table of Contents 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, Mr. 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. 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 be different from those 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 35 Table of Contents 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 distributions 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. We are party to transactions with related parties that may increase the risk of allegations of conflicts of interest. 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 RMR Inc. or other related parties may challenge any such related party transactions. If challenges to related party transactions 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, 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 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 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: 36 Table of Contents • the current different terms of our Trustees, with a majority of our existing Trustees having terms expiring in 2022 and the remainder having terms expiring in 2023, which could delay a change of control of us (although beginning at our 2023 annual meeting of shareholders and thereafter, all of our Trustees will stand for election for one year terms); • 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 authorizes us, and our bylaws 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, bylaws 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, manager 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 declaration of trust and bylaws, as they may be amended from time to time. Our governing documents provide that certain actions by one or more of our shareholders against us or any of our Trustees, officers, manager 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 37 Table of Contents party to such dispute, including any of our Trustees, officers, manager 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, manager 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, manager or other agents 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 governing documents 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 governing documents’ 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 governing documents 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 governing documents may discourage our shareholders from bringing, and attorneys from agreeing to represent our shareholders wishing to bring, litigation against us or our Trustees, officers, manager or other agents. Our agreements with RMR LLC have similar arbitration provisions to those in our governing documents. We believe that the arbitration provisions in our governing documents 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 governing documents may ultimately be determined to be unenforceable. By agreeing to the arbitration provisions of our governing documents, 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, manager or other 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 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 our 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, manager or other agents, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our Trustees, officers, manager or other agents. 38 Table of Contents We may change our operational, financing and investment policies without shareholder approval and we may become more highly leveraged, which may increase our risk of default under our debt obligations. 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. Further, our organizational documents do not limit the amount or percentage of indebtedness, funded or otherwise, that we may incur. Our Board of Trustees may alter or eliminate our current policy on borrowing at any time without shareholder approval. If this policy changes, we could become more highly leveraged, which could result in an increase in our debt service costs or a downgrade in our credit ratings. Higher leverage also increases the risk of default on our obligations. 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. 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 credit agreement, 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 U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, or differences in timing between the recognition of 39 Table of Contents 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. 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 Our distributions to our shareholders may be reduced or eliminated and the form of payment could change. We intend to continue to make regular quarterly distributions to our shareholders. However: • our ability to make or sustain the rate of distributions may be adversely affected if any of the risks described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K occur, including any negative impact caused by the prolonged duration of 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 the agreements governing our debt and may be subject to restrictions in future debt obligations we may incur; during the continuance of any event of default under the agreements governing our debt, 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, or FFO, normalized funds from operations, or Normalized FFO, 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 decline 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. 40 Table of Contents The Notes are structurally subordinated to the payment of all indebtedness and other liabilities. We are the sole obligor on our outstanding senior unsecured notes, and 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, or the Notes, and such Notes are not, and any Notes we may issue in the future may not be guaranteed by any of our subsidiaries. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation, contingent or otherwise, to pay any amounts due on the Notes, or to make any funds available therefor, whether by distribution, loan or other payments. The rights of holders of Notes to benefit from any of the assets of our subsidiaries are subject to the prior satisfaction of claims of our subsidiaries’ creditors. As a result, the Notes are, and, except to the extent that future Notes are guaranteed by our subsidiaries, will be, structurally subordinated to all of the debt and other liabilities and obligations of our subsidiaries, including guarantees of other indebtedness of ours, payment obligations under lease agreements, trade payables and preferred equity. As of December 31, 2021, our subsidiaries had total indebtedness and other liabilities (excluding security and other deposits and guaranties) of $194.1 million. 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 cannot be sure that 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. Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments None. 41 Table of Contents