12. Commitments, Contingencies and Related Party Transactions Since December 2010, the Company occupies office space at 500 Fifth Avenue, 50 th Floor, New York, NY 10110, provided by Hyde Park Real Estate LLC, an affiliate of Laurence S. Levy, our chairman of the board. Such affiliate has agreed that it will make such office space, as well as certain office and administrative services, available to the Company, as may be required by the Company from time to time. Effective January 1, 2012, the Company has agreed to pay such entity approximately $7,688 per month for such services with the terms of such arrangement being reconsidered from time to time. The Company s statements of operations for the three month periods ended March 31, 2012 and 2011 include $23,063 and $22,500, respectively, of rent expense related to these agreements. In November 2010, the Company entered into an agreement with the holders of certain Coast Crane indebtedness pursuant to which such holders agreed, in consideration of the assumption of such indebtedness by the Company, to exchange such indebtedness of $5.2 million for unsecured promissory notes issued by the Company in the aggregate principal amount of $5.2 million plus the receipt of up to 90,000 warrants to purchase Essex common stock at $0.01 per share. The unsecured promissory notes mature in December 2013. The holders of the unsecured promissory notes are related parties to the Company as they own a significant amount of the Company s outstanding shares of common stock. The Company maintains reserves for personal property taxes. These reserves are based on a variety of factors including: duration of rental in each county jurisdiction, tax rates, rental contract terms, customer filings, tax-exempt nature of projects or jurisdictions, statutes of limitations and potential related penalties and interest. Additionally, most customer rental contracts contain a provision that provides that personal property taxes are an obligation to be borne by the lessee. Where provided in the rental