14. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

The Company, through its subsidiaries, leases the land and buildings for its restaurant locations. The South Africa leases are for five-year terms and include options to extend the terms. The terms for our U.S. restaurant leases vary from two to ten years and have options to extend. We lease some of our restaurant facilities under “triple net” leases that require us to pay minimum rent, real estate taxes, maintenance costs and insurance premiums and, in some instances, percentage rent based on sales in excess of specified amounts. We also lease our corporate office space in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rent obligations for the next five fiscal years and thereafter are presented below:

Rent expense for the years ended December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017 was $4.6 million and $3.7 million, respectively. Rent expense for the years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 for the Company’s restaurants was $4.5 million and $3.7 million, respectively, and is included in the “Restaurant operating expenses” and “Restaurant pre-opening and closing expenses” (for rent incurred at restaurant locations not yet open) of the Consolidated Statements of Operations. Rent expense related to non-restaurant facilities of $50 thousand for both years ended December 31, 2018 and 2017 was included in the “General and administrative expense” of the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

On March 26, 2013, our South African operations received Notice of Motion filed in the Kwazulu-Natal High Court, Durban, Republic of South Africa, filed against Rolalor (PTY) LTD (“Rolalor”) and Labyrinth Trading 18 (PTY) LTD (“Labyrinth”) by Jennifer Catherine Mary Shaw (“Shaw”). Rolalor and Labyrinth were the original entities formed to operate the Johannesburg and Durban locations, respectively. On September 9, 2011, the assets and the then-disclosed liabilities of these entities were transferred to Tundraspex (PTY) LTD (“Tundraspex”) and Dimaflo (PTY) LTD (“Dimaflo”), respectively. The current entities, Tundraspex and Dimaflo are not parties in the lawsuit. Shaw is requesting that the Respondents, Rolalor and Labyrinth, be wound up in satisfaction of an alleged debt owed in the total amount of R4,082,636 (approximately $480,000). The two Notices were defended and argued in the High Court of South Africa (Durban) on January 31, 2014. Madam Justice Steryi dismissed the action with costs on May 5, 2014. Ms. Shaw appealed this decision and in December 2016, the Court dismissed the Labyrinth case with costs payable to the Company and allowed the Rolalor case to proceed to liquidation. The Company did not object to the proposed liquidation of Rolalor as the entity has no assets and the Company does not expect there to be any material impact on the Company. No amounts have been accrued as of December 31, 2018 or 2017 in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

From time to time, the Company may be involved in legal proceedings and claims that have arisen in the ordinary course of business are generally covered by insurance. As of December 31, 2018, the Company does not expect the amount of ultimate liability with respect to these matters to be material to the company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.