9. Related Party Transactions

On February 28, 2018, Legacy Canoo, via a wholly owned subsidiary, entered into a lease for an office facility in Torrance, California (“Torrance lease”) with an entity controlled by certain investors of Legacy Canoo, which was assigned to another entity controlled by certain investors of Legacy Canoo, on April 30, 2018. The original lease term is 15 years and commenced on April 30, 2018. During the first quarter of 2021, the Company entered into a separate lease for an office facility in Justin, Texas (“Justin lease”) with an entity controlled by the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The original lease term is 5 years 3 months, commencing on January 1, 2021. The Torrance and Justin leases (collectively referred to herein as the “leases”) contain a 3% per annum escalation clause.

The Torrance lease and Justin lease contain the option to extend the terms of the leases for two additional 60-month periods and one additional 60-month period, respectively, commencing when the prior term expires. At the  inception of each of the leases, it was not reasonably certain we would exercise any of the options to extend the term of the leases. There were no changes to that assessment as of June 30, 2021.

The Company has determined that the leases do not effectively transfer control of the underlying facilities to the Company based on the lease terms and, accordingly, the Company has classified the leases as operating leases. As such, the rent and property taxes are expensed on a straight-line basis in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.

Related party lease expense related to these leases was $0.6 million and $1.1 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, respectively. Related party lease expense related to these operating leases was $0.5 million and $0.9 million for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020, respectively.

In June 2021, the Torrance lease property was sold to a non-related party lessor. The change in lessor did not impact the terms and conditions of the Torrance lease. As such, payments made to the new landlord will not be considered as a related party lease expense.

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The weighted average remaining lease term at June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020 was 11.3 years and 12.3 years, respectively.

Maturities of the Company’s operating lease liabilities at June 30, 2021 were as follows (in thousands):

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On November 25, 2020, Legacy Canoo entered into an agreement, which remains in effect, with Tony Aquila, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company to reimburse Mr. Aquila for certain air travel expenses based on certain agreed upon criteria (“aircraft reimbursement”). The total aircraft reimbursement to Mr. Aquila for the use of an aircraft owned by Aquila Family Ventures, LLC (“AFV”), an entity controlled by Mr. Aquila, for the purposes related to the business of the Company for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 was approximately $0.4 million and $1.0 million, respectively.