Organization and Basis of Presentation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2012

Organization and Basis of Presentation [Abstract]

Organization and Basis of Presentation

Organization and Basis of Presentation

Organization

Liberty Property Trust (the “Trust”) is a self-administered and self-managed Maryland real estate investment trust (a “REIT”). Substantially all of the Trust’s assets are owned directly or indirectly, and substantially all of the Trust’s operations are conducted directly or indirectly, by its subsidiary, Liberty Property Limited Partnership, a Pennsylvania limited partnership (the “Operating Partnership” and, together with the Trust and their consolidated subsidiaries, the “Company”). The Trust is the sole general partner and also a limited partner of the Operating Partnership, owning 96.8% of the common equity of the Operating Partnership at March 31, 2012. The Company provides leasing, property management, development, acquisition, and other tenant-related services for a portfolio of industrial and office properties which are located principally within the Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern, Midwestern and Southwestern United States and the United Kingdom. Unless otherwise indicated, the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements apply to both the Trust and the Operating Partnership. The terms the "Company,” “we,” “our” or “us” mean the Trust and Operating Partnership collectively.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements of Company have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (“US GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by US GAAP for complete financial statements and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of the Company for the year ended December 31, 2011. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting solely of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation of the financial statements for these interim periods have been included. The results of interim periods are not necessarily indicative of the results to be obtained for a full fiscal year. Certain amounts from prior periods have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation including reclassifying the accompanying consolidated statements of income for discontinued operations.

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

ASU 2011-04

In May 2011, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2011-04, “Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820), Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in US GAAP and IFRS” (“ASU 2011-04”), which amends Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 820, “Fair Value Measurement” to converge US GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) requirements for measuring accounts at fair value, including the disclosures regarding these measurements. ASU 2011-04 was effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2012. The Company's adoption of ASU 2011-04 did not have a material impact on its financial position or results of operations.

ASU 2011-05

In June 2011, the FASB issued ASU 2011-05, “Comprehensive Income (Topic 220), Presentation of Comprehensive Income” (“ASU 2011-05”), which will lead to converging guidance under US GAAP and IFRS related to presentation of comprehensive income. ASU 2011-05 was effective for the Company beginning January 1, 2012 and the provisions of ASU 2011-05 were adopted retrospectively. In adopting ASU 2011-05, the Company is required to disclose the total of comprehensive income, the components of net income, and the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. The Company's adoption of ASU 2011-05 did not have a material impact on its financial position or results of operations.