CAM reconciliation calculator: each tenant’s share and true-up

A tenant’s CAM charge is its share of the year’s recoverable expenses, less any base year or expense stop. Subtract the estimates it paid to get the true-up.

Balance = (share × recoverable expenses − base year or stop) × months ÷ 12 − estimates paid

Recoverable expenses are the controllable lines after any cap, plus the other lines, plus any administrative fee.

Example: a tenant with a 5% share and recoverable expenses of 306,243 dollars owes 15,312 dollars for the year. It paid 14,400 dollars in estimates, so it owes 912 dollars more.

Divide the tenant’s rentable square feet by the building’s rentable square feet. The federal GSA lease template figures the government’s share of a building’s taxes the same way: 1,000 RSF divided by 10,000 RSF is 10 percent.

Pro rata share = tenant rentable sq ft ÷ building rentable sq ft

Some leases divide by leased or occupied square feet instead, which raises every share when space sits empty. The calculator lets you pick either, or type a share straight from the lease.

Example: 22,000 sq ft in a 48,000 sq ft center is a 45.833% share.

Costs that rise with occupancy are scaled up as if the building were as full as the lease says. Fixed costs stay as they are.

Grossed-up line = actual cost × gross-up occupancy ÷ actual occupancy (only when actual occupancy is lower)

One office lease filed with the SEC grosses up to 95% occupancy and applies it only to the variable parts of operating expenses, such as nightly janitorial service and water. Tick Gross up only on the lines your lease treats that way.

Example: janitorial of 15,200 dollars at 82% occupancy, grossed up to 95%, is 15,200 × 95 ÷ 82 = 17,610 dollars.

Each one lowers what the tenant pays.

• Base year: the tenant pays its share of the increase over the base-year expenses.
• Expense stop: the tenant pays only above a set amount per square foot.
• Non-cumulative cap: controllable expenses can rise at most the cap % over last year.
• Cumulative cap: the cap builds from a base year, so a small rise one year leaves room the next.

Allowed controllable = starting amount × (1 + cap %) ^ years

Check whether the lease compounds the cap or adds the same % each year, as starting amount × (1 + cap % × years). The calculator does either.

One lease amendment filed with the SEC shows the cumulative case under a 5% cap: a 2% rise, then a 9% rise, lets the landlord pass through 8% in year three. Another lease caps controllable expenses at 5% a year, non-cumulative, and leaves out real estate taxes, utilities, snow and ice removal and insurance premiums.

Example: controllable expenses of 69,641 dollars against last year’s 64,000 dollars and a 5% cap. The cap allows 67,200 dollars, so 2,441 dollars comes off before the tenant’s share.

The downloads open in Excel or Google Sheets: one row per tenant, plus a file with every line of every statement. The printed statements put one tenant on each page, under a note you can edit, so they go out as the reconciliation letter.

• Expenses: paste or load the CAM accounts from the property’s profit and loss, or a ledger detail. Income rows are skipped and repeated accounts are added up.
• Tenants: paste or load square feet and estimates billed from your rent roll. Vacant units are skipped.
• Lease terms: add each tenant’s cap, base year or stop, and exclusions.

If you hold tenant deposits in trust, the three-way reconciliation checker checks that account. More on reports we build.