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Opened Aug 19, 2025 by Raymon Strouse@raymonstrouse4
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Common Area Maintenance (CAM).


What prevails Area Maintenance?
How Does Common Area Maintenance Work?
What Does Common Area Maintenance Include?
How to Calculate CAM Charges
Common Area Maintenance Formula (CAM).
Common Area Maintenance Calculator (CAM).
CAM Charges Calculation Example.
What is Common Area Maintenance?

Common Area Maintenance (CAM) refers to the fees sustained by occupants on top of their base lease that are used to cover regular charges to keep the shared spaces of an offered residential or commercial property.

How Does Common Area Maintenance Work?

Common location upkeep (CAM) charges are different charges incurred each month on top of the base rent to cover expenses associated with residential or commercial property upkeep.

CAM represents "Common Area Maintenance", and refers to the charges paid by occupants to their property manager for the maintenance of a residential or commercial property's typical area.

The value of common location maintenance (CAM) tends to be higher for business property (CRE) residential or commercial properties since there are more occupants and shared spaces in such residential or commercial properties.
calabashlakesrealestate.com
- Usable Area → The functional location is the area that leased by a particular occupant. Therefore, the usable square video footage in a building is what is inhabited by a special renter, inclusive of toilets, personal conference spaces, and specific workplaces.

  • Common Area → In contrast, the common location of a building is not leased to a specific however is rather accessible to all occupants for collective usage. These shared locations can include lobbies, parking space, roofing system decks, and elevators.

    So, who pays for the costs connected to maintaining the common location?

    Since all tenants have the right to make use of the area, as part of the leasing arrangement, each of them contribute towards such payments, typically on a pro rata basis.

    With those earnings, the landlord is expected by tenants to ensure the common areas are kept organized and tidy, while fixing problems or fixing damages.

    What Does Common Area Maintenance Include?

    The most frequent types of typical areas at residential or commercial properties consist of the following examples:

    - Lobby and Hallway.
  • Open Area Workspace.
  • Gym (Public Gym).
  • Janitorial Services.
  • Elevators. - Parking Spaces.
  • Shared Amenities.
  • Surrounding Outdoor Areas (Pool).
  • Building Security and Alarm Systems.
  • Concierge Services.
  • Roofing and Landscaping

    For circumstances, if the elevator shared by all occupants were to malfunction, the proprietor is responsible for fixing the issue promptly.

    The clause relating to common area maintenance (CAM) charges is stated in business realty leases, where the specific terms around the legal commitments of each party (the lessor and the lessee) are set.

    Furthermore, the kind of lease signed in between the two parties is essential to determining each party's respective responsibilities, e.g. triple web (NNN).

    How to Calculate CAM Charges

    The CAM charges matter in realty, particularly for industrial residential or commercial properties, due to the fact that the charges affect the overall cost of devoting to a rental arrangement at an offered residential or commercial property.

    In many leasing arrangements, the tenants pay a portion of the overall CAM on a pro rata basis per the worked out agreement, i.e. in percentage with the amount of square video leased.

    The computation of each occupant's typical location upkeep (CAM) charge, revealed on an annual basis, can be determined by dividing the occupant's square video footage by the gross leasable location in the structure.

    - Step 1 → Divide the Tenant's Rentable Square Footage (RSF) by the Gross Leasable Area (GLA) of the Residential or commercial property.
  • Step 2 → Multiply the Pro-Rata Share (%) by the Estimated Annual CAM Charges of the Residential or commercial property.
  • Step 3 → Convert the Annual CAM Charge of an Occupant into a Monthly Fee (Divide by Twelve Months)

    Common Area Maintenance Formula (CAM)

    The common location upkeep (CAM) incurred by each renter is determined by increasing their respective pro-rata share of expenses by the anticipated annual CAM charge.

    Where:

    - Pro-Rata Share (%) = Tenant Rentable Square Footage (RTF) ÷ Gross Leasable Area (GLA).
  • Annual CAM Charge = Σ Monthly CAM Fees × 12 Months

    Since the renter CAM charge is an annualized metric, the amount must be divided by twelve to transform into a regular monthly charge.

    Conversely, an alternative approach to calculate the CAM charges is on a per square foot (sq. ft.) basis, which is done by the estimated yearly CAM charges by the residential or commercial property's leasable square video footage.

    Since CAM costs are most typically allocated based on the amount of area inhabited, the tenants with more space rented will incur more CAM charges (and vice versa).

    Common location upkeep is usually calculated on an annualized basis, and after that divided into regular monthly payments attributable to each renter on a per square foot basis.

    Usually at the start of each year, a residential or commercial property owner will predict the upcoming typical location maintenance (CAM) costs for the entire residential or commercial property as part of the annual budget, which affects pricing.

    Broadly put, CAM charges fall under 2 classifications:

    1. Controllable Charges → The residential or commercial property owner has direct impact over manageable charges (e.g. administrative costs, staff payroll).
  1. Uncontrollable Charges → On the other hand, unmanageable charges, stay outside the residential or commercial property owner's control and are unforeseeable (e.g. snow storm, fire).

    However, CAM charge rate caps and floorings can set constraints on how much rent can be adjusted.

    FAQ: Is Capital Expenditure Included in CAM?

    For the a lot of part, capital expenditures (Capex) are left out from typical area upkeep (CAM), based on the context of the invest.

    Why? Capex related the residential or commercial property improvements, such as constructing a more contemporary fitness center for tenants, are a form of discretionary costs (and part of the proprietor's cost of ownership).

    However, certain non-discretionary capital expenses can be categorized as typical area upkeep, such as repairing a damaged A/C system, which affects all existing (and future) occupants.

    Common Area Maintenance Calculator (CAM)

    We'll now proceed to a modeling exercise, which you can access by filling out the form below.

    Get the Excel Template!

    CAM Charges Calculation Example

    Suppose a residential or commercial property owner is estimating the common area maintenance (CAM) charges expected on their industrial office complex for the approaching year, 2024.

    The total annual CAM charges for the whole office complex are projected to be $260k, while the gross leasable location (GLA) is 50k sq. ft.

    - Annual CAM Charge = $260,000.
  • Gross Leasable Area (GLA) = 50,000 sq. ft.

    After dividing the overall annual CAM charges by the gross leasable location (GLA), the CAM charge per square foot is $5.20, which represents the quantity that each commercial tenant must contribute based upon the amount of square video footage rented each year.

    - CAM Charge per Square Footage = $260,000 ÷ 50,000 sq. ft. = $5.20

    The approximated CAM charge per square footage - $5.20 sq. ft. - must then be allocated in percentage with each tenant's pro-rata share.

    The pro-rata share is identified by dividing the specific renter's square video by the gross leasable location (GLA) of the office building.

    Therefore, if one of the business renters rented an overall of 6k sq. ft., the pro-rata share is 12%.

    - Pro-Rata Share (%) = 6,000 sq. ft. ÷ 50,000 sq.
    .
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Reference: raymonstrouse4/commercialproperty#1