What is a CAM true-up and why does it get billed wrong?

A CAM true-up is the year-end reconciliation payment that settles the difference between what you paid in monthly estimates and what you actually owed based on final operating expenses. Errors occur most commonly when landlords compute the balance manually in a spreadsheet outside the property management system, introducing incorrect pro-rata percentages, stale estimate totals, or simple arithmetic mistakes.

What inputs does Rule 18 require?

Rule 18 requires three inputs: the total building operating expenses from the reconciliation statement, the tenant pro-rata share from the lease, and the cumulative monthly estimates paid throughout the year. If the reconciliation statement does not include the estimate total, the tenant's own payment records (or A/P ledger) can supply that figure.

How does the tolerance work?

The tolerance is the greater of $50 or 0.5% of the tenant's share of actual expenses. This prevents Rule 18 from firing on rounding differences between the landlord's software and CAMAudit's calculation. Only amounts above the tolerance are flagged as overcharges.

Can the true-up work in the other direction: can the landlord owe me a refund?

Yes. If your cumulative monthly estimates exceeded your actual share of building expenses, the landlord owes you a credit. Rule 18 checks for overcharges in the billed direction, but the same formula applies: if expected true-up is negative (meaning you overpaid), the landlord should issue a credit. Review your reconciliation for a credit line if your estimates appear higher than the final expense allocation.

Math-Based Rule

Estimated Payment True-Up Error: How CAMAudit Detects This Overcharge

If your landlord's year-end reconciliation 'Balance Due' is higher than the difference between your actual CAM share and what you paid in monthly estimates, you're being overcharged. For a tenant paying $3,000/month in estimates, even a $3,200 arithmetic error on a single true-up is money that was never owed.

How CAMAudit Detects This

CAMAudit extracts the landlord's billed true-up amount from the reconciliation statement, specifically the line labeled 'Balance Due,' 'Year-End Adjustment,' or similar.

The tool then calculates the expected true-up using the building total operating expenses from the statement, the tenant pro-rata share from the lease, and the cumulative monthly estimates the tenant paid throughout the year.

If the billed true-up exceeds the expected true-up by more than the tolerance (the greater of $50 or 0.5% of the tenant share of actual expenses), Rule 18 fires and reports the overcharge amount.

Real-World Example

Charleston County, SC government leases office space managed by Thalhimer as property management agent. Public A/P records show the county wired a $41,283.76 CAM reconciliation payment in March 2019. In the fixture scenario: building total operating expenses of $412,837.60, tenant at 10% pro-rata share, actual tenant share of $41,283.76, monthly estimates paid of $3,000 times 12 equals $36,000. Correct true-up: $5,283.76. Landlord billed: $8,500.00. CAMAudit flagged the $3,216.24 overcharge.

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Estimated Payment True-Up Error: How CAMAudit Detects This Overcharge

How CAMAudit Detects This

CAMAudit extracts the landlord's billed true-up amount from the reconciliation statement, specifically the line labeled 'Balance Due,' 'Year-End Adjustment,' or similar.

If the billed true-up exceeds the expected true-up by more than the tolerance (the greater of $50 or 0.5% of the tenant share of actual expenses), Rule 18 fires and reports the overcharge amount.

Real-World Example

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Find overcharges in your CAM reconciliation. Most audits complete in under 5 minutes.

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