How to review administrative fees on a CAM reconciliation

Read the lease before judging the label

• Find the operating expense definition, exclusions, any management-fee allowance or cap, and the section that describes the fee's calculation.
• Check amendments and renewal documents too. Record the lease section and exact wording you are relying on.
• Compare the reconciliation's category and charge period with the lease language. Similar labels can describe different costs.

Reproduce the calculation

• Identify the stated base: operating expenses, a subset of costs, or another defined amount. Ask for the calculation if the base is unclear.
• Recalculate any stated percentage or fixed amount from the listed base and compare it with the charge shown.
• Check whether the lease applies a cap, tenant share, gross-up, or other adjustment to this category. Keep each check separate and avoid adding overlapping amounts together.
• If the reconciliation groups fees with other expenses, request enough detail to trace the fee and avoid counting it twice.

Document a specific question

For each item, save the statement row, category, amount, period, calculation, lease section, and the document or explanation needed to resolve it. Note the notice deadline and delivery method stated in your lease.

Clawback's free estimate can flag a category you list as excluded, plus supplied expense-cap, administrative-fee, gross-up, and pro-rata comparisons. Exclusion names must match the CSV category exactly. For a fee row, use admin_fee_max_amount for the whole-building dollar limit from the lease, or provide both admin_fee_base_amount and admin_fee_max_percent to apply the stated percentage to the base you enter. Enter the tenant's pro-rata share in the estimator. If the landlord already shows the tenant-billed fee, include tenant_amount; otherwise the estimate applies the tenant share to the reported fee. You must identify the correct base and rate from the lease; Clawback does not interpret lease language.

category,amount,admin_fee_max_amount,tenant_amount
Administrative fee,4000,3000,350

In this example, a 10% tenant share gives a $300 tenant portion of the supplied $3,000 building limit. The $350 tenant-billed fee is $50 above that screening limit. Verify the fee base, math, and lease language before treating it as a discrepancy.

The same screen can calculate a supplied percentage rule: enter admin_fee_base_amount=100000 and admin_fee_max_percent=3 for a $3,000 building limit. The estimate does not determine whether that base is correct.

Use the supporting-records question guide and worksheet to keep follow-up requests tied to the reconciliation line and lease language.

Use the full CAM reconciliation checklist · Read a fictional sample paid report and letter

This guide is general information, not legal, accounting, or lease-administration advice. The executed lease and applicable facts control. Clawback flags are screening results, not verified overcharges or recovery estimates. Review the Terms and Privacy notice.