CAM (common area maintenance)
What is CAM? Charges a landlord collects back from tenants for shared spaces such as security, cleaning and power, usually split by the area each tenant occupies.
In plain words
In a mall or business park, the landlord pays for shared services such as security, housekeeping and power for corridors. CAM is how that cost is shared back among the tenants, usually by the area each one occupies.
A worked example
A mall has 20,000 sq ft of leased area and a CAM cost of ₹4,00,000 for the month.
| Tenant | Area | Share of area | CAM due |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenant A | 2,000 sq ft | 10% | ₹40,000 |
| Tenant B | 500 sq ft | 2.5% | ₹10,000 |
If Tenant A is billed only ₹30,000 because the old rate was never updated, the landlord under-recovers ₹10,000 every month. Whether caps, exclusions or a management fee apply depends on each lease. Confirm the GST and TDS treatment with your CA.
Why it matters
- Cost. Under-recovered CAM comes straight out of the landlord's income, month after month.
- Deadline. Tenants dispute statements that arrive late or do not tie to the lease.
- Risk. A pool shared on the wrong basis over-charges some tenants, and an audit request will find it.
See a CAM statement worked out for one of your properties.
How Kinnow handles it
In Pact, a property's CAM pool can be shared by area, revenue, equally or on your own basis. The shares add up to the pool exactly. Kinnow drafts a per-period CAM statement for each tenant (pool, share, billed and the difference), and it is never sent without a person. Caps, exclusions and gross-up are not held on the lease record, so the statement names them as not applied.
The CAM Recovery agent flags the gap between what was due and what was billed, by tenant. It is validated with each client. See also mall leases that bill exactly like the lease says.
Limits today: a property whose active leases sit in different companies cannot be shared automatically until the data is sorted out, and lease and CAM invoices raised in Leases & contracts (Pact) are not yet posted to the ledger automatically. The receivable is recorded on the finance side separately.
Questions
What is CAM?
Charges a landlord collects back from tenants for shared spaces such as security, cleaning and power, usually split by the area each tenant occupies.
Can CAM be shared on something other than area?
Yes. Kinnow can share a pool by area, by revenue, equally or on a basis you set.
Does Kinnow send CAM statements to tenants?
No. It drafts the statement and a person sends it. The draft names anything it could not apply, such as caps or exclusions.
Ask us to run your last month of CAM against your leases.