CAM Detection Rules
I built CAMAudit because manual reconciliation review misses patterns that repeat across hundreds of leases. After testing reconciliation samples from published audit cases through CAMAudit, I catalogued 20 distinct error patterns, some pure arithmetic, others requiring AI-powered lease classification. Every check is deterministic: our tool either surfaces a measurable discrepancy or it does not. No heuristics, no guesswork.
Math-based rules
These rules run deterministic calculations against the lease terms and the reconciliation figures. No AI involved, the math either checks out or it does not.
Management Fee Overcharge
Calculates the maximum management fee your lease permits and flags the exact dollar overage when the actual fee exceeds that cap.
Pro-Rata Share Error
Verifies your pro-rata share fraction against your lease and calculates overcharges caused by an incorrect denominator or numerator.
Gross-Up Violation
Checks whether required gross-up adjustments were applied to variable expenses when building occupancy fell below your lease threshold.
CAM Cap Violation
Compares year-over-year CAM charges against your lease cap and calculates the exact dollar amount charged above the permitted increase.
Base Year Error
Detects understated base year expenses that inflate every subsequent CAM reconciliation charge for the life of your lease.
Controllable Expense Cap Overcharge
Calculates whether controllable expenses exceeded your lease cap and flags both reclassification tricks and annual increase overages.
Estimated Payment True-Up Error
Verifies the reconciliation true-up matches expected amount after subtracting estimated payments already made.
Classification rules
These rules use AI classification to read lease language and cross-reference each billed line item against what the lease actually permits. Our tool flagged recurring patterns of lease-prohibited pass-throughs in every reconciliation sample we tested.
Gross Lease Charges
Flags CAM charges billed to tenants whose gross lease already covers those costs in their all-in rent.
Excluded Service Charges
Identifies expense categories your lease explicitly prohibits from CAM pass-through, such as capital costs, executive compensation, and bad debt reserves.
Insurance Overcharge
Classifies insurance line items and flags specialty or executive coverage types that are not eligible for CAM pass-through under your lease.
Tax Overallocation
Checks whether real estate taxes were allocated to the correct parcel and flags special assessments not authorized by your lease.
Utility Overcharge
Detects utility costs for individually-metered tenant spaces or non-common areas that should not appear in the shared CAM pool.
Common Area Misclassification
Uses AI classification to identify capital improvements, leasing costs, and construction work disguised as routine maintenance in CAM.
Landlord Overhead Pass-Through
Identifies landlord corporate overhead, executive compensation, and internal administrative costs improperly billed as CAM operating expenses.
GL CapEx in Operating Pool
Cross-checks the general ledger for capital projects, replacements, and improvements included in operating expense pools.
Vendor Concentration / Related-Party Risk
Flags concentrated vendor spend and related-party patterns that may require invoice backup or lease scrutiny.
GL vs. Statement Total Mismatch
Compares statement totals against GL support to find missing, duplicated, or unexplained reconciliation amounts.
GL Period / Timing Error
Checks GL posting dates and service periods for charges outside the reconciliation year.
Capex Amortization Compliance
Verifies that capital expenditure amortization schedules comply with the lease terms and that only the current-year portion is billed.
Allocation Methodology Mismatch
Detects inconsistencies between the allocation methodology used in the reconciliation and the method specified in the lease.
See the rules in action
Learn how the full pipeline works or read case studies showing real reconciliation errors our tool surfaced.