Natural gas charges for common area heating systems, lobby heating, and shared mechanical equipment.
Key Takeaways
| Lease Type | Recoverable? | Controllable? |
|---|---|---|
| NNN | Yes | No |
| Modified Gross | Yes | No |
| Full-Service Gross | No | No |
Approximate budget share: 2-5% of total CAM pool.
Common area gas charges cover natural gas used to heat lobbies, corridors, stairwells, shared mechanical rooms, and other spaces accessible to all building occupants. In a typical NNN or modified gross lease, these costs are recoverable from tenants as a pro-rata pass-through of actual utility cost. The abuse pattern arises when landlords bundle tenant suite heating gas, their own management office consumption, or on-site construction trailer usage into the same meter that feeds the common area allocation. Without sub-metering, tenants have no way to verify that only true common area consumption appears on their statement. Markups above the actual commodity price are another common issue: some landlords apply an administrative surcharge to utility pass-throughs that the lease does not authorize. Seasonality is a useful diagnostic tool. Gas consumption for heating should correlate with heating degree days for the property location. If landlord-provided gas charges increase in a mild winter, or increase year-over-year without a corresponding change in building occupancy or square footage, demand a written explanation supported by the actual utility invoices from the gas supplier.
Overcharge Risk
$1,000-$4,000/year
typical annual overcharge when this line item is disputed
Gas for tenant-specific HVAC or heating systems is bundled with common area gas charges. Landlords also pass through gas used for their own offices or construction trailers.
| Legitimate Charge | Suspicious Charge |
|---|---|
| Gas billed at actual utility rate for lobby and corridor heating systems on a dedicated common area meter | Gas charges with no sub-metering documentation and no itemization of which systems are served |
| Seasonal cost variation consistent with local heating degree day data | Gas costs increasing during a milder-than-average winter or remaining flat during a severe winter |
| Utility invoices available for tenant inspection that match the billed amounts | Rounded monthly gas charges with no supporting utility bills provided on request |
| Common area gas excludes landlord office suites per a documented metering configuration | Landlord office heating included in the common area meter with no exclusion or credit |
Request utility bills and verify gas charges are limited to common area heating systems. Demand sub-metering for any building where individual tenant HVAC is gas-fired. Cross-reference consumption against heating degree days for the relevant billing period to validate the charges are weather-consistent.
Check Your Gas (Common Area Heating) Charges
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