A base year that is artificially low means every future year reconciliation will show a larger increase, and you will pay more above the baseline for the life of your lease. Landlords sometimes set the base year during a period of reduced occupancy, deferred maintenance, or tax abatement, knowing that expenses will revert to normal levels and the tenant will absorb the difference. CAMAudit analyzes the base year figures for anomalies.
TL;DR
An artificially low base year inflates every reconciliation for the entire lease term; correcting it produces cumulative savings that compound annually.
Who this is for
Tenants who suspect that their base year operating expenses were set during an abnormal period and do not reflect typical building operating costs.
Who this is not for
Tenants on a NNN lease with no base year structure, where the tenant pays actual operating expenses rather than increases over a baseline.
Base Year Error
CAMAudit compares the base year operating expenses to subsequent years and flags anomalies that suggest the base year was artificially depressed, including unusually low line items, missing expense categories, and tax abatement periods.
Gross-Up Violation
The scan checks whether the base year expenses were grossed up as required by your lease. If base year expenses were calculated at low occupancy without gross-up, but current year expenses are grossed up, the comparison is unfairly skewed.
Tax Overallocation
CAMAudit flags base year tax amounts that reflect a tax abatement or assessment appeal that has since expired, which would make the base artificially low compared to current taxes.
Upload two PDFs. 14 detection rules. Under 15 minutes. Free.
Next Best Step
Scenario pages should bridge from diagnosis into the dispute path and audit proof.
Use the audit process if you still need to validate the billing error.
Use the dispute playbook if the issue is already active.
Run the free audit once you are ready to quantify the overcharge.
Ready to skip the reading and document the overcharge directly?
Find My OverchargesNeed to extract lease terms before your audit?
A CAM audit is only as accurate as your lease data. lextract.io extracts 126 structured fields from any commercial lease PDF: CAM definitions, pro-rata share, caps, base year, and audit rights. So you have the exact terms your landlord is supposed to follow.
Go to lextract.ioThis page provides general educational information. It is not legal advice and may not reflect the most current law in your state. Consult a licensed attorney for advice specific to your situation.
