If the landlord is charging you for HVAC costs to heat and cool vacant space, the gross-up calculation or pro-rata allocation may be wrong. Your share of variable expenses like HVAC should reflect actual occupied area or be limited by the gross-up provision in your lease. Paying to climate-control empty space is a textbook overcharge that CAMAudit detects automatically.
TL;DR
HVAC costs are among the largest variable expenses in commercial buildings; overpaying on your share of these costs adds up quickly, especially in extreme climate regions.
Who this is for
Tenants in a partially vacant building who suspect they are paying a disproportionate share of HVAC and utility costs because the landlord is allocating vacant space costs across occupied tenants.
Who this is not for
Tenants in a fully occupied building, or tenants whose lease explicitly requires them to pay HVAC costs for common areas regardless of occupancy.
Gross-Up Violation
CAMAudit checks whether variable expenses like HVAC are being grossed up to an occupancy level that exceeds the lease-permitted threshold, which is how vacant-space costs get shifted to occupied tenants.
Utility Overcharge
The scan flags utility costs, including HVAC, that are disproportionately allocated to your space relative to your lease-defined share.
Pro-Rata Share Error
CAMAudit verifies that the denominator used for utility allocation reflects the correct area. If vacant space is excluded from the denominator, your share of HVAC costs increases unfairly.
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.
