The Common Area Maintenance (CAM) charges paragraph of a lease is always important. It should detail what charges are included, and, by implication, what charges are not included.

In a recent New York case *, the lease CAM paragraph didn’t define all the charges, but did indicate that they included annual property taxes. After paying CAM charges for two years, including the tenant’s proportionate share of insurance on the property, the tenant realized that, perhaps, it wasn’t liable for insurance under the terms of its lease. The tenant sued to be reimbursed for the insurance portion of the CAM charges it had paid.

The court noted that the lease didn’t define the CAM charges, other than that it included the property taxes, and that the lease did have an insurance clause obligating the landlord to maintain insurance. That insurance clause did not mention a tenant’s obligation to pay its share of those costs.

Based on the lack of definition in the CAM clause, and the lack of requirement for the tenant to pay a proportionate share in the insurance clause, the court determined that the landlord would have to reimburse the tenant for its payment of those insurance charges.

What this points out, once again, is the need to have good counsel review your proposed lease to make sure you understand your obligations as a tenant. A well-qualified Tenant Representative and your real estate attorney should be able to tell you exactly what your obligations will be under your lease.

*I review the Commercial Tenant’s lease Insider, a monthly newsletter I receive, and this case was mentioned in the February issue.  The shopping center photo is from the Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online.