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Expense Recovery Calculator

Commercial leases pass operating expenses to tenants through expense recovery. Base year leases charge the tenant only for increases over a reference year; stop leases use a fixed threshold. This calculator runs pro-rata share, base year stop math, and adds the landlord's admin fee.

$
$
%

Tenant expense reimbursement

$38,180

Pro-rata tenant share of expenses

$36,000

Expenses over base year stop

$33,200

Admin fee $

$4,980

Reimbursement / SF

$4.77

Tenant pro-rata share

20.00%

How the math works

Expense recovery passes recoverable operating costs to tenants on a pro-rata SF basis. Base year lease: tenant pays over base year expenses. Stop lease: tenant pays over a fixed stop. NNN lease: tenant pays 100%, no base. Admin fees (10-15%) are added to cover property accounting cost.

Audit rights let tenants verify recoverable costs. Always carve out capex, finance charges, and owner partnership expenses from recoverables — these are the biggest dispute categories.

How to Use

  1. Enter total recoverable expenses for the period.
  2. Enter tenant SF and building total SF.
  3. Enter base year stop or fixed expense stop amount.
  4. Enter admin fee percent.
  5. Read tenant reimbursement, over-base amount, and per-SF cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

Base year vs stop?

Base year = first year's expenses establish the tenant's 'expense stop' dynamically; subsequent years increase over that base. Fixed stop = a pre-set dollar amount, doesn't change year to year.

What's recoverable?

Typically property tax, insurance, janitorial, utilities, landscaping, security, elevator maintenance, CAM. NOT recoverable: capex, debt service, property management salaries, owner legal/accounting, marketing.

Admin fee purpose?

Covers the landlord's accounting, invoicing, and audit cost — 10-15% is typical on top of recoverable expenses. Some markets cap at 10%; others allow 15-20%.

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