Whether the CAM cap resets annually or compounds cumulatively year over year. Cumulative caps are significantly more favorable to tenants.
Also known as: compounding cap, rolling cap, annual reset cap, cumulative cap
By Angel Campa, Founder · Updated March 2026
This field clarifies the precise behavior of the CAM cap. Under an annual reset cap, the maximum increase is calculated fresh each year from the prior year's actual charges. Under a cumulative cap, the maximum is calculated from the base year with compounding, allowing the landlord to recover expenses deferred by low-increase years. The financial difference over a 10-year term can exceed 20% of total CAM costs.
Found in the "Operating Expenses" or "CAM Cap" section, near the cap percentage definition. Look for phrases like "compounding annually from the Base Year" (cumulative) or "shall not exceed X% over the prior year's actual amount" (annual reset).
Lextract uses a combination of AWS Textract OCR and Claude AI to identify and extract the cam cap type (cumulative vs annual) from your lease PDF. The AI searches for the field name and common aliases like "compounding cap", "rolling cap" across all pages of the document, then assigns a confidence score based on OCR quality and extraction certainty. Fields with lower confidence are flagged for human review.
Lextract automatically checks this field against its 15-rule red flag engine. Issues detected for cam cap type (cumulative vs annual):
Lease Structure
The categorization of expense sharing.
Pro Rata Share
The tenant's fractional responsibility for total building operating expenses.
Base Year
The foundational year used to calculate operating expense increases in gross leases.
CAM Cap %
The maximum allowable annual increase for controllable operating expenses.
CAM Cap Type
Specifies whether the CAM cap is cumulative and compounding or non-cumulative.
Gross-Up %
The assumed occupancy level used to extrapolate variable operating expenses.
A cumulative cap compounds from the base year. With a 5% cumulative cap and $100,000 base year CAM, the cap in year 3 is $100,000 x 1.05^3 = $115,763. Even if actual expenses only rose to $104,000 in year 2, the year 3 cap is still $115,763, allowing a larger single-year increase.
Tenants should strongly prefer non-cumulative (annual reset) caps. These limit each year's increase independently, preventing the landlord from "catching up" after low-cost years. Cumulative caps are more favorable to landlords because unused cap allowances carry forward.
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