Written by Angel Campa, Founder
CAMPDF, Excel

Lease Audit Checklist

A detailed lease audit checklist for reviewing landlord billing practices against executed lease terms. This checklist guides the audit process from document collection through final resolution, covering CAM charges, operating expenses, rent calculations, and insurance billing. It is designed for use by professional lease auditors and sophisticated tenants conducting self-audits.

By Angel Campa, Founder · Updated March 2026

Who Uses This & When

Used by lease auditors, real estate attorneys, and large tenants with multi-location portfolios to systematically identify overbillings in landlord CAM statements and recover overcharges.

Checklist Items (15)

  1. Request all supporting documentation: general ledger, vendor invoices, management agreements, and payroll records
  2. Obtain all CAM statements and reconciliations for the audit period (typically 3 years)
  3. Verify the audit window has not expired under the lease's audit rights provision
  4. Confirm tenant's pro-rata share percentage was correctly applied each year
  5. Audit management fee calculation against the contractual cap for each audit year
  6. Verify all capital expenditures were excluded or properly amortized as contractually permitted
  7. Check for expenses attributable to other tenants, vacant space, or excluded areas
  8. Verify gross-up calculations for years when building occupancy fell below the threshold
  9. Confirm all base year exclusions were consistently applied across audit years
  10. Check for duplicate billings across general ledger categories
  11. Audit insurance premium allocations - verify tenant is not paying for risks excluded from the lease
  12. Request contractor invoices for major repair line items to verify market-rate pricing
  13. Calculate total overcharges by year and apply any applicable interest provision
  14. Prepare audit findings report and submit dispute notice within the contractual deadline
  15. Negotiate settlement or pursue formal arbitration per the lease's dispute resolution process

Related Lease Fields

Lextract automatically extracts these fields from your lease PDF - eliminating the manual data collection underlying this checklist.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can a typical lease audit recover?

Commercial lease audits can uncover overbilling when CAM reconciliations, exclusions, caps, or gross-up provisions are misapplied. For tenants paying $100,000+ annually in CAM, even a small billing error can be financially meaningful. The recovery amount depends on lease complexity, landlord billing practices, and how long the audit period covers.

What is the typical lease audit window?

Most leases provide an audit right of 12-24 months from the date the CAM reconciliation statement is delivered. Some leases have a longer 36-month window covering multiple years. The audit must typically be completed within 60-90 days after notice is given. Missing the audit window permanently waives the right to dispute those charges.

Can landlords charge the tenant for the cost of an audit?

Landlords can charge audit costs to the tenant if the audit reveals no overbilling, or if the lease specifically permits cost recovery. If the audit reveals an overbilling above a specified threshold (often 3-5%), the lease typically requires the landlord to pay audit costs. Negotiating favorable audit cost provisions is important at lease inception.

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