Florida Commercial Lease CAM & Operating-Expense Review Checklist

This resource is a review checklist for Florida business tenants and their advisors who are about to sign a commercial or retail lease with operating-expense, CAM, and pass-through obligations. It is built to catch the terms that turn into a surprise year-end "true-up" bill long after the base rent is negotiated.

A commercial lease, unlike a Florida residential lease, has no statutory safety net. The operating-expense clauses mean exactly what the document says, and they are drafted by the landlord. This checklist walks through the six clauses that decide a commercial tenant's real cost: the operating-expense definition, the exclusion list, the annual cap on controllable expenses, the gross-up provision, the pro rata share and base year, and the audit rights and reconciliation timeline.

It is a practical planning document, not a substitute for legal advice. If the lease runs multiple years, involves uncapped pass-throughs, or the landlord has already sent a reconciliation you cannot verify, the checklist should be paired with an attorney review of the actual lease before you sign or before the dispute window closes.

What the PDF covers

• The six operating-expense clauses that decide what a commercial tenant really pays.
• Which capital and structural costs should be excluded from the pass-through.
• How to test the cap, the gross-up, and the pro rata share for common errors.
• The audit-right and reconciliation-timing terms to secure before signing.