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CAM (Common Area Maintenance)

By Jason Taken, business broker · HedgeStone Business Advisors · Updated 2026-09-04 · 1 min read

CAM, or common area maintenance, is a tenant's share of the cost of operating shared areas of a property: parking, landscaping, lighting, snow removal, security, and management. It is billed on top of base rent, usually estimated monthly and reconciled annually.

Why CAM Matters in a Laundromat Sale

CAM is where a rent number that looked acceptable becomes one that is not. Uncapped CAM with no audit right exposes a tenant to costs it cannot forecast, and a laundromat's long hours and high customer traffic can attract a disproportionate allocation. Rent ran a median 18% of gross revenue among CLA survey respondents, with a 24% mean the association attributes partly to extreme responses (Source: CLA 2024 Laundry Industry Survey) — occupancy cost is not a rounding error.

Example

Base rent of $4,100 a month plus CAM estimated at $900 is $60,000 a year. An annual reconciliation adding $7,400 for an unbudgeted parking-lot resurfacing lands as a single invoice, and without a cap or audit right the tenant's options are limited.

What to Check

  • Get three years of CAM reconciliations, not just the current estimate.
  • Check for a cap and an audit right, and whether either has ever been exercised.
  • Compute all-in occupancy cost per square foot before comparing stores.

Where This Comes Up

  • NNN (Triple Net Lease) — NNN, or triple net
  • Lease Assignment — A lease assignment transfers a tenant's rights and obligations under an existing lease to a new tenant
  • Option Period (Lease) — An option period is an additional lease term a tenant may elect to take after the base term expires
  • Utility Ratio — Utility ratio is utilities expressed as a percentage of gross revenue

See the full laundromat glossary for all 78 terms.

The Next Step

Sources

This page is general information about laundromat transactions, not legal, tax, or investment advice, and not a guarantee of sale price, timing, or financing approval. Verify current rules with your own CPA, attorney, lender, and the relevant state or municipal agency before acting.