Common Area Maintenance | CAM Charges

Common Area Maintenance (CAM/RUBS) tool is included in the Rentec PM subscription to automate posting shared CAM Pool charges.

Important Note: You may want to speak with your accountant regarding the preferred chart of accounts for CAM charges and payments.

The following three quick steps walk you through creating and applying CAM Pool charges.

Create a Custom Product (Chart of Account)

In your Rentec Direct account:

1. Click Settings
2. Under the Financial section, choose Product & Services
3. Click the +Add Product button
4. Add a description and set the type to Other
5. Click the Save New Product button when finished

Note: Click here for more helpful information on how to Customize and Add Other Tenant Charges.

Create a CAM pool

Once the products have been created, the CAM Pools are easily added.

In your Rentec Direct account:

1. Click Settings
2. Under Financial click on CAM Pools
3. Click on +New CAM Pool
   
   

   

4. Select and configure the CAM selecting the appropriate product
   1. Description: What you want to name the Pool. Often this is property-specific, so name it something descriptive like "Park Plaza Electricity Pool"
   2. Amount:  Total amount to be shared
   3. Estimated: Check this box if the amount is estimated (this will often be the case)  
   4. Frequency: Specify the frequency to charge this CAM. The charge will post on the rent due date during the month and frequency specified.
   5. Months: Define the specific months this charge will apply
   6. Start and End Date: This is the duration the CAM Pool will apply
   7. Notes: For internal use

Note: For quarterly charges, specify one month during each quarter and one month for a yearly charge.

Tip: When "estimated" is checked, reports will indicate the estimated values, so it's easy to identify them for later reconciliation.

Add CAM Charge to Tenants

Now that the product and CAM have been created, you will need to add CAM Pools to the Tenants.

In your Rentec Direct account:

1. Click Tenants
2. Right-click on a tenant and select CAM Charges
3. Select the desired CAM Pool that you set up in the previous step
   
   

   

   
   

4. Configure CAM charges for the tenant by first selecting a CAM Pool in the drop-down, then configuring the remaining parameters:
   1. Start & End: This works the same as the start and end dates for the CAM Pool; only these dates are tenant-specific. Typically, these dates will mimic the lease dates.
   2. Percent: If the CAM Pool is percent-based, put in the percentage that this tenant will be charged.
   3. Fixed: If a fixed amount is to be charged, enter this here. Any amount other than 0.00 is entered
5. Once configured, click the + icon under Actions to add the CAM Pool and add additional CAM Pools as needed. 
6. Save Changes 

Note: Any value other than 0.00 in "Fixed" will override the percent field.

Important Note: If there is a CAM charge specified to run monthly and the tenant is charged rent quarterly, the CAM charges will only apply quarterly.  This case is pretty uncommon, but if you have this specific scenario, you will want to use a recurring charge instead.  Recurring Transactions run independently of rent charges.