An unexpected additional-rent statement should be reviewed against the lease and a reproducible calculation—not accepted or rejected from the total alone. The tenant work plan should preserve contractual deadlines, identify the evidence actually available, test the calculation and route unresolved legal, accounting or tax issues to the right advisor.
This is general information, not legal, tax, environmental, engineering, accounting or investment advice. Obtain advice specific to the property and transaction.
1. Preserve the notice and review timeline
Record the date, delivery method, fiscal period, amount due or credited, payment deadline and every lease deadline for questions, inspection, objection or dispute. Counsel should determine the effect of payment, partial payment, reservation of rights or missed deadlines.
Do not assume the statement creates a universal right to audit or a universal duty to provide every invoice. The executed lease, amendments and applicable law require property-specific interpretation.
2. Assemble the complete lease record
Collect the executed lease, amendments, renewals, assignments, estoppels and prior reconciliations. Abstract the definitions, premises area, share, inclusions, exclusions, caps, base year, gross-up, management, capital, statement timing and review provisions with exact section references.
Compare the abstraction to the current premises and term. Expansions, contractions, commencement dates and mid-year amendments can require more than one period calculation.
3. Rebuild the statement from top to bottom
Separate property-level actual costs, adjustments, recoverable pool, tenant allocation, monthly estimates, prior balances, credits and GST. Recalculate every subtotal and formula independently.
Compare at least the current statement, budget and prior-year final statement. A large variance is a review signal, not proof of error; identify the categories and source changes causing it.
4. Test premises area and proportionate share
Confirm the charged premises area, denominator, effective dates and separately allocated areas. Request the measurement record or share schedule available under the lease process.
If BOMA or another standard is referenced, identify the property-type standard and edition. BOMA currently publishes separate office, industrial, retail and mixed-use methods; the label alone does not establish the correct rentable area.
5. Trace property tax to the owner record
Compare the recovered amount to the property tax notice, supplementary or amended bills, refunds, credits and local improvement charges made available for review. Confirm the period, parcel or tax account and lease allocation.
Assessment is not the same as the tax bill, and the tax bill is not automatically the tenant's recoverable amount. Keep the municipal source and lease calculation as separate steps.
6. Review services, insurance and utilities by category
For material maintenance and service categories, compare vendor, service period, contract scope, credits and allocation. Identify related-party providers, portfolio invoices or tenant-specific work where relevant to the lease review.
Separate landlord insurance and common utilities from tenant policies and direct utility accounts. Check estimated meter readings, submeters, vacant-space treatment and administration charges where applicable.
7. Test exclusions, capital and duplicate recovery
Compare each category to lease exclusions for financing, depreciation, structural work, capital, leasing costs, tenant inducements, penalties, owner negligence, casualty or other defined items. The actual exclusions depend on the document.
Check for costs recovered elsewhere through direct billing, insurance, warranties, grants, another tenant or a prior reconciliation. Record the evidence and calculation rather than alleging duplication without support.
8. Recalculate gross-up, caps and management fees
For gross-up, identify eligible variable categories, actual occupancy, target occupancy and the formula. For caps or expense stops, show the base amount, applicable exclusions, annual or cumulative method and current-year result.
For management or administration, identify the rate and cost base. Test whether the fee is applied to taxes, insurance, utilities, capital recovery, other management charges or excluded costs contrary to the lease abstraction.
9. Reconcile GST and invoice support
CRA states that basic rent and many additional-rent amounts for a taxable commercial lease are subject to GST/HST, including certain property-tax recoveries. It also notes that some amounts labelled additional rent may have different treatment depending on the supply.
Confirm the landlord's invoice shows the applicable tax treatment and required information. A registrant tenant should retain the documentation its tax advisor identifies as necessary to support any input tax credit claim.
10. Submit a precise issue ledger
For each question, cite the lease section, statement line, amount, supporting record, calculation and requested response. Classify it as missing evidence, arithmetic, area, allocation, category, timing, tax or legal interpretation.
Route factual and calculation questions through the required notice channel. Counsel should address rights, remedies, reservations and disputes; accounting and tax advisors should address financial and GST conclusions. Commercially can support lease-option comparison and representation strategy but does not perform a lease audit or legal opinion.
Primary sources
Verify the current rules.
Government and regulator pages can change. These links were reviewed on August 26, 2026.
CRA: Commercial real property — sales and rentals↗CRA: Charge and collect the GST/HST↗Alberta: Municipal property assessment↗City of Calgary: Non-residential property assessments↗City of Edmonton: Non-residential assessment details↗BOMA International: Building measurement standards↗RECA: Real Estate Act Rules↗A real property decision?
If occupancy economics are driving a renewal or relocation decision, share the market, premises, budget and timing. Commercially can compare live alternatives and organize the commercial representation workstream.Who, how and why
Who: Commercially Research & Editorial.
How: Primary-source research and AI-assisted drafting were used to organize this guide around a practical commercial real estate decision. Source links, factual claims and material limitations were checked against Commercially's editorial standards on the review date.
Why: To help owners, buyers and tenants identify the records, questions and professional advice that belong in a real transaction work plan.
Editorial owner: Commercially Research & Editorial.
Commercial review: Slav Loban, Commercial Real Estate Division Leader.
Questions or corrections: hello@commercially.ca
Editorial review and correction standard →