5 TMI overcharges hiding on Ontario commercial bills

Most Additional Rent overcharges are not exotic. The same handful shows up over and over, on strip-mall units, clinics, restaurants, and small offices. Here are five to look for, what each one looks like on a statement, and the lease clause that settles it.

1. A cost your lease excludes, sitting in the shared pool

This is the most common one. Your lease lists costs the landlord cannot pass through (capital replacements, structural repairs, leasing commissions, the landlord’s own head-office overhead), and then one of them shows up in the operating pool anyway. In a documented US federal case (Webster University, 4:25-cv-01778), a bed-bug treatment for an apartment unit was billed to a retail tenant’s CAM. The Ontario version is usually a roof or a parking-lot repaving booked as routine maintenance. Check the exclusions clause, then scan the pool for anything it names.

2. The management fee charged on the wrong base

Your lease says the manager can charge a percentage on operating costs. The statement takes that percentage on the full bill, including property taxes and insurance, which the lease usually leaves out of the fee base. The fee ends up bigger than the lease allows. Find the fee clause, note exactly which costs it applies to, and recompute.

3. A share percentage that does not match the lease

Your proportionate share should be your rentable area divided by the building’s. When a unit is added, removed, or re-measured and the statement is not updated, your percentage drifts. A share that is off by even one point moves real money on a large pool. Compare the percentage on the statement to the one your lease defines.

4. Estimates collected all year, never reconciled

You pay a monthly estimate. At year end the landlord is supposed to true it up to what was actually spent and refund or bill the difference. Sometimes the reconciliation never arrives, or arrives with no backing detail. If you cannot see the actuals behind your true-up, you cannot tell whether you overpaid. Ask for the reconciliation and the actuals.

5. An increase far above inflation, with no reason given

Ontario commercial TMI has no legal cap, so a big jump is not illegal on its own. But a number that runs several times inflation almost always has a specific cause: a reassessment, a capital project, a new line item. If nobody can point to the cause, that is where the other four problems tend to hide. You can gauge your own jump against inflation with the TMI increase calculator.

How to check your own bill

You do not need an accountant to start. Upload your lease and your reconciliation statement and the free check reads both, compares every charge to your lease terms with HST included, and flags what does not reconcile, each item tied to the exact clause. For the fundamentals, see the Ontario TMI & Additional Rent guide.

TMI Proof checks your lease and statement; it is not a law firm and nothing here is legal or tax advice. Figures and rules are general, and your lease and Ontario law govern. Confirm each finding with your accountant or a commercial-lease lawyer before acting.