The vocabulary of property management — every term landlords, managers, and residents need, defined plainly and with an example.
Additional rent means charges beyond base rent that the lease enforces as rent. What it covers, why the label matters, and how to bill it.
Applicant screening verifies credit, income, rental history and references. How uniform criteria work and where fair-housing risk sits.
Cap rate is net operating income divided by value. How to calculate it, what it tells you, and where the number gets distorted.
CAM is a commercial tenant's pro-rata share of shared-space costs. How estimates, reconciliation and caps work in practice.
Delinquency is the state of being past due on rent. How aging buckets, late fees and escalation work without heading straight to eviction.
Escrow is money held by a third party until a condition is met. What it means for deposits, rent disputes and closings.
Fair market rent is what a unit would rent for today. How to estimate it from comparables and where the estimate goes wrong.
A gross lease bundles operating costs into one rent figure. How it differs from net leases and who carries the cost risk.
A holdover tenant stays past lease end without a new term. What status they hold, what rent applies and how to avoid the situation.
Lease abstraction pulls key terms out of an executed lease into structured fields. What to capture and why dates drive value.
Lease renewal extends a tenancy for a new term. Typical timing windows, what the offer should contain and what missing it costs.
NOI is property revenue minus operating expenses, before debt and taxes. What belongs in it and why classification changes value.
Occupancy rate is occupied units over total units. How physical and economic occupancy differ and which one to report.
Operating expenses are the recurring costs of running a property. What belongs in the pool, what does not, and why it matters.
Prorated rent covers a partial month, charged by day. The two common methods, worked examples, and which one the lease should name.
A rent ledger is the running record of charges, payments and balance on a lease. What it must show and why courts rely on it.
A rent roll snapshots every unit's lease terms, rent and balance as of a date. What lenders look for and how it goes stale.
A security deposit is money held against damage or unpaid rent. Holding rules, itemized returns and how disputes are avoided.
A tenant ledger is the per-resident record of charges, payments and balance. How it relates to the rent ledger and what to keep on it.
A triple-net lease passes taxes, insurance and maintenance to the tenant. How estimates and annual reconciliation work.
Vacancy rate is vacant units over total units. How to read it alongside days-on-market and what it costs per day.
A work order turns a maintenance request into a dispatched job with scope, vendor and budget. What every one should carry.
Rentable square feet is usable area plus a share of common space. How the load factor works and why quotes must state the basis.
A certificate of insurance evidences coverage for a tenant or vendor. What to require, what to check and why expiry tracking matters.
An escalation clause raises rent on a set schedule. Fixed versus index-based escalations and why missed ones cannot be recovered.