Service Charge Apportionment Calculator
Work out your share of a building service charge by floor area, check it against a cap, and see the cost per square foot and per month.
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Service charge is normally apportioned by floor area: your share of the budget equals your area as a proportion of the total lettable area of the building. It is simple arithmetic that is very often wrong in practice, because the total area used includes or excludes space inconsistently.
Checking the apportionment is worth doing every year. Where a cap applies, it is worth confirming whether it bites, and whether it is expressed per square foot or as a total.
The formula
Your share = total budget × (your area ÷ total lettable area). Where the lease sets a cap, your share is the lower of that calculation and the cap.
Worked example
A building with a 240,000 service charge budget and 40,000 square feet of lettable space charges 6 per square foot. A 3,000 square foot unit is 7.5% of the building, so its share is 18,000 a year, or 1,500 a month.
Check what the total area actually includes
If empty units are excluded from the total, the remaining tenants absorb the void costs and every share rises. Ask whether the denominator is total lettable area or only occupied area — the difference is the landlord's problem in the first case and yours in the second.
Put your number on the page that answers the question
Buyers remember whoever gave them the answer. A property page of your own carries this calculator, your listings and a WhatsApp button, so the next question comes to you.
Create your free property pageFrequently asked questions
What should a service charge cover?
Maintenance and repair of common parts, building insurance in some structures, security, cleaning, lifts, plant maintenance and management fees. Improvements as opposed to repairs are frequently not recoverable, which is a common source of dispute.
Can I challenge a service charge?
Usually yes. Most leases entitle a tenant to inspect the supporting accounts, and many jurisdictions give a statutory right to challenge costs that are unreasonable. Ask for the detailed breakdown before disputing the total.
Who pays for empty units?
It depends on whether the apportionment uses total lettable area or occupied area only. Total lettable area leaves void costs with the landlord; occupied-area apportionment spreads them across the remaining tenants.
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