Common Area Maintenance (CAM)
Common Area Maintenance, or CAM, is the monthly charge a flat owner pays to keep shared spaces — lobbies, lifts, gardens, security, water pumps, DG sets — running. It is calculated per square foot of super built-up area and is the single largest recurring cost of apartment ownership after the home loan EMI.
What is Common Area Maintenance (CAM)?
Common Area Maintenance, almost always written as CAM, is the monthly fee an apartment owner pays to the Resident Welfare Association (RWA), Apartment Owners Association (AOA), or the builder's facility-management company to operate and maintain everything that lies outside the four walls of an individual flat. Lobbies, lifts, staircases, the clubhouse, swimming pool, gym, gardens, security guards, CCTV, water pumps, sewage treatment plant (STP), diesel generator (DG) set, common-area lighting, and the boundary wall all fall under CAM. In most Indian projects CAM is quoted in rupees per square foot per month, multiplied by the super built-up area of the flat, and billed monthly or quarterly.
Why it matters for property buyers
CAM is the single largest permanent cost of apartment ownership after the home loan EMI, and unlike the EMI it never ends. A 1,500 sqft 3BHK in a Bengaluru premium project at ₹4.5/sqft pays ₹6,750 a month — ₹81,000 a year, or roughly ₹24 lakh over a 30-year hold. In ultra-premium DLF, Lodha or Prestige projects CAM regularly crosses ₹8–12/sqft and rises 5–8% every year. Buyers who only model EMI and property tax routinely under-budget by 25–30%. CAM also varies wildly by amenity load: a no-frills mid-segment tower may charge ₹2.5/sqft while a project with five swimming pools, a 9-hole putting green and a concierge desk easily touches ₹15/sqft.
How to verify or calculate it
Three checks before you sign:
- Ask for the latest 12 months of CAM bills from any resident — not the builder. Builder-quoted CAM is almost always understated for the first 2–3 years and then jumps after handover to the AOA.
- Check the AOA's audited income & expenditure statement. A healthy CAM has 60–65% going to manpower (security + housekeeping), 15–20% to electricity & DG diesel, 10% to lift AMC + STP, and the rest to insurance and minor repairs. If manpower is over 75%, the project is over-staffed; if STP/DG line items are missing, those systems are likely not running.
- Compute CAM-to-rent ratio. Healthy projects sit at 8–12% (CAM is 8–12% of monthly rent). Above 18% the project is over-amenitised and rental yield will suffer.
How Brickplot uses CAM in its score
CAM feeds two axes in the Brickplot 11-axis rubric. It is a primary input to Pricing & Value (12% weight) — high CAM relative to rent drags pricing fairness — and it feeds Liveability / Build Quality (10%) because under-funded CAM is the leading indicator of failing lifts, dirty STPs, and dead landscaping within five years of possession. Projects whose CAM is below ₹2/sqft despite premium amenities are flagged as a future quality risk.
Related terms: Maintenance Deposit, Sinking Fund, Amenity Charges
Related terms
Brickplot verifies common area maintenance (cam) disclosures on every reviewed project as part of the independent 11-axis score. No builder commissions. No editorial override.