BOMA Office Guide

The Difference Between BOMA 1980 & 1996

Building Common Area is the key feature that distinguishes BOMA 1996 from BOMA 1980.

In determining the rentable area of a floor and its comprising tenants, BOMA 1980 employs floor common area only. While straightforward, there are important limitations to consider when using BOMA 1980. For example, tenants residing on floors with large portions of common area are penalized by large gross-up factors. This problem is particularly evident on ground floors, where lobby areas and other building amenities are considered floor common area and are shared by ground floor tenants exclusively. This generally results in exorbitant gross-up factors when compared to "typical" building floors. It is also important to note that BOMA 1980 makes no provisions for floors that do not have tenant areas such as mechanical floors. As a result, BOMA 1980 does not recover rent for such floors at all.

BOMA 1996 employs floor common area (like BOMA 1980) and additionally, building common area. Building common area is comprised of building lobbies, mechanical penthouses and other building amenities. These areas are proportionately shared by all of the tenants in the building resulting in a more equitable distribution of common area in general. The inclusion of non-tenanted floors (such as mechanical floors) and its allocation as building common area generally results in larger total rentable areas and improved recovery of operating costs if compared to BOMA 1980. It is should be noted that an entire building must be measured in order to perform BOMA 1996 rentable area calculations.

Extreme Measures developed this guide in response to queries regarding BOMA measuring standards. This information should be used for reference purposes only. Extreme Measures Inc. in no way endorses the information provided. For complete information, please refer to the official publications of BOMA International.

Quick Contact