In a commercial real estate context, expenses that are necessary for the operation, management, and maintenance of a commercial property. A tenant typically pays its proportionate share of operating expenses as additional rent. In triple net leases, all operating expenses are passed through to commercial tenants. In gross leases, operating expenses are included in the base rent.

Operating expenses typically include:

Landlords often broadly define operating expenses to recover from their tenants as much of their costs and expenses as possible. Tenants often try to negotiate exclusions to the operating expenses to limit the costs payable under their leases.

For sample operating expense clauses in an office lease, see: