Your estate: places, units and shapes3 min read

Running costs per unit and why they belong on the unit, not in your head

Every unit costs something whether or not anyone lives in it: dues to the condo corporation, the head-lease rent you pay the owner, the fixed part of a utility bill. Put that number on the unit once and three reports start telling the truth.

By the end of this pageYou will know what belongs in a unit's running cost, how to set it, and how it changes what the P&L and the vacancy figures say.

On this page

What it is Where to set it What it changes Sublet buildings

What one unit really clearsCalculator

Monthly rent (₱) Running cost (₱/mo) Share of general costs (₱/mo) Vacant months per year

₱

this unit clears in a year

₱ per let month

₱ each vacant month costs you

The running cost keeps being charged in vacant months — which is exactly why a vacancy hurts more than a missed rent cheque.

What it is

The fixed monthly cost of holding the unit, independent of whether it is let or how it is used. Condo or association dues. Head-lease rent if you sublet. The fixed portion of utilities billed to the unit. Insurance apportioned per unit. Not repairs (those are expenses when they happen), not cleaning (that is housekeeping cost), not your share of general building costs (that is the split).

Where to set it

On the unit: Running cost, a monthly amount, with an optional note of what it is made of. Change it when the dues change; the P&L uses the value in force each month.

What it changes

The P&L shows it as a line per unit every month, let or not — so a vacant unit is negative by exactly what it costs you, and a let unit's margin is rent minus running cost minus share of general. Vacancy on My day is priced: "3 vacant · ₱20,400 a month" rather than just "3 vacant". Rent setting gets a floor: the unit page shows running cost plus average share of general as the break-even rent.

Sublet buildings

If you lease a whole building from its owner and sublet the units, the head-lease rent is the biggest running cost you have. Split it across units by area or equally and enter it per unit. Your true margin per door appears for the first time, and it is usually less than you thought on some units and more on others.

Don't double-count. A condo's dues are either a running cost on the unit or a monthly expense recorded against the unit — not both. Running cost is for amounts that never change month to month; use an expense when there is a bill to file.