A lot of commercial tenants ask some version of this question after they find an overcharge: "How far back can I go?" The answer is almost always longer than they expected — and shorter than they'd like if they've been waiting.
The statute of limitations for a CAM overcharge claim is the legal deadline for filing suit to recover money you were overbilled. Once it passes, your claim is time-barred regardless of how clearly the landlord miscalculated. But the SOL has nuances that often work in tenants' favor — particularly the discovery rule, which can extend the clock significantly in cases where overcharges were buried in reconciliation statements you had no reason to scrutinize.
What the SOL Actually Means for CAM Audits
CAM overcharge claims are breach of contract claims. You paid money you weren't obligated to pay under the terms of your lease, and you want it back. Most states set the limitation period for written contract claims somewhere between 3 and 10 years, measured from the date the cause of action accrued.
"Accrual" is where things get interesting. In many states, the clock starts when the breach occurred — meaning when you made the overpayment. In a CAM context, that's typically when the landlord issued the annual reconciliation and you paid the amount demanded. Each disputed payment is often its own accrual event.
That structure means a six-year SOL state doesn't give you six years from today to recover every payment you ever made. It gives you six years from each individual payment. If you've been on a lease for 10 years in a six-year SOL state, you can recover overcharges from the last six years — not all ten.
The Discovery Rule: The Clock Doesn't Always Start When You Think
Here's the provision that changes the calculus for most tenants: the discovery rule.
Under the discovery rule, the statute of limitations doesn't begin running until the plaintiff knew or reasonably should have known about the injury. Applied to CAM, that means the clock starts when you discovered — or had reason to discover — the overcharge.
CAM reconciliation statements are dense documents. Landlords typically present them as a summary with supporting schedules that may or may not be provided. If the landlord didn't give you detailed backup, or the overcharge involved a calculation method that isn't visible on the face of the statement (like a management fee computed on a larger base than the lease authorizes, or a gross-up applied to fixed costs), a reasonable argument exists that you couldn't have discovered the error without an audit.
Whether the discovery rule applies to commercial lease disputes, and how broadly courts interpret it, varies by state. But in many jurisdictions, it meaningfully extends the recovery window beyond what the flat SOL number suggests.
40% of CAM reconciliations contain material errors (Tango Analytics, cited by PredictAP, 2023)
SOL Periods by State
10-Year States
The longest limitation periods for written contract claims apply in:
| State | Years | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 10 | 735 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/13-206 |
| Louisiana | 10 | La. Civ. Code art. 3499 |
| Rhode Island | 10 | R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-13(a) |
| West Virginia | 10 | W. Va. Code § 55-2-6 |
Ten years is a long window. A tenant on a 10-year lease in Illinois can, in theory, audit every year of their tenancy if they act before the lease expires and SOL runs on the earliest payments.
8-Year State
| State | Years | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming | 8 | Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-3-105(a)(i) |
6-Year States
The most common window for written contract claims. These states give tenants a solid runway:
| State | Years | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 6 | Ala. Code § 6-2-34 |
| Arizona | 6 | Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 12-548 |
| Connecticut | 6 | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-576 |
| Georgia | 6 | Ga. Code Ann. § 9-3-24 |
| Hawaii | 6 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-1 |
| Indiana | 6 | Ind. Code § 34-11-2-9 |
| Maine | 6 | Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 14, § 752 |
| Massachusetts | 6 | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 2 |
| Michigan | 6 | Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5807(8) |
| Minnesota | 6 | Minn. Stat. § 541.05 |
| Nevada | 6 | Nev. Rev. Stat. § 11.190(1)(b) |
| New Jersey | 6 | N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2A:14-1 |
| New Mexico | 6 | N.M. Stat. Ann. § 37-1-3 |
| New York | 6 | N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213(2) |
| North Dakota | 6 | N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-16(1) |
| Ohio | 6 | Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2305.07 |
| Oregon | 6 | Or. Rev. Stat. § 12.080(1) |
| South Dakota | 6 | S.D. Codified Laws § 15-2-13 |
| Tennessee | 6 | Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-109 |
| Utah | 6 | Utah Code Ann. § 78B-2-309 |
| Vermont | 6 | Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 511 |
| Washington | 6 | Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.040 |
| Wisconsin | 6 | Wis. Stat. § 893.43 |
5-Year States
| State | Years | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | 5 | Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-111 |
| Florida | 5 | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b) |
| Idaho | 5 | Idaho Code § 5-216 |
| Iowa | 5 | Iowa Code § 614.1(4) |
| Kansas | 5 | Kan. Stat. Ann. § 60-511 |
| Kentucky | 5 | Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 413.090 |
| Missouri | 5 | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120 |
| Montana | 5 | Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-202 |
| Nebraska | 5 | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-205 |
| Oklahoma | 5 | Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95(A)(1) |
| Virginia | 5 | Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-246(2) |
4-Year States
| State | Years | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| California | 4 | Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 337 |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 5525(a)(8) |
| Texas | 4 | Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004 |
3-Year States
The shortest windows. Tenants in these states need to move faster:
| State | Years | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Alaska | 3 | Alaska Stat. § 09.10.053 |
| Colorado | 3 | Colo. Rev. Stat. § 13-80-101 |
| Delaware | 3 | Del. Code Ann. tit. 10, § 8106 |
| District of Columbia | 3 | D.C. Code § 12-301(7) |
| Maryland | 3 | Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101 |
| Mississippi | 3 | Miss. Code Ann. § 15-1-49 |
| New Hampshire | 3 | N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 508:4 |
| North Carolina | 3 | N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52(1) |
| South Carolina | 3 | S.C. Code Ann. § 15-3-530(1) |
Important: These figures reflect the general written-contract SOL in each state. CAM disputes can implicate multiple theories (breach of contract, unjust enrichment, accounting) with different limitations periods. The discovery rule may also extend these periods. Consult an attorney for guidance specific to your lease and state.
Why Landlords Are Comfortable Waiting You Out
There's a reason most commercial tenants never audit their CAM charges even when something looks off. The friction is high and the immediate cost of a traditional audit — $250/hour for a commercial real estate attorney or CPA, plus a 33% contingency share of any recovery — often exceeds what a single year's overcharge would return.
So tenants let years pass. And every year that passes without a formal dispute is another year the landlord keeps the overpayment, interest-free, with no accounting obligation.
70% of commercial tenants identify billing discrepancies when they audit (Deloitte, 2024)
The math only works for the tenant when the cost of auditing is low enough that even a modest recovery justifies it.
The SOL Multiplier Effect
Here's how the statute of limitations interacts with audit economics: each year you can legally look back is another year of potential overcharges.
Take a simple scenario. Your lease is in a 6-year SOL state. Your CAM reconciliation shows a management fee that has been calculated on a base that includes capital expenditures the lease explicitly excludes. That's been happening every year of your lease. The overcharge per year is $4,200.
Six years of lookback: $25,200 in potential recovery. Four years: $16,800. Three years: $12,600.
The SOL isn't just a deadline — it's the multiplier on whatever overcharge rate exists. That's why running an audit early in your current lease term, rather than at renewal or exit, maximizes the recovery window. You have the most time available while the lease is active and your audit rights are intact.
The Lease's Own Audit Deadline
Most commercial leases include a contractual audit limitation that is shorter than the legal SOL. A common provision reads something like: "Tenant must deliver written notice of dispute within 180 days of receipt of the annual reconciliation statement, or such reconciliation shall be deemed final and binding."
That clause, if enforceable, creates a private deadline that runs much faster than the statutory one. Courts have varied views on whether such provisions are enforceable as written, particularly when the landlord failed to provide adequate documentation. But the safest position is to treat your lease's contractual deadline as the operative deadline.
That means if you receive a reconciliation statement in March, you have until September — not six years — to raise a formal dispute. For prior years where the deadline has passed, you may still have a statutory claim under the SOL, but the contractual finality argument becomes a defense the landlord will raise.
When to Audit
The answer is: before your contractual deadline for the most recent reconciliation statement, and before the SOL runs on older ones.
If you're in the middle of a lease and you've never audited, the right time is now. Not at renewal, when the landlord controls whether you stay or go and you're in a weaker negotiating position. Now, while your audit rights are active and the clock is still running in your favor.
"The question isn't whether to audit — it's whether the cost of auditing is low enough that the math makes sense. I built CAMAudit to make that math work for tenants who would otherwise never bother." — Angel Campa, Founder of CAMAudit