Clients ask some version of this question after your firm finds an overcharge: "How far back can we go?" The answer is almost always longer than they expect, and shorter than they would like if the overcharge has been running for years.
The statute of limitations for a CAM overcharge claim is the legal deadline to file suit to recover an overbilled amount. Once it passes, the claim is time-barred, no matter how clearly the landlord miscalculated. But the SOL has a wrinkle that often works in the client's favor: the discovery rule, which can extend the clock when the overcharge was buried in a reconciliation statement nobody had reason to question.
What the SOL Means for a CAM Audit
CAM overcharge claims are breach-of-contract claims. The client paid money it was not obligated to pay under the lease, and wants it back. Most states set the limitation period for written contract claims between 3 and 10 years, measured from when the claim accrued.
Accrual is where it gets specific. In many states, the clock starts when the breach happened, meaning when the client made the overpayment. In a CAM context, that is typically when the landlord issued the annual reconciliation and the client paid the demanded amount. Each disputed payment is usually its own accrual event.
That means a six-year SOL state does not give a client six years from today to recover every payment ever made. It gives six years from each individual payment. A client on a lease for 10 years in a six-year SOL state can recover the last six years of overcharges, not all ten.
The Discovery Rule: When the Clock Actually Starts
Here is the provision that changes the math for most clients: the discovery rule.
Under the discovery rule, the statute of limitations does not start running until the plaintiff knew, or reasonably should have known, about the injury. Applied to CAM, the clock starts when the client discovered, or had reason to discover, the overcharge.
CAM reconciliation statements are dense. Landlords typically present a summary with supporting schedules that may or may not get provided. If the landlord withheld detailed backup, or the overcharge involved a calculation method invisible on the face of the statement (a management fee computed on a larger base than the lease allows, or a gross-up applied to fixed costs), there is a reasonable argument the client could not have found the error without an audit.
Whether the discovery rule applies to commercial lease disputes, and how broadly courts read it, varies by state. In many jurisdictions it meaningfully extends the recovery window past the flat SOL number.
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 |
| Iowa | 10 | Iowa Code § 614.1(5)(a) |
| Kentucky | 10 | Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 413.160 |
| 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 |
| Wyoming | 10 | Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-3-105(a)(i) |
Ten years is a long window. A tenant on a 10-year lease in Illinois can, in theory, have every year of the tenancy audited, as long as the lease has not expired and SOL has not run on the earliest payments.
Two states on this list have a wrinkle worth flagging before you quote a number to a client:
- Kentucky only gets 10 years for leases signed on or after July 15, 2014. A lease signed before that date gets 15 years instead, under Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 413.090(2).
- Iowa sets a shorter 5-year window for claims tied to unpaid rent, under Iowa Code § 614.1(5)(b). Landlords often bill CAM charges as additional rent, so a court could apply that 5-year period instead of the 10-year one. Use 5 years as the safe floor until counsel confirms which period fits the lease.
8-Year State
| State | Years | Citation |
|---|---|---|
| Montana | 8 | Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-202(1) |
6-Year States
The most common window for written contract claims:
| 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. § 2305.06 |
| 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 |
| Kansas | 5 | Kan. Stat. Ann. § 60-511 |
| Missouri | 5 | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120 |
| 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. Clients 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 involve multiple legal theories (breach of contract, unjust enrichment, accounting), each with its own limitations period, and the discovery rule may extend these periods further. Have counsel confirm what applies to a specific client's lease and state before you quote a lookback window.
Why Landlords Are Comfortable Waiting
There is a reason most commercial tenants never audit their CAM charges, even when something looks off. The friction is high, and a traditional audit runs on attorney or CPA hourly rates that make a small-dollar dispute uneconomical, often on top of a contingency share of any recovery. That cost alone can eat up what a single year's overcharge would return.
So years pass. Every year without a formal dispute is another year the landlord keeps the overpayment, interest-free, with no obligation to account for it.
The math only works for the client when the cost of auditing is low enough that even a modest recovery justifies it. That is the gap CAMAudit's audit packs are built to close for firms who want to offer this as a service line without pricing clients out.
The SOL Multiplier Effect
Here is how the statute of limitations interacts with audit economics: each year of legal lookback is another year of potential overcharges.
Take a simple case. The lease is in a 6-year SOL state. The CAM reconciliation shows a management fee calculated on a base that includes capital expenditures the lease explicitly excludes. That has been happening every year of the lease. The overcharge is $4,200 a year.
Six years of lookback: $25,200 in potential recovery. Four years: $16,800. Three years: $12,600.
The SOL is not just a deadline. It is the multiplier on whatever overcharge rate exists. That is why running the audit early in a client's current lease term, rather than at renewal or move-out, maximizes the recovery window. The client has the most time available while the lease is active and audit rights are intact.
The Lease's Own Audit Deadline
Most commercial leases include a contractual audit window shorter than the legal SOL. A common clause 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 vary on whether such provisions are enforceable as written, particularly when the landlord failed to provide adequate documentation. The safe position is to treat the lease's contractual deadline as the operative one.
That means if a client receives a reconciliation statement in March, they have until September, not six years, to raise a formal dispute. For prior years where that window closed, the client may still have a statutory claim under the SOL, but the landlord will likely raise the contractual finality argument as a defense.
When to Run the Audit
Before the contractual deadline for the most recent reconciliation, and before the SOL runs on older years.
If a client is mid-lease and has never had a CAM audit, the right time is now, not at renewal, when the landlord controls whether the client stays or goes and the client's negotiating position is weaker. Now, while audit rights are active and the clock is still running in the client's favor.
"Audit when the cost of finding the overcharge is lower than the overcharge itself. I built CAMAudit so firms can run that math for clients who would otherwise never get an audit at all." - Angel Campa, Founder of CAMAudit