CAM Audit for Chicago Commercial Tenants [2026]
Illinois gives commercial tenants 10 years to recover CAM overcharges — the longest lookback in the country. Loop office, Magnificent Mile retail, Wicker Park restaurants, Fulton Market food and beverage, Lincoln Park medical: if you've never audited your CAM charges, the potential recovery window is substantial.
Why CAM Audits Matter for Chicago Tenants
Chicago's commercial market spans dramatically different lease structures by submarket. Loop Class A office towers typically use full-service gross leases with base year provisions. Magnificent Mile retail properties run modified gross and NNN structures. Fulton Market, Wicker Park, and Bucktown food and beverage tenants are largely on NNN or modified NNN leases. Lincoln Park medical offices often use gross leases with operating cost escalations.
Across all these structures, billing errors happen. Base year figures get set incorrectly. Management fee percentages get applied to broader bases than the lease specifies. Pro-rata share denominators don't update after building reconfigurations. CAM cap provisions get missed after property management transitions.
Illinois's 10-year statute of limitations means a Chicago tenant who has never audited their CAM charges is potentially looking at a decade of compounding errors — a recovery opportunity that professional auditors have charged thousands to investigate. CAMAudit does it in under 15 minutes for a flat fee.
Illinois Gives You 10 Years to Recover — The Longest in the Country
735 ILCS 5/13-206 establishes a 10-year statute of limitations for written contract claims in Illinois. For Chicago commercial tenants, this means overcharges billed as far back as 2016 may still be recoverable — provided you take action before the limitations period runs.
To put this in context: California and Texas give tenants 4 years. Arizona, Georgia, and Washington give 6 years. Illinois's 10-year window is the longest of any major commercial state, and it means Chicago tenants who have leases going back to the early 2010s may still have live claims.
Illinois also recognizes the discovery rule, which can toll the limitations period until you knew or reasonably should have known of the overcharge. Consult an Illinois commercial attorney for claims you believe may be beyond 10 years.
How CAMAudit Works
- 1
Upload your CAM reconciliation and lease
Upload your annual reconciliation statement and the relevant sections of your commercial lease. Supports PDF, images, and scanned documents.
- 2
AI extracts the key data
CAMAudit extracts expense line items, management fee cap, pro-rata share definition, base year figures, and CAM cap provisions from your documents.
- 3
14 detection rules run automatically
Each rule applies the formula from your lease to the reconciliation figures — base year errors, management fee overcharges, pro-rata share miscalculations, CAM cap violations, and more.
- 4
Unlock the full report and dispute letter
Unlock the full findings for $179: line-by-line breakdown of every overcharge and a dispute letter draft citing your lease clauses and Illinois law.
Run Your Chicago CAM Audit
Illinois's 10-year window means you may recover back to 2016. Start with a free scan — full report for $179.
Run a free CAM scanCommon Overcharge Types in the Chicago Market
Base year errors in Loop full-service gross leases
Loop Class A office leases that use a base year or expense stop structure are susceptible to base year errors — particularly if the base year was set during a period of unusually low or high occupancy, or if one-time expenses were included in the base year figure that inflated the apparent escalation calculation. CAMAudit flags base year discrepancies against the formula in your lease.
Management fee overcharges in Mag Mile and Fulton Market retail
Chicago retail properties — particularly high-profile Magnificent Mile storefronts and in-demand Fulton Market restaurant spaces — tend to carry elevated management fee structures. When the percentage cap in the lease is applied to a broader base than the lease specifies (for example, including insurance and taxes in the management fee base when the lease limits it to operating expenses), the overcharge compounds each year.
CAM cap violations on controllable expenses across all submarkets
Many Chicago commercial leases include annual controllable expense caps — typically 3–5% per year. These caps frequently go unenforced when property management changes, particularly in buildings that have traded ownership. CAMAudit checks the capped versus actual growth for controllable expenses and flags violations with the specific dollar impact.
Pricing
1 audit
$179
$179 per audit
3 audits
$499
$166 per audit
5 audits
$799
$160 per audit
Every audit includes the full detection report and a dispute letter draft. 30-day money-back guarantee. No account required to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions
Related Resources
Illinois's 10-Year Window Is Closing
Every year you wait, the oldest recoverable claims fall off. Start your free scan now — full report for $179.
Run a free CAM scanThis page provides general educational information. It is not legal advice and may not reflect the most current law in your state. Consult a licensed attorney for advice specific to your situation.