How far back can you audit CAM charges? Written contract SOL ranges from 3 to 10 years by state. Most states give 4 to 6 years. Your lease window closes sooner.
TL;DR: CAM overcharge recovery windows range from 3 years (Alaska, Delaware, Maryland) to 10 years (Illinois, Indiana, Rhode Island). California and Texas allow 4 years. New York and most states allow 6 years. Your lease may impose a shorter dispute window that closes earlier. Check your lease first, then apply the state SOL as the outer limit.
Check your own documents before you keep researching.
Find My OverchargesFind overcharges in your CAM reconciliation. Most audits complete in under 5 minutes.
Find My OverchargesSee a sample report firstThe state law time limit within which a commercial tenant can file a breach of contract claim for CAM overcharges. Written contract statutes of limitations range from 3 to 10 years by state and set the outer legal boundary for recovery, separate from any shorter dispute window defined in the lease itself.
“After running reconciliations through CAMAudit, the most common missed-window situation I see is tenants in 4-year states like California and Texas who assume they have more time. The lease dispute window is usually 30 to 90 days. That is the real deadline, not the 4-year SOL.”
CAM overcharges are governed by each state's written contract statute of limitations. Most states give you 4–6 years from the date of the overcharge, though some allow 3 years and others up to 10 years. Your lease may also impose a shorter dispute window that runs concurrently. The shorter of the two deadlines controls your practical window to recover.
Important: Statute of limitations law is fact-specific and evolves through case decisions. This reference provides the standard written contract SOL for each state. Consult a commercial real estate attorney in your state before relying on any figure to make a decision about whether to pursue a claim.
| State | SOL (Years) | Statute | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 6 | Ala. Code § 6-2-34 | Written contracts |
| Alaska | 3 | Alaska Stat. § 09.10.053 | Written contracts; 6 years if sealed instrument |
| Arizona | 6 | A.R.S. § 12-548 | Written contracts |
| Arkansas | 5 | Ark. Code § 16-56-111 | Written contracts |
| California | 4 | Cal. CCP § 337 | Written contracts; discovery rule may extend |
| Colorado | 6 | C.R.S. § 13-80-103.5 | Written contracts |
| Connecticut | 6 | Conn. Gen. Stat. § 52-576 | Written contracts |
| Delaware | 3 | Del. Code tit. 10, § 8106 | Written contracts |
| Florida | 5 | Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b) | Written contracts; 4 years for oral contracts |
| Georgia | 6 | O.C.G.A. § 9-3-24 | Written contracts |
| Hawaii | 6 | Haw. Rev. Stat. § 657-1 | Written contracts |
| Idaho | 5 | Idaho Code § 5-216 | Written contracts |
| Illinois | 10 | 735 ILCS 5/13-206 | Written contracts; notably long |
| Indiana | 10 | Ind. Code § 34-11-2-11 | Written contracts |
| Iowa | 5 | Iowa Code § 614.1(4) | Written contracts |
| Kansas | 5 | Kan. Stat. § 60-511 | Written contracts |
| Kentucky | 5 | Ky. Rev. Stat. § 413.090 | Written contracts; 15 years for sealed instruments |
| Louisiana | 10 | La. Civ. Code art. 3499 | Personal actions with no specific SOL |
| Maine | 6 | Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 14, § 752 | Written contracts |
| Maryland | 3 | Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-101 | General civil actions |
| Massachusetts | 6 | M.G.L. c. 260, § 2 | Written contracts |
| Michigan | 6 | MCL 600.5807(8) | Written contracts |
| Minnesota | 6 | Minn. Stat. § 541.05 | Written contracts |
| Mississippi | 3 | Miss. Code § 15-1-29 | Written contracts |
| Missouri | 5 | Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120 | Written contracts |
| Montana | 5 | Mont. Code § 27-2-202 | Written contracts |
| Nebraska | 5 | Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-205 | Written contracts |
| Nevada | 6 | NRS 11.190(1)(b) | Written contracts |
| New Hampshire | 3 | N.H. Rev. Stat. § 508:4 | General; discovery rule applies |
| New Jersey | 6 | N.J. Stat. § 2A:14-1 | Written contracts |
| New Mexico | 6 | N.M. Stat. § 37-1-3 | Written contracts |
| New York | 6 | CPLR § 213 | Written contracts |
| North Carolina | 3 | N.C.G.S. § 1-52(1) | Written contracts; shorter than most states |
| North Dakota | 6 | N.D. Cent. Code § 28-01-16 | Written contracts |
| Ohio | 6 | Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.07 | Written contracts; 8 years for sealed instruments |
| Oklahoma | 5 | Okla. Stat. tit. 12, § 95 | Written contracts |
| Oregon | 6 | Or. Rev. Stat. § 12.080 | Written contracts |
| Pennsylvania | 4 | 42 Pa. C.S. § 5525 | Written contracts; note: 4 years, shorter than most |
| Rhode Island | 10 | R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-13 | Written contracts |
| South Carolina | 3 | S.C. Code § 15-3-530 | Written contracts |
| South Dakota | 6 | S.D. Codified Laws § 15-2-13 | Written contracts |
| Tennessee | 6 | T.C.A. § 28-3-109(a)(3) | Written contracts |
| Texas | 4 | Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004 | Written contracts |
| Utah | 6 | Utah Code § 78B-2-309 | Written contracts |
| Vermont | 6 | Vt. Stat. tit. 12, § 511 | Written contracts |
| Virginia | 5 | Va. Code § 8.01-246(2) | Written contracts |
| Washington | 6 | RCW 4.16.040 | Written contracts |
| West Virginia | 10 | W. Va. Code § 55-2-6 | Written contracts; notably long |
| Wisconsin | 6 | Wis. Stat. § 893.43 | Written contracts |
| Wyoming | 8 | Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105 | Written contracts |
States with the longest SOL (10 years): Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Rhode Island, West Virginia.
States with the shortest SOL (3 years): Alaska, Delaware, Maryland, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina.
States important for commercial real estate volume:
Your lease almost certainly contains a dispute window that is shorter than your state's SOL. Understanding how these interact is critical:
The shorter period controls for lease disputes. If your lease says you have 90 days after statement delivery to dispute a specific year's reconciliation, and you miss that window, the account stated doctrine may prevent you from disputing that year's charges even though your state's SOL is 6 years.
But the SOL still matters for broader claims. If the landlord's overcharge constitutes breach of contract, fraud, or a pattern of systematic overbilling, claims based on those theories may survive past a missed dispute window. This is particularly relevant for multi-year patterns.
Practical hierarchy:
Common lease dispute window language:
Audit rights clauses and dispute windows are separate provisions in many leases. You may have a 12-month audit right but only a 60-day dispute window. The audit right lets you review; the dispute window determines how long you have to formally object after completing the review.
The SOL clock starts running from the date the cause of action "accrues." For a contract claim, this is typically when the breach occurred, meaning when the overcharge was made (the date of billing or payment). Under this interpretation, a CAM overcharge from 2021 in a 6-year SOL state expires in 2027.
However, the discovery rule modifies when the SOL begins to run in many states. Under the discovery rule, the clock starts not when the harm occurred but when the plaintiff discovered or reasonably should have discovered the harm.
In the context of CAM overcharges:
Under the discovery rule, your SOL may run from the date of discovery rather than the date of billing, significantly extending your window.
States with well-established discovery rules for contract claims include: California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas. Discovery rule application varies by state and fact pattern.
Important limitation: Many courts have held that sophisticated commercial tenants (particularly large corporations or tenants with dedicated real estate departments) should have discovered errors earlier. The "should have known" standard can defeat discovery rule arguments for institutional tenants.
CAM billing errors are rarely one-year events. A management fee overcharge, a capital improvement inclusion, or an improper gross-up calculation typically persists across every year the same property manager submits the reconciliation. This compounding effect makes multi-year lookbacks valuable.
When running a lookback audit:
Start with the most recent year. Identify all errors in the most recent reconciliation first. This gives you a baseline error profile.
Apply the same checks to prior years. If the management fee was overcharged in 2024, it was almost certainly overcharged in 2023, 2022, and 2021. Run the same calculation against prior-year reconciliations.
Calculate compounded recovery. A $5,000 annual management fee overcharge running for 5 years is a $25,000 claim, significantly more compelling than a single-year dispute.
Assess your SOL for each year. Not all years may be within your dispute window. A 6-year SOL state means you can reach back to 2020 from 2026. A 4-year state only reaches back to 2022.
CAMAudit supports multi-year audits. Upload prior-year reconciliation documents and run the same 13 detection rules to identify which errors are systematic and compounding.
California (SB 1103): California SB 1103, effective January 1, 2025, created new protections for "qualified commercial tenants," which includes small businesses, nonprofits, and arts organizations. Key provisions include: 60-day notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, relocation assistance requirements, and prohibition on certain unilateral lease modifications. While not directly a CAM dispute law, SB 1103 signals California's willingness to regulate commercial landlord conduct, and the same political environment has produced litigation-friendly discovery rule interpretations.
Texas: Texas has a relatively short 4-year written contract SOL, but commercial real estate litigation is common and the courts are generally sophisticated on CAM disputes. The Texas Property Code includes tenant protections around self-help remedies that affect how CAM disputes escalate.
New York: The 6-year SOL and New York courts' familiarity with commercial real estate disputes make New York one of the more tenant-friendly jurisdictions for multi-year lookback claims. New York courts have recognized the discovery rule in commercial lease contexts where the overcharge was not reasonably discoverable from the reconciliation statement alone.
Illinois: The 10-year SOL is notably long and gives Illinois tenants a broad lookback window. Combined with sophisticated commercial courts in Cook County, Illinois tenants often have meaningful recovery options on errors going back nearly a decade.
For state-by-state detail on audit rights, notice requirements, and dispute procedures, see the guides below.
Existing state guides:
New state guides:
Further reading: