Ever Felt Cheated When The Actual Square Footage Of The Property You're Renting Is Less Than What You're Promised? Law Offices of Kenny Tan Attorneys Diamond Bar California

Ever Felt Cheated When The Actual Square Footage Of The Property You

Posted by: Kenny Tan
August 31, 2010
Topic: Square Footage Discrepancies

You lease an office space for your business. This listing states the square footage to be 1,000, not approximately 1000, but 1,000 square feet. You pay $1500 per month thinking you're renting a 1000-sq ft office space at $1.50 per foot. You didn't make any measurements on your own trusting the landlord would not grossly misstate the area.

However, two years later, just when you lease is about to expire, you discover that the square footage is only 650, 350 less than what has been represented to you. You're upset because you've overpaid the rent. You feel cheated. It's pointless to rescind the lease because you're close to the end of the lease. Can you get a refund of what you believe to be overpayment of rent due to the discrepancy in the square footage?

Mistakes in reporting an office space's square footage is not uncommon. The law does not allow recovery for misrepresentation of square footage if it is de minimus. But just how much is de minimus? At least one case has held that anything is excess of 20% may be actionable. There is no bright line however. It is generally a question of fact. Also how far back you claim a refund for overpaid rent depends on the applicable of statute of limitations, most probably no more than 3 years.