Hawaii HOA Board Elections

Section 1: Overview

Hawaii divides board-election governance by the type of community. Condominium associations follow the Hawaii Condominium Property Act, which the Legislature codified at HRS Chapter 514B and made effective July 1, 2006. That chapter speaks in detail to board composition, meetings, proxies, and the removal of directors.¹ Non-condominium planned communities follow a separate, lighter law — the Planned Community Associations statute at HRS Chapter 421J — which sets fewer governance requirements and leaves more to the governing documents.² Hawaii has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, so UCIOA's board-governance and declarant-control defaults do not apply here. Older condominiums — those created before July 1, 2006 under the former HRS Chapter 514A — now fall under Chapter 514B for governance and management, because Chapter 514B's management provisions (Part VI) reach pre-2006 condominiums and the Legislature repealed Chapter 514A effective January 1, 2019.³ The Real Estate Commission, housed within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, regulates condominiums: it administers condominium registration, runs the Condominium Education Trust Fund, and subsidizes mediation and arbitration. It does not, however, decide ordinary board elections, and it holds no jurisdiction over Chapter 421J planned communities.^4,5 Hawaii therefore belongs among the prescriptive, non-UCIOA states, pairing a detailed condominium statute with a lighter planned-community statute. The sections that follow lay out the framework, the mechanics, and the recent record in the Legislature and the courts.

Section 2: The election framework

2A. Chapter 514B condominium board elections

Chapter 514B controls condominium board elections, and its core provisions sit in Part VI. HRS Section 514B-106 establishes the board and hands the election of directors — along with their qualifications, powers, duties, and terms — to the owners and the governing documents, not to the board itself.¹ The statute also sets minimum board sizes. Owners must elect a board of at least three members. Projects built after May 18, 1984 with one hundred or more units must seat at least nine members, unless the bylaws are amended to lower that number. And projects with more than one hundred units in which at least seventy per cent of owners live elsewhere may shrink the board to as few as five members.¹ Developer, or declarant, control ends no later than the point at which owners must elect the board: Section 514B-106(e) requires owners to elect the board no later than the end of any period of developer control.¹ The voting and proxy rules are specific. HRS Section 514B-123 lets owners cast votes by a duly executed proxy and allows voting by mail or electronic transmission through such a proxy; a proxy applies only to the meeting it names and that meeting's adjournments, and it is not irrevocable unless it is coupled with a financial interest.⁶ HRS Section 514B-124.5 permits cumulative voting only when the bylaws provide for it.⁷ The method of electing directors — in person, by proxy, or electronically — follows these provisions and the bylaws. For pre-2006 condominiums first created under the former Chapter 514A, Chapter 514B's governance and management provisions now control, because Part VI applies no matter when the project was created and Chapter 514A has been repealed.³

2B. Chapter 421J planned community associations

Chapter 421J frames governance for non-condominium planned communities, and it is noticeably thinner than Chapter 514B. HRS Section 421J-3 requires every board member to be a member of the association and provides that the board consists of the number and group of people the association documents specify, with no more than one representative from any single unit owned by someone other than the master developer or declarant.⁸ The statute adds a 14-day meeting-notice floor in HRS Section 421J-3.5, proxy rules in HRS Section 421J-4, cumulative-voting authority in HRS Section 421J-3.2 (again, only if the association documents allow it), and director-removal authority in HRS Section 421J-3.3.^9,10,11 It also requires a first annual meeting no later than one year after the first conveyance of a unit to someone other than the developer.¹² Everything Chapter 421J does not spell out, it leaves to the declaration and bylaws: board size, director terms, term limits, staggering, quorum, and the vote needed to elect all come from the association documents. The central difference from Chapter 514B is that Chapter 421J mandates far fewer mechanics, so the governing documents and the Hawaii Nonprofit Corporations Act fill most of the gaps.

2C. Corporate law, the regulator, and the role of the bylaws

Most Hawaii associations organize as nonprofit corporations under the Hawaii Nonprofit Corporations Act, HRS Chapter 414D, which supplies director and meeting gap-fillers wherever the condominium or planned-community statute and the governing documents stay silent. HRS Section 414D-111, for example, sets a default quorum of ten per cent of the votes entitled to be cast unless the articles or bylaws say otherwise.¹³ The order of precedence runs in this sequence: the applicable common-interest statute (Chapter 514B for condominiums, Chapter 421J for planned communities) comes first, then the declaration and bylaws within statutory limits, then the Chapter 414D gap-fillers, and finally the board's own rules. The Real Estate Commission within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs administers condominium registration and the Condominium Education Trust Fund and subsidizes mediation and arbitration of condominium disputes, but it neither runs nor decides board elections, and it has no jurisdiction over Chapter 421J planned communities.^4,5 The practical takeaway is simple: a manager must first confirm whether a community is a condominium under Chapter 514B or a planned community under Chapter 421J before applying any election rule, because the two statutes diverge sharply on what they require and what they leave to the documents.

Section 3: Election mechanics

Quick-Reference Election Mechanics Table

A. Eligibility and nominations

For condominiums under Chapter 514B, the statute does not require directors to be unit owners; the bylaws set eligibility, good-standing, and residency conditions unless the governing documents direct otherwise.¹ For planned communities under Chapter 421J, every board member must be a member of the association, and the association documents set any further qualification.⁸ In both kinds of community, an owner who wants a spot on an association-funded proxy or notice may request inclusion within seven days of the board's posted notice of intent to distribute proxies — a notice the board must post at least twenty-one days before it distributes them. The governing documents otherwise control the broader nomination method.^6,10

B. Notice, annual meeting, and quorum

For condominiums under Chapter 514B, the association must hold a meeting at least once a year, and it must give notice no less than fourteen days in advance.¹⁵ For planned communities under Chapter 421J, the first annual meeting must take place within one year of the first non-developer conveyance, and notice again must come no less than fourteen days in advance.^9,12 Quorum to hold an election is bylaw-set for both community types, because neither Chapter 514B nor Chapter 421J fixes an election quorum; where an association is an incorporated nonprofit and its documents say nothing, the Chapter 414D default of ten per cent applies.¹³

C. Voting methods, proxies, and ballots

For condominiums under Chapter 514B, owners may vote in person, by proxy, by mail or electronic transmission through a duly executed proxy, or through a board-directed electronic voting device. A proxy is valid only for the meeting it names, it is not irrevocable unless coupled with a financial interest, and a standard proxy that comes back with no box checked or more than one box checked counts only toward quorum.⁶ An owner must deliver a proxy to the secretary or managing agent no later than 4:30 p.m. on the second business day before the meeting.⁶ Cumulative voting applies to condominium elections only when the bylaws provide for it.⁷ For planned communities under Chapter 421J, a proxy must be in writing, valid only for the meeting it specifies, and delivered by that same 4:30 p.m. second-business-day deadline; cumulative voting again applies only if the association documents allow it, and remote meeting and voting methods track Chapter 414D.¹⁰

D. Terms, vacancies, removal, and recall

For condominiums under Chapter 514B, the bylaws set director term length, term limits, and staggering; the board may fill a mid-term vacancy only until the next annual or duly noticed special meeting, and owners may remove a director at a regular or special meeting by a vote of a majority of the unit owners.¹ For planned communities under Chapter 421J, the association documents set terms, term limits, and staggering, and members may remove a member-elected director with or without cause unless the documents provide otherwise, following the chapter's petition and meeting procedures.¹¹ In a planned community, the association documents govern how vacancies are filled, with Chapter 414D serving as the gap-filler.¹³

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Hawaii's recent condominium bills have circled one subject above all others: how owners vote, and whether proxies belong in board elections. Two 2024 measures pushed to curb proxy voting. Neither became law.

B. Recent appellate rulings

No published decision of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals or the Hawaii Supreme Court in the past 36 months turns on condominium or planned-community board elections, contested elections, director removal or recall, declarant-control transition, or proxy and voting disputes under Chapter 514B or Chapter 421J. Election disputes in Hawaii start in the Circuit Courts, move on appeal to the Intermediate Court of Appeals, and reach the Supreme Court only by discretionary review; for now, the governing authority on board elections is statutory, not judicial.¹⁸ The most prominent recent condominium decision from the Hawaii Supreme Court still shows what is at stake when an association mishandles its own procedures, even though it falls outside election law.

C. Active legislative debates

Proxy-voting reform remains an active subject at the Legislature, and the multi-year effort to curb board-as-a-whole proxy voting in condominium elections continues.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Hawaii sits among the prescriptive, non-UCIOA states. It pairs a detailed condominium statute, Chapter 514B, with a separate, lighter planned-community statute, Chapter 421J — a structure that resembles California's Davis-Stirling Act and Florida's Chapters 718 and 720, each of which governs condominiums and other community types under distinct bodies of law rather than one uniform code. A few features set Hawaii apart: an unusually high concentration of association-governed housing (42% of Hawaii homeowners pay monthly HOA fees, against 25% nationally, and the state's median monthly HOA fee of $470 ranks second in the nation), an active condominium regulator, a subsidized mediation and arbitration framework that the Real Estate Commission administers, and detailed statutory proxy and ballot rules for condominiums.^4,20 For multi-state operators, the practical implication is clear: Chapter 514B drives Hawaii's condominium elections, with mandatory board minimums, notice floors, and proxy mechanics, while Chapter 421J leaves far more of the planned-community process to the declaration and bylaws.

HOA Weekly's Hawaii Board Elections coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the courts act. Federal frameworks — the FHA, the ADA, the FDCPA, the SCRA, and the OTARD rule — also reach Hawaii associations regardless of the state framework.

1. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-106 (Board; powers and duties) ↩
2. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 421J (Planned Community Associations) ↩
3. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 514B (Condominiums), Real Estate Branch, Dep't of Commerce & Consumer Affairs (rev. Jan. 16, 2025) ↩
4. Real Estate Branch, Dep't of Commerce & Consumer Affairs, Condominium FAQs: Mediation & Arbitration (Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-161, 514B-162) ↩
5. Real Estate Branch, Dep't of Commerce & Consumer Affairs, Hawaii Revised Statutes (Real Estate Branch has no jurisdiction over Chapter 421J) ↩
6. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-123 (Association meetings; voting; proxies) ↩
7. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-124.5 (Voting for elections; cumulative voting) ↩
8. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-3 (Board of directors) ↩
9. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-3.5 (Notice required; regular, annual, and special meetings) ↩
10. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-4 (Proxies) ↩
11. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 421J-3.2, 421J-3.3 (Cumulative voting; removal of directors) ↩
12. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-14 (First annual meeting of association) ↩
13. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 414D-111 (Quorum) (Hawaii Nonprofit Corporations Act) ↩
14. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-110 (Bylaws amendment permitted; mixed use property; representation on board) ↩
15. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-121 (Association meetings) ↩
16. S.B. 2404, 2024 Reg. Sess. (Haw. 2024) (Relating to Condominiums) ↩
17. H.B. 2067, 2024 Reg. Sess. (Haw. 2024) (Relating to Condominiums; House CPC testimony record); successor proxy bill H.B. 1311 carried over to the 2026 Reg. Sess. ↩
18. Haw. State Judiciary, Court Structure (Circuit Court, Intermediate Court of Appeals, Supreme Court) ↩
19. Wong v. Ass'n of Apartment Owners of Harbor Square, No. SCAP-22-0000552 (Haw. Feb. 29, 2024) ↩
20. UHERO, Hawai'i Housing Factbook 2026, Univ. of Haw. Econ. Research Org. (42% of Hawaii homeowners pay monthly HOA fees vs. 25% nationally; median monthly HOA fee of $470, second in the nation) ↩