Hawaii HOA Foreclosure

Section 1: Overview — How HOA foreclosure works in Hawaii

Hawaii hands community associations a statutory assessment lien and two ways to enforce it: judicial foreclosure and a dedicated non-judicial "alternate power of sale." The Legislature rewrote the surrounding foreclosure framework repeatedly between 2010 and 2019, so the rules in force today are recent. The Condominium Property Act, HRS Chapter 514B, governs condominiums created on or after July 1, 2006, and it sets the lien at HRS § 514B-146.¹ Condominiums created before that date once fell under HRS Chapter 514A and its lien at former § 514A-90, but the Legislature repealed Chapter 514A effective January 1, 2019. Chapter 514B Part VI now reaches every condominium regardless of when it was created, subject to a savings clause for developer reserved rights.² Planned community associations answer to a separate statute, HRS Chapter 421J, which places the lien at HRS § 421J-10.5.³

The Legislature reworked the non-judicial framework through Act 162 (2010), Act 48 (2011), and Act 182 (2012). Those acts repealed the old power-of-sale statute (former HRS § 667-5) and built a discrete "Association Alternate Power of Sale Foreclosure Process" at HRS Chapter 667 Part VI (§ 667-91 et seq.).⁴ Act 282 (2019) went further, confirming that associations may foreclose non-judicially "regardless of the presence or absence of power of sale language" in their governing documents — a change that overrode contrary case law.⁵ Associations also face procedural protections that mortgage lenders do not, including a notice of default, cure and payment-plan rights, and an association-specific mediation offer under HRS § 514B-146.5.⁶ Federal law layers on top: the FDCPA reaches pre-sale collection conduct, the SCRA protects servicemembers, and the bankruptcy automatic stay halts a foreclosure outright.⁷ Add it up, and Hawaii runs one of the more heavily regulated association-foreclosure regimes in the country.

Section 2: The statutory framework

2A. Lien creation and priority

For condominiums, HRS § 514B-146(a) makes every sum the association assesses but does not collect a lien on the unit. That lien takes priority over all other liens except two: liens for real property taxes and assessments imposed by a governmental authority, and all sums unpaid on any mortgage of record recorded before the association recorded its notice of lien.¹ The lien arises automatically, by operation of law, the moment an assessment goes unpaid. No recording is required for it to attach, though associations routinely record a notice of lien to put the public on notice.⁸ Under the governing documents and HRS § 514B-144, the lien secures more than the unpaid assessments themselves — it can also capture late charges, interest, attorneys' fees, and collection costs, with interest on condominium accounts capped at 18% per year under HRS § 514B-146.⁸ A recorded lien expires six years after recordation unless the association starts enforcement first, and any proceeding to enforce the lien must begin within six years after the assessment came due; a unit owner's bankruptcy tolls that clock under 11 U.S.C. § 362.¹

Hawaii is not a UCIOA state, and HRS § 514B-146 does not create a true super-priority lien that primes a first mortgage. What subsections (j) and (k) create instead is a limited six-month priority that works like a special assessment. After a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure, the board may specially assess the foreclosure purchaser for the unpaid regular monthly common assessments that came due in the six months immediately before the foreclosure was completed.¹ That recoverable amount covers regular monthly common assessments and nothing else; it expressly leaves out special assessments, late charges, fines, penalties, interest, and collection costs, including attorneys' fees.¹ A purchaser who held a mortgage that was not subordinate to the association lien owes no special assessment — but a later buyer who purchases from that mortgagee does.³

For pre-2006 condominiums, former § 514A-90 supplied the parallel lien. Because the Legislature repealed Chapter 514A and Chapter 514B Part VI now reaches all condominiums, § 514B-146 governs enforcement today.² For planned communities, HRS § 421J-10.5(a) establishes the lien; the association documents set its priority, or, if they say nothing, recordation date controls — and an amendment to those documents cannot give the association lien priority over a mortgage recorded before the amendment.³ Chapter 421J carries the same six-year lien expiration and a parallel six-month special-assessment mechanism at § 421J-10.5(g) and (h).³

2B. Foreclosure method and procedure

HRS Chapter 667 governs both judicial and non-judicial foreclosure. Part IA provides judicial "foreclosure by action": the association files a complaint, obtains a decree, and runs a court-supervised sale. Part II is the power-of-sale process built for mortgage lenders. Part VI — the Association Alternate Power of Sale Foreclosure Process at HRS § 667-91 through § 667-103 — is the non-judicial route built specifically for associations, and the 2010-to-2012 reforms added it.⁴ That reform history matters. Act 48 (2011) created the Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution program and a moratorium on certain non-judicial actions, and Act 182 (2012) repealed the old § 667-5 power-of-sale statute and stood up Part VI.⁹ Act 282 (2019) then amended HRS § 514B-146 and the § 667-1 definition of "power of sale" to confirm that an association may foreclose non-judicially whether or not its governing documents contain power-of-sale language — and it made that change retroactive to claims arising before July 9, 2019 in which no final judgment had been entered.⁵

Under Part VI, the association prepares and serves a notice of default and intention to foreclose under HRS § 667-92, records it under § 667-93, and, if the owner does not cure, conducts a public sale under § 667-95 and § 667-96. It then distributes the proceeds under § 667-100 and completes the sale by recording an affidavit and conveyance under § 667-101 and § 667-102.⁴ One limit is sharp: an association may not use non-judicial foreclosure for a lien that arises solely from fines, penalties, legal fees, or late fees. Such a lien must be foreclosed judicially under Part IA.¹ HRS § 514B-146.5 layers on association-specific protections — a supplemental mediation notice, restrictions that bar power-of-sale foreclosure against many deployed servicemembers' units, and required disclosure language.⁶

The Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution program under Part V reaches only owner-occupant mortgage foreclosures; it does not cover association foreclosures, and DCCA has said the program is unavailable when a condominium association forecloses on its assessment lien.¹⁰ The association mediation track is a separate animal, arising under HRS § 514B-146.5 for condominiums and HRS § 421J-13 for planned communities.⁶ The sale itself is a public sale, and the association may bid and acquire the unit under HRS § 514B-146(a).¹

2C. Federal overlays and interactions

Three federal frameworks intersect with Hawaii association foreclosure. Start with the FDCPA. In Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 139 S. Ct. 1029 (2019), the Supreme Court held that a business engaged in no more than non-judicial foreclosure is not a "debt collector" for most FDCPA purposes, answering only to 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(6).¹¹ But Obduskey did not exempt every foreclosure-related collection activity: pre-sale dunning communications, and conduct that goes beyond the steps state foreclosure law strictly requires, remain subject to the FDCPA.¹¹ Hungate v. Law Office of David B. Rosen, 139 Haw. 394 (2017), a Hawaii Supreme Court decision, arose from a mortgage lender's non-judicial foreclosure under the former Chapter 667 Part I. It addressed publication and notice duties and unfair-or-deceptive-acts liability under HRS § 480-2, and it matters here as Hawaii authority on non-judicial foreclosure conduct — not as an FDCPA or association-specific holding.¹²

Next, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act requires a court order for non-judicial foreclosure against servicemember-protected property and authorizes stays; Hawaii reinforces it through HRS § 514B-146.5(c), which generally requires a deployed servicemember's unit to be foreclosed judicially.⁶ Finally, the bankruptcy automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 halts foreclosure activity the moment a petition is filed, and HRS § 514B-146 tolls the lien-enforcement limitation period while the stay runs.¹ Through all of this, the association lien stays junior to a previously recorded first mortgage, so a non-judicial association foreclosure ordinarily leaves the senior mortgage in place and conveys the unit subject to it.¹

Section 3: The procedural sequence

A. Lien establishment and priority

The association lien attaches automatically when an assessment goes unpaid — under HRS § 514B-146(a) for condominiums (post-2006, and, because Chapter 514A is repealed and Part VI now applies to all condominiums, pre-2006 as well) and under HRS § 421J-10.5(a) for planned communities.¹ No filing is required for the automatic lien, but associations frequently record a notice of lien; once recorded, the lien expires six years from recordation unless the association enforces it first.¹ For condominiums, the lien secures unpaid assessments plus the late charges, interest, attorneys' fees, and costs the governing documents and HRS § 514B-144 allow. Priority runs over all liens except governmental tax liens and prior-recorded mortgages; for planned communities, priority follows the association documents or recordation date.³ The six-month limited priority works as a post-foreclosure special assessment — not a UCIOA super-priority — and applies to condominiums and planned communities alike.¹

B. Notice requirements and cure period

For the Part VI non-judicial route, HRS § 667-92 requires the association to prepare and serve a written notice of default and intention to foreclose. That notice must state the amount due, the cure deadline, the association attorney's information, and the owner's right to submit a payment plan within 30 days.¹³ It must also list contact information for approved housing and credit counselors, and it must carry statutory warning language set in 14-point capital letters under HRS § 667-92(b): "IF THE DEFAULT ON THE PAYMENT OF ASSESSMENTS CONTINUES AFTER THE DEADLINE DATE IN THIS NOTICE, THE UNIT MAY BE FORECLOSED AND SOLD WITHOUT ANY COURT ACTION."¹³ The owner may submit a reasonable payment plan within 30 days or, under HRS § 667-92(c), "cure the default within sixty days after service of a notice of default and intention to foreclose on the unit owner by paying the association the full amount of the default, including the foreclosing association's attorneys' fees and costs"; a timely cure notice or payment plan stays the foreclosure during the 60-day cure period or the plan term.¹³ Under HRS § 667-92(c), a payment plan must cure the default "within a reasonable period ... provided that a period of up to twelve months shall be deemed reasonable; and provided further that the board of directors shall have the discretion to agree to a payment plan in excess of twelve months."¹³ Separately, HRS § 514B-146.5 requires the association to tell the owner of a right to request mediation within 30 days; a timely request bars the association from going forward until mediation happens or 60 days pass.⁶ That applies to condominiums under Chapter 514B; planned communities use HRS § 421J-13 mediation.³ Service follows the Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure standards that HRS § 667-1 references.¹⁴ And the FDCPA validation framework under Obduskey applies to pre-sale dunning communications across all association types.¹¹

C. Foreclosure sale procedure

The judicial path under Part IA moves by complaint, decree of foreclosure, court-ordered sale, and confirmation, and it is mandatory for liens that arise solely from fines, penalties, legal fees, or late fees, for every association type.¹ The non-judicial path under Part VI requires the association to record the notice of default under HRS § 667-93, set a public-sale date under HRS § 667-95, and publish public notice of the sale under HRS § 667-96. The sale follows, the association distributes proceeds under HRS § 667-100, and it records an affidavit and conveyance under HRS § 667-101 and § 667-102 that extinguishes junior liens and completes the sale.⁴ The association may credit-bid and acquire the unit under HRS § 514B-146(a).¹ HRS § 514B-146.5(c) restricts the power of sale, generally requiring judicial foreclosure for a unit owned by a deployed servicemember unless the lien has stood outstanding for a year or longer — a rule that dovetails with SCRA protections.⁶ These steps apply to condominiums under Chapter 514B and, through the parallel cross-references in HRS § 421J-10.5, to planned communities.³

D. Post-sale rights

Hawaii law gives no statutory right of redemption after a judicial or non-judicial foreclosure sale, for condominiums or planned communities alike.⁸ The association distributes surplus proceeds by lien priority under HRS § 667-100, and HRS § 514B-146 directs that an association which takes title pay any excess rental income to existing lienholders by priority.¹ The foreclosure purchaser acquires title and becomes liable for the unit's assessment share on the earliest of several statutory benchmarks — 36 days after an order confirming sale, 60 days after the confirmation hearing, 30 days after a non-judicial public sale, or the recording of the conveyance — at which point the board may levy the six-month special assessment under HRS § 514B-146(j).¹ A wrongful non-judicial foreclosure exposes the association to damages. In Wong v. Association of Apartment Owners of Harbor Square, 154 Haw. 58, 545 P.3d 547 (Feb. 29, 2024), the Hawaii Supreme Court held that damages are "the plaintiff's positive equity in the property, if any, (property's market value minus outstanding mortgage debt), plus lost use arising from the wrongful foreclosure, minus assessments owed to the AOAO."¹⁵ The association takes possession through standard ejectment or writ-of-possession procedure once the conveyance is recorded.

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

No foreclosure-specific bill amending the association lien or the Part VI process became law in the 24 months ending June 15, 2026. The most consequential recent measures either touched adjacent collection provisions or failed to pass. The three below show where the Legislature stands.

B. Recent appellate rulings

C. Active legislative debates

The recurring debates center on an HOA ombudsman office and caps on association attorneys' fees in collections — both introduced repeatedly, neither yet enacted. Boards and managers should expect the Legislature to keep its attention on collection costs and pre-foreclosure protections.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Hawaii is a comprehensive non-UCIOA state with one of the most reformed non-judicial foreclosure frameworks in the country. Like California, Nevada, and Washington, Hawaii took on heavy post-2008 foreclosure reform — but it built a structure all its own: a dedicated Association Alternate Power of Sale Foreclosure Process under HRS Chapter 667 Part VI, a Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution program that pointedly excludes association foreclosures, an association-specific mediation track under HRS § 514B-146.5, and a requirement that condominium managing agents hold a real estate broker's license under HRS § 514B-132 and Chapter 467. For a multi-state operator moving into Hawaii, the practical lesson is that procedures imported from UCIOA states will misfire: there is no true six-month super-priority lien, fines-only liens cannot be foreclosed non-judicially, and procedural missteps carry documented damages exposure.

HOA Weekly updates its Hawaii foreclosure coverage quarterly as new bills, rulings, and agency guidance shift the compliance picture for condominium and planned-community associations. Federal frameworks — the FDCPA, the SCRA, and the bankruptcy automatic stay — also apply to Hawaii association foreclosures wherever their subject matter is triggered.

Recommendations

Here are staged, concrete steps for managers, boards, and counsel handling a Hawaii association delinquency:

1. Classify the debt before you choose a route. If the lien arises solely from fines, penalties, legal fees, or late fees, non-judicial foreclosure is off the table and the matter must proceed judicially under Part IA. If it includes unpaid regular assessments, the Part VI alternate power of sale stays open. Misclassifying the debt is the most common path to a voidable foreclosure. Switch from non-judicial to judicial whenever the lien contains no unpaid-assessment component.
2. Run the notice and cure clock precisely. Serve the HRS § 667-92 notice of default with every required element, the 14-point warning language, and counselor contact information; honor the 30-day payment-plan window, the 60-day cure period, and the separate § 514B-146.5 mediation-request window. Treat a timely cure notice, payment plan, or mediation request as an automatic stay and halt the sale. If a notice element is missing or defective, stop the process until you correct it.
3. Screen for federal triggers at intake. Confirm servicemember status — route a deployed servicemember's unit to judicial foreclosure unless the lien is a year or older — check for any bankruptcy filing, since the § 362 stay halts everything and tolls the lien limitation period, and keep pre-sale dunning communications FDCPA-compliant, because Obduskey does not immunize them. Active-duty status or a bankruptcy filing changes the available route.
4. Model the recovery before you foreclose non-judicially. Because Wong measures wrongful-foreclosure damages by owner equity plus lost use, and because the association lien is junior to a prior first mortgage, a non-judicial sale of an underwater unit often yields little while exposing the association to lost-use damages if any procedural defect surfaces. Where equity is thin and a senior mortgage is large, consider a money-judgment action for unpaid assessments — expressly preserved under § 514B-146(a) — instead. Shift to judicial foreclosure or a money judgment when title or procedural risk is material.
5. Re-verify recent enactments each quarter. Confirm bill statuses on capitol.hawaii.gov and the DCCA Real Estate Branch legislative update, because lawmakers have repeatedly introduced both an attorneys'-fee cap and an HOA ombudsman; enacting either would change collection economics and notice procedures.

Caveats

This page states the framework as of June 15, 2026 and is a reference, not legal advice. A few points deserve flags. First, Act 41 (2024) is verified as a C-PACER financing measure that amended HRS § 514B-157 and related sections, not the § 514B-146 lien or the Part VI process; confirm its exact effective-date language on capitol.hawaii.gov before citing it, because the Legislature's official measure pages were not directly machine-readable during research. Second, the statuses for HB1209 and SB1498 reflect non-enactment and carryover as tracked through legislative mirrors; reconfirm final disposition on the official measure pages. Third, Hungate belongs here as a mortgage-lender, Chapter 667 Part I, UDAP case — not an FDCPA or association holding, contrary to some secondary summaries. Fourth, treat pre-2010 descriptions of Hawaii non-judicial foreclosure law as unreliable, because Act 162 (2010), Act 48 (2011), and Act 182 (2012) rewrote the framework; the repealed § 667-5 still surfaces in older sources, and litigation over pre-2012 association foreclosures continues. Editors should confirm each statutory citation against the current text at capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent and each case on courts.state.hi.us before publication.

Footnotes

1. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-146 (association fiscal matters; lien for assessments) ↩
2. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 514B (condominiums; applicability and transition provisions, §§ 514B-21, 514B-22) ↩
3. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-10.5 (planned community associations; lien for assessments) ↩
4. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 667, pt. VI (Association Alternate Power of Sale Foreclosure Process, §§ 667-91 to 667-103) ↩
5. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 667-1 (definition of "power of sale," as amended by Act 282, 2019 Haw. Sess. Laws; retroactivity) ↩
6. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-146.5 (supplemental nonjudicial foreclosure notices; restrictions on power of sale) ↩
7. Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 586 U.S. 466 (2019) ↩
8. HOA and COA Foreclosures in Hawaii: Laws, Process, and Guide, Nolo (citing Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-146, 421J-10.5, 514B-144(b); no statutory redemption right) ↩
9. Mortgage Foreclosure / Act 48 (2011) FAQs, Haw. Dep't of Commerce & Consumer Affairs ↩
10. Haw. Dep't of Commerce & Consumer Affairs, Mortgage Foreclosure Dispute Resolution Program FAQs (program unavailable where a condominium association forecloses on its lien) ↩
11. Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, 139 S. Ct. 1029 (2019) (limited-purpose definition under 15 U.S.C. § 1692f(6)) ↩
12. Hungate v. Law Office of David B. Rosen, 139 Haw. 394 (2017), No. SCAP-13-0005234 ↩
13. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 667-92 (notice of default and intention to foreclose; contents; cure; reasonable payment plan) ↩
14. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 667-1 (definition of "served," referencing the Hawaii Rules of Civil Procedure and §§ 634-35, 634-36) ↩
15. Wong v. Ass'n of Apartment Owners of Harbor Square, No. SCAP-22-0000552, 154 Haw. 58, 545 P.3d 547 (Feb. 29, 2024) ↩
16. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 514B (as amended by Act 41, 2024 Haw. Sess. Laws; §§ 514B-4, 514B-5, 514B-41, 514B-42, 514B-105, 514B-157), Haw. Dep't of Commerce & Consumer Affairs, Real Estate Branch (updated Jan. 16, 2025) ↩
17. H.B. 1209, 2025 Reg. Sess. (Haw. 2025) (relating to condominium associations) ↩
18. S.B. 1498, 2025 Reg. Sess. (Haw. 2025) (relating to homeowner associations) ↩
19. Puu Heleakala Cmty. Ass'n v. Collins, No. CAAP-21-0000224 (Haw. Ct. App. Oct. 31, 2024) ↩