Hawaii HOA Governing Statute

1. Overview — How HOAs are governed in Hawaii

Hawaii runs a hybrid framework. A detailed, purpose-built statute covers condominiums, while non-condominium planned communities have no comparable comprehensive code and run primarily on recorded covenants. The condominium statute is the Hawaii Condominium Property Act, HRS Chapter 514B, which took effect July 1, 2006.¹

The predecessor framework, HRS Chapter 514A (originally enacted in 1977), was formally repealed effective January 1, 2019 by Act 181, SLH 2017, and Act 223, SLH 2019 extended safe-harbor transitional provisions through June 30, 2020. Certain pre-2006 projects that did not transition under the safe harbor must re-register under Chapter 514B.²

Condominium regulation in Hawaii sits inside a developed administrative structure. The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) Real Estate Branch staffs Condominium Specialists, processes biennial condominium association registrations, reviews developer public reports for the Real Estate Commission, and administers the Condominium Education Trust Fund (CETF) under HRS §§ 514B-71 and 514B-72.³

Non-condominium associations in Hawaii have no parallel comprehensive statute. The Planned Community Associations Act, HRS Chapter 421J, supplies a limited set of governance rules — board meetings, proxies, lien procedures, mediation — but it does not address creation, registration, public reports, or reserves the way Chapter 514B does.⁴

For non-condo HOAs, recorded covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs) remain the primary governing instrument, and the Hawaii Nonprofit Corporations Act, HRS Chapter 414D (operative July 1, 2002), supplies corporate formalities for incorporated associations.⁵ The DCCA Real Estate Branch states directly that “there is no government agency charged with oversight or responsibility of HRS Chapters 421J or 421I.”⁶

For property managers and board counsel, the practical division is sharp: condominium files are statute-driven, while non-condo association files are contract-driven and governed at the corporate level.

2. The statutory framework

2A. The Hawaii Condominium Property Act (HRS Chapter 514B)

HRS Chapter 514B, titled the Condominium Property Act, was enacted by Act 164, SLH 2004 and took effect on July 1, 2006.⁷ The chapter came out of a multi-year recodification project the Real Estate Commission commissioned under Act 213, SLH 2000, and Act 164 (SLH 2004) directs that the Commission's December 31, 2003 Final Report serves as an authorized aid in interpreting the chapter.⁸ Chapter 514B is a bespoke Hawaii statute and does not derive from the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA); analogous concepts in UCIOA states, such as “common interest community,” have no direct equivalents in Hawaii law.

Chapter 514B is organized into seven Parts: Part I (General Provisions), Part II (Applicability), Part III (Creation, Alteration, and Termination of Condominiums), Part IV (Registration and Administration of Condominiums), Part V (Protection of Condominium Purchasers), Part VI (Management of Condominiums), and Part VII (Miscellaneous Provisions). Part VI is divided into four subparts covering board powers and duties, governance/elections/meetings, operations, and alternative dispute resolution.⁹

Section 514B-3 defines the operative terms used throughout the chapter, including “association” (the unit owners' association organized under § 514B-102), “board,” “common elements,” “common expenses,” “common interest,” “declaration,” “developer,” “managing agent,” “project,” and “unit.”¹⁰ The chapter applies “to all condominiums created within this State after July 1, 2006” under § 514B-21, and the provisions of Chapter 514A do not apply to condominiums created after that date.¹¹

Part IV centralizes administration with the Real Estate Commission. Section 514B-51 requires developers to register a project and obtain an effective date for the developer's public report before they offer units for sale, and § 514B-54 specifies the content of that report.¹² Section 514B-63 authorizes the appointment of condominium specialists within the DCCA Real Estate Branch.¹³ Section 514B-71 establishes the Condominium Education Trust Fund, dedicated to education, research, and subsidized dispute resolution; § 514B-72(a)(2) sets the per-unit, per-biennium amounts registered associations pay into the fund, currently $7.00 per unit for the CETF fee and $3.00 per unit for the CETF-Mediation (CEM) component, in addition to a nonrefundable $64 biennial registration fee per association and a $100 biennial Compliance Resolution Fund fee.¹⁴ The Real Estate Commission, rather than a free-standing “Condominium Review Board,” is the operative oversight body, and the Real Estate Branch publishes mediation case summaries and a periodic Condominium Bulletin that reflects CETF-funded activity.¹⁵

Chapter 514B mixes mandatory provisions with provisions an association may vary by declaration or bylaws. Section 514B-137(a), for example, allocates upkeep responsibility “except to the extent provided by the declaration or bylaws,” and § 514B-143(a) imposes insurance baselines “unless otherwise provided in the declaration or bylaws.”¹⁶ Other provisions, including the fidelity bond requirement at § 514B-143(a)(3) and the biennial registration requirement at § 514B-103, are mandatory and cannot be waived.¹⁷ Section 514B-111 also provides a circuit-court mechanism to excuse compliance with certain declaration provisions deemed unreasonable.¹⁸

2B. HRS Chapter 514A — the predecessor condominium statute

HRS Chapter 514A, the predecessor “Condominium Property Regimes” law, was enacted in 1977 as a restatement of the former Chapter 514, which itself traced to Hawaii's 1961 Horizontal Property Regimes law.¹⁹ Act 181, SLH 2017 repealed Chapter 514A effective January 1, 2019, and Act 223, SLH 2019 temporarily re-enacted select Chapter 514A provisions through June 30, 2020 to let developers complete their transitions.²⁰

The repeal did not invalidate any condominium property regime validly created under Chapter 514A before July 1, 2006. Existing Chapter 514A projects with active developer public reports between January 1, 2019 and July 1, 2020 transferred automatically to Chapter 514B; projects whose public reports had expired, or that never obtained an effective date, had to revise their governing documents and re-register under Chapter 514B before further sales.²¹ Operationally, the management provisions of Chapter 514B Part VI now govern all Hawaii condominiums regardless of creation date through the applicability framework codified at § 514B-21 (and former § 514B-22, which was repealed in 2019).²²

A manager taking over an older Hawaii project should therefore do three things: confirm the recorded declaration and check for any election to subject the project to Chapter 514B in full; review the developer's public report history with the Real Estate Commission for any safe-harbor transfer; and treat all Part VI (Management) provisions as applicable to operations regardless of creation date.

2C. Non-condo planned communities, Chapter 421J, and the role of CC&Rs

Hawaii has no comprehensive planned community statute comparable to Chapter 514B. HRS Chapter 421J, the Planned Community Associations Act, was enacted by Act 132, SLH 1997 and applies “to all planned community associations existing as of June 16, 1997 and all planned community associations created thereafter.”²³ Chapter 421J addresses discrete governance topics — definitions (§ 421J-2), boards (§ 421J-3), meeting notice (§ 421J-3.5), proxies (§ 421J-4), Robert's Rules of Order (§ 421J-6), documents of the association (§ 421J-7), assessment increase notification (§ 421J-9), assessment liens (§ 421J-10.5), and mediation (§ 421J-13) — but it does not reach creation, public reports, reserve studies, or the broad management duties found in Chapter 514B Part VI.²⁴

For non-condo HOAs, recorded CC&Rs remain the primary governing document. The developer supplies them at the time of subdivision, and they bind successor owners under common-law servitude doctrine. Incorporated planned community associations operate as nonprofit corporations under HRS Chapter 414D, which has been operative since July 1, 2002 and governs incorporation, member meetings, voting, director duties, indemnification, dissolution, and similar corporate formalities.²⁵ Under general principles of legal interpretation, Chapter 414D applies where the condominium law has no specific provision on the subject and gives way to Chapter 514B where direct conflicts arise; the same hierarchical principle applies to planned community associations under Chapter 421J.²⁶

The functional order of precedence for a Hawaii non-condo planned community runs this way: first, HRS Chapter 421J's limited mandatory provisions; second, the recorded declaration of CC&Rs; third, recorded bylaws; and fourth, house rules the board adopts within the authority the declaration and bylaws grant. Chapter 414D supplies corporate default rules where the association is incorporated, and Hawaii common law of contract, servitudes, and property fills the gaps. Hawaii appellate courts have held that, where a charter is not recorded and the declaration “could not reasonably be interpreted as creating the requisite authority” to impose mandatory payments, the entity is not an “association” within the statutory definition in § 421J-2 and cannot claim fees under § 421J-10.²⁷

The operational implication is direct: a manager of a Hawaii non-condo planned community cannot point to a state HOA statute the way a condominium manager points to Chapter 514B. Authority for assessment collection, architectural review, fining, and enforcement runs first through the recorded declaration. The DCCA Real Estate Branch does not regulate planned community associations and does not maintain a registry for them.²⁸

3. Compliance obligations created by the statutory framework

What an association owes its owners depends on which framework applies. Here is how governance, financial, disclosure, and dispute-resolution obligations divide between Chapter 514B condominiums and non-condo planned communities.

Governance obligations

For Chapter 514B condominiums, governance obligations are mandatory in substance and spelled out in Part VI. Section 514B-105 sets out the powers and duties of the board, including the duty to act in good faith and within the scope of the declaration and bylaws.²⁹ Section 514B-106 details additional board powers, and § 514B-107 limits board membership eligibility, barring tenants, resident managers, and employees of the condominium from board service.³⁰ Section 514B-121 governs the annual association meeting, and § 514B-123, as amended by Act 42, SLH 2024, governs voting and authorizes electronic voting and mail voting on terms the chapter specifies.³¹ Sections 514B-152, 514B-153, and 514B-154 govern association records — what the association must keep, where, and how owners may examine them — and § 514B-154.5 covers documents that must be made available, including for resale.³² Associations must register biennially under § 514B-103 and maintain fidelity bond coverage under § 514B-143(a)(3); both obligations are mandatory.³³

For non-condo planned communities, the corresponding obligations come from three places: the limited Chapter 421J provisions on board structure, notice, and proxies; the recorded declaration and bylaws; and Chapter 414D corporate formalities, such as member meetings, director duties of care and loyalty, and record-keeping for nonprofit corporations. They are not statutory under any HOA-specific framework comparable to Chapter 514B.³⁴

Financial obligations

For Chapter 514B condominiums, § 514B-148 requires the board to adopt an annual operating budget, conduct or update a reserve study, and fund replacement reserves, with the funding methodology — percent-funded or cash-flow plan — specified in the statute.³⁵ Section 514B-149 governs the handling and disbursement of funds, and § 514B-150 requires an annual audit and audited financial statement; the statute lets a majority of unit owners waive the audit and the annual unannounced cash balance verification at an association meeting only when the association has fewer than twenty units.³⁶ Section 514B-146 establishes the association's lien for unpaid assessments and the procedures for non-judicial and judicial foreclosure, and § 514B-146.5 restricts power-of-sale enforcement for liens that arise solely from fines.³⁷ Chapter 514B condominiums must also pay annual CETF and CEM contributions under § 514B-72(a)(2), on top of the biennial registration and Compliance Resolution Fund fees.³⁸

For non-condo planned communities, financial obligations flow from the declaration and Chapter 421J. Section 421J-9 requires written notice of assessment increases, and § 421J-10.5 provides a statutory lien for assessments. Reserve funding, audit, and budgeting obligations come from the recorded declaration and from any obligations the association assumes as a corporation under Chapter 414D.³⁹ There is no CETF obligation for non-condo HOAs.

Disclosure obligations

For Chapter 514B condominiums, disclosure is heavily regulated. Section 514B-54 enumerates the contents of the developer's public report, which must obtain an effective date from the Real Estate Commission before sales begin under § 514B-51.⁴⁰ Material changes require an amended report under § 514B-56.⁴¹ On resale, § 514B-154.5(a) requires the association — and, following the Hawaii Supreme Court's September 5, 2025 ruling in Caven v. Certified Management, the managing agent — to provide specified documents and disclosures, and § 514B-154.5(e) requires those documents to be made available at no cost where they are furnished through an internet site.⁴²

For non-condo planned communities, disclosure is largely contractual. There is no analog to the Chapter 514B Part IV public report regime. HRS Chapter 508D requires mandatory seller disclosures in residential real estate transactions generally, but it is a consumer-protection statute aimed at sellers, not an HOA-specific disclosure framework.⁴³

Dispute resolution obligations

For Chapter 514B condominiums, Subpart D of Part VI sets the framework. Section 514B-161 directs that condominium disputes go to mediation on the request of any party; § 514B-162 authorizes arbitration; § 514B-162.5 covers voluntary binding arbitration; and § 514B-163 governs trial de novo and appeal.⁴⁴ Section 514B-157 conditions an association's recovery of fees and costs on a good-faith attempt to mediate or arbitrate, and in Association of Apartment Owners of Wailea Elua v. Wailea Resort Co., 100 Hawai'i 97, 58 P.3d 608 (2002), the Hawaii Supreme Court held that a court may consider a refusal to mediate when it awards fees.⁴⁵ The DCCA Condominium Specialist office provides information and referrals but does not adjudicate disputes, and the CETF subsidizes mediation through the Mediation Center of the Pacific, Mediation Services of Maui, and Dispute Prevention and Resolution, Inc.⁴⁶

For non-condo planned communities, § 421J-13 provides for mediation of association disputes. There is no equivalent CETF-subsidized program. Owner-board disputes outside the mandatory scope of Chapter 421J are resolved under the declaration and through ordinary civil litigation.⁴⁷

Across both categories, the due-process obligations for fines, hearings, and enforcement actions come from the governing documents and, for incorporated associations, from Chapter 414D's standards for director conduct.

4. Hawaii's recent legislative and judicial activity

Recent bills

Hawaii lawmakers have spent recent sessions modernizing how condominium associations meet and vote, financing major repairs, and shoring up property insurance.

Recent court rulings

Hawaii's appellate courts have sharpened what associations and their managing agents owe owners, especially when documents change hands at resale.

Active legislative debates

A state task force is studying larger structural reforms, and its recommendations could reshape how Hawaii oversees condominiums.

5. National positioning and related coverage

Hawaii sits in a small category of states that pair a developed, bespoke condominium statute with a thin statutory framework for non-condominium associations. Chapter 514B is comprehensive on creation, registration, public reports, governance, reserves, and dispute resolution, and the DCCA Real Estate Branch, the Condominium Specialist office, the Condominium Education Trust Fund, and the Real Estate Commission give Hawaii one of the more developed condominium regulatory infrastructures in the country. Non-condo planned communities, by contrast, operate under Chapter 421J's limited provisions, the recorded CC&Rs, and Chapter 414D corporate formalities — a CC&R-primary regime. Hawaii is not a UCIOA state; the Community Associations Institute identifies nine UCIOA jurisdictions — Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, Nevada, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia — and concepts portable across those states do not import to Hawaii. Multi-state operators should not assume that compliance templates built for UCIOA states translate to Hawaii practice under Chapter 514B.⁵⁴

6. Closing note

HOA Weekly's Hawaii Governing Statute coverage updates quarterly to reflect new sessions of the Hawaii Legislature, DCCA Real Estate Branch guidance, and decisions of the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals and Hawaii Supreme Court. Federal frameworks also apply — among them the Fair Housing Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as applied to assessment collection, and federal bankruptcy law — and HOA Weekly tracks them separately at /federal/.

Footnotes

1. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-1, 514B-21 (short title; applicability) ↩
2. Act 181, SLH 2017; Act 223, SLH 2019 (repeal of HRS ch. 514A); DCCA Real Estate Branch, The Repeal of Chapter 514A, HRS ↩
3. DCCA Real Estate Branch, What Services Does the Real Estate Branch (REB) Provide to the Condominium Community? ↩
4. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-1 (scope) ↩
5. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 414D, Hawaii Nonprofit Corporations Act (Act 105, SLH 2001; operative July 1, 2002) ↩
6. DCCA Real Estate Branch, I Live in a Cooperative/Community/Homeowners Association — Does the Condominium Law Apply to My Association? ↩
7. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-1, 514B-21 (short title; applicability); Act 164, SLH 2004 ↩
8. Real Estate Comm'n, Final Report to the Legislature, Recodification of Chapter 514A, Hawaii Revised Statutes (Dec. 31, 2003); Act 164, SLH 2004 (authorized interpretive aid) ↩
9. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 514B (table of contents; seven Parts) ↩
10. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-3 (definitions) ↩
11. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-21 (applicability) ↩
12. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-51, 514B-54 (project registration; public report contents) ↩
13. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-63 (condominium specialists; appointment; duties) ↩
14. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-71, 514B-72; DCCA Condominium Association Biennial Registration fee schedule (CETF $7.00/unit; CEM $3.00/unit; $64 association registration fee; $100 Compliance Resolution Fund fee) ↩
15. DCCA Real Estate Branch, Condominium Bulletin (Oct. 2025) ↩
16. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-137(a), 514B-143(a) (maintenance allocation; insurance baselines) ↩
17. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-103, 514B-143(a)(3) (mandatory biennial registration; fidelity bond) ↩
18. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-111 (excusing compliance with unreasonable declaration provisions) ↩
19. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 514A (historical notes; 1977 restatement of former ch. 514; 1961 Horizontal Property Regimes law) ↩
20. Act 181, SLH 2017; Act 223, SLH 2019 (repeal and temporary re-enactment of ch. 514A); DCCA Real Estate Branch, The Repeal of Chapter 514A, HRS ↩
21. DCCA Real Estate Branch, The Repeal of Chapter 514A, HRS (developer transition and re-registration under ch. 514B) ↩
22. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-21 & editor's notes (former § 514B-22 repealed eff. Jan. 1, 2019 by Act 181, SLH 2017) ↩
23. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-1 (Planned Community Associations Act; Act 132, SLH 1997) ↩
24. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 421J (enumerated governance sections) ↩
25. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 414D (operative July 1, 2002; corporate formalities for incorporated associations) ↩
26. Real Estate Comm'n, published Chapter 514B materials (rule of construction: ch. 414D applies absent a specific condominium provision; condominium law prevails in direct conflict) ↩
27. 114 Hawai'i 361, 162 P.3d 1277 (2007) (construing “association” under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-2; HOA lacking a recorded charter not entitled to fees under § 421J-10) ↩
28. DCCA Real Estate Branch, I Live in a Cooperative/Community/Homeowners Association — Does the Condominium Law Apply to My Association? ↩
29. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-105 (board powers and duties) ↩
30. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-107 (board membership eligibility) ↩
31. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-121, 514B-123 (annual meeting; voting), as amended by Act 42, SLH 2024 (HB 2315) ↩
32. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-152, 514B-153, 514B-154, 514B-154.5 (association records; resale documents) ↩
33. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-103, 514B-143(a)(3) (mandatory biennial registration and fidelity bond) ↩
34. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 421J (board structure, notice, and proxies) ↩
35. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-148 (operating budget; reserve study; replacement reserves) ↩
36. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-150 (annual audit; cash-balance verification; under-twenty-unit waiver) ↩
37. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-146, 514B-146.5 (assessment lien; foreclosure; power-of-sale limits for fine-only liens) ↩
38. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-72(a)(2); DCCA Condominium Association Biennial Registration fee schedule ↩
39. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 421J-9, 421J-10.5 (assessment-increase notice; assessment lien) ↩
40. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-51, 514B-54 (public report; effective date before sales) ↩
41. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-56 (amended public report on material change) ↩
42. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-154.5; Caven v. Certified Mgmt., Inc., No. SCWC-19-0000047 (Haw. Sept. 5, 2025) (SDO) ↩
43. Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 508D (Mandatory Seller Disclosures in Real Estate Transactions) ↩
44. Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 514B-161, 514B-162, 514B-162.5, 514B-163 (mediation; arbitration; voluntary binding arbitration; trial de novo and appeal) ↩
45. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-157; Ass'n of Apartment Owners of Wailea Elua v. Wailea Resort Co., 100 Hawai'i 97, 58 P.3d 608 (2002) ↩
46. DCCA Real Estate Branch, Condominium Bulletin (Oct. 2025) (CETF-subsidized mediation providers: Mediation Center of the Pacific; Mediation Services of Maui; Dispute Prevention and Resolution, Inc.) ↩
47. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-13 (mediation of planned community association disputes) ↩
48. Act 42, SLH 2024 (HB 2315) (condominium electronic meetings and voting) ↩
49. Act 41, SLH 2024 (HB 2801) (C-PACER financing for condominiums) ↩
50. Act 296, SLH 2025 (SB 1044) (property insurance stabilization and Condominium Loan Program) ↩
51. Caven v. Certified Mgmt., Inc., No. SCWC-19-0000047 (Haw. Sept. 5, 2025) (SDO, not for publication) ↩
52. Caven v. Certified Mgmt., Inc., No. CAAP-19-0000047 (Haw. App. Mar. 22, 2024) (SDO) ↩
53. Act 189, SLH 2023; Act 43, SLH 2024 (SB 2726) (Condominium Property Regime Task Force) ↩
54. Community Associations Institute, UCIOA jurisdictions (Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Minnesota, Nevada, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia) ↩