2026-09-10 · Hawaii · Courts

A Hawaii managing agent that puts resale documents on a website for download must hand them over at no cost. Not at a reduced cost, not at cost plus a processing fee — at no cost. The Hawaii Supreme Court said so in Caven, Jr. v. Certified Management, Inc., dba Associa Hawaii, No. SCWC-19-0000047, decided September 5, 2025.¹

The decision is a summary disposition order and therefore unpublished, with Ginoza, J. dissenting. It remains the controlling word from Hawaii’s highest court on a fee that management companies across the state still charge.

The bill that produced the case

Frederick Caven co-owned a unit at Regency at Poipu Kai on Kauai. To close a 2016 sale he needed a Hawaii Association of REALTORS Project Information Form RR105c and a Statement of Account from each of two associations. His realtor ordered them as digital downloads through the manager’s “Community Archives” site.

The total was $1,447.91, built from a $360 processing fee for the resale package, a $165 processing fee for the planned-community documents, and $437.50 for each Statement of Account — itself a $195 processing fee, an $80 expedite fee, a $145 transfer fee, and tax.

The two arguments, and why both failed

“We create these documents on request, so they are not records.” The court read HRS § 514B-152, which requires records “sufficiently detailed to enable the association to comply with requests for information and disclosures related to resale of units,” together with § 514B-154.5(a), which reaches documents “whether maintained, kept, or required to be provided.” Conclusion: “these statutorily mandated disclosures are not limited to pre-existing documents.”

“The website is ours, not the association’s.” “It is immaterial for purposes of HRS § 514B-154.5(e) whether that internet site is maintained by the association or its managing agent. Because Associa made the Form RR105c and the SOA for Regency AOAO available to Caven to download through its internet site ‘Community Archives,’ it was required to do so ‘at no cost.’”

1. Caven v. Certified Management, Inc., No. SCWC-19-0000047, Hawaii Supreme Court summary disposition order, September 5, 2025 ↩
2. HRS § 514B-154.5, Association documents to be provided (as amended by Act 161, SLH 2025) ↩