2026-09-10 · Hawaii · Regulation

Hawaii pays for a large share of condominium mediation, and a meaningful number of boards do not know it. The Real Estate Commission funds it from the Condominium Education Trust Fund, and the current subsidy levels are up to $600 for qualified facilitative mediations and up to $3,000 for qualified evaluative mediations.¹

Providers are the Mediation Center of the Pacific, Ku‘ikahi Mediation Center, and Dispute Prevention and Resolution.

The eligibility line

Registered chapter 514B associations only. The Commission states expressly that HRS ch. 421J planned community associations have no state agency with oversight authority, and that their owners must pay full mediation costs.

That is a real and under-appreciated difference between the two Hawaii association types, and it compounds: a planned community has no state registration, no state-subsidised ADR, no reserve mandate, no insurance mandate and no fining statute.

And every phone number changed

Effective December 22, 2025, all condominium inquiries route through a centralised DCCA call center and the prior Real Estate Branch numbers were phased out.

The number is 1-844-808-DCCA (3222), option 1, then option 8. A management office still working from a pre-2026 contact sheet is dialling a dead line.

Where the money comes from

Under HRS § 514B-72(a)(2), each registered project or association pays “an additional annual condominium education trust fund fee in an amount equal to the product of $1.50 times the number of condominium units… dedicated to supporting mediation or voluntary binding arbitration,” totalling $3 per unit until the Commission adopts rules.

1. Hawaii Condominium Bulletin, June 2026 (CB2606) — mediation subsidy levels, call center, Commission meeting schedule ↩
2. HRS § 514B-161, Mediation ↩
3. HRS § 514B-157, Attorneys' fees, delinquent assessments, and expenses of enforcement ↩