Why a condominium board is exactly the target audience

Public adjusters work on percentages of settlement, and a condominium master-policy claim is one of the largest single settlements in the residential market. Ten per cent of an eight-figure recovery is a very large number, and it comes out of money owners are relying on to rebuild.

Three things that matter before signing:

Treat 10% as the ceiling on any Lala or Lowell claim. Both storms are covered by gubernatorial proclamations, which is what puts the claim in the catastrophe category.

Confirm in writing that the fee is computed on the total settlement, and that no separate “consulting,” “estimating” or “project management” charge sits alongside it. The memorandum measures “total value received by the adjuster from or on behalf of the insured, regardless of form or timing of payment” — layering is exactly what that phrase is written to reach.

Check the date on the agreement. Contracts executed before August 17, 2026 are outside the memorandum. An association that signed in the days immediately after Lala should know which side of the line it is on.

What a presumption is, and is not

It is not a cap. It is a presumption of unreasonableness under HRS § 431:9-244, which shifts the burden onto the adjuster to justify a higher figure rather than forbidding one outright. In practice a bright line in a Commissioner’s memorandum is a strong negotiating position for a board and a difficult starting point for an adjuster.

The staffing constraint that interacts with it

On September 8, 2026 the Commissioner authorised nonresident independent adjusters to work Hurricane Lala and Hurricane Lowell claims — up to 120 days from registration, with those already in-state under the earlier declaration able to continue until January 6, 2027, new registrations due within 30 days, and the using company required to notify the Commissioner within three working days of an adjuster starting work.²

Nonresident public adjusters are specifically excluded from that authorisation until the Commissioner determines more are needed. So the supply of public adjusters available to associations is the resident pool, at a moment when demand is at its peak — which is the market condition in which fee pressure appears.

Independent versus public adjuster, since the terms get mixed up

An independent adjuster works for the insurer. A public adjuster works for the policyholder — the association — and is the one whose compensation this memorandum governs. A board hiring representation for a claim is hiring the second kind, and paying for it out of the recovery.

The board decision underneath

Whether to retain a public adjuster at all is a business judgment, not a legal question, and it turns on the complexity of the claim and the board’s own capacity. What the memorandum does is remove one variable from the negotiation: the price is now anchored.

Document the decision either way. A board that retains an adjuster at the presumptive ceiling on a large claim should have minutes showing it considered the cost against the expected benefit, because owners will ask.

What to watch

Whether the Commissioner opens the authorisation to nonresident public adjusters as claim volume builds, and whether any 2027 measure converts the presumption into a statutory cap.