Six-figure special assessments are hitting Hawaii's oldest condo owners hardest
Six-figure special assessments are hitting Hawaii's oldest condo owners hardest
2026-09-10 · Hawaii · Compliance · Reported — unconfirmed
Owner advocates describe Hawaii condominium special assessments of $20,000 to more than $100,000 per unit, and seniors responding by selling, drawing down retirement savings, or rationing medications.1
That is reported advocacy writing, not a survey. But the underlying arithmetic is not in dispute: Hawaii’s condominium stock is old, its insurance costs rose sharply after 2023, deferred maintenance in 1970s and 1980s buildings is the state regulator’s own named driver of nonrenewal, and the money has to come from somewhere.
Where the money comes from, in the statute
There is no special-assessment vote requirement in chapter 514B. What there is instead is a budget ceiling.
HRS § 514B-148(e): “Except in emergency situations or with the approval of a majority of the unit owners, a board may not exceed its total adopted annual operating budget by more than twenty per cent during the fiscal year.”
And before imposing or collecting an unapproved assessment, the board “shall adopt a resolution containing written findings as to the necessity of the extraordinary expense involved and why the expense was not or could not have been reasonably foreseen in the budgeting process,” distributed to members with the notice of assessment.
So a board has twenty per cent of headroom, an emergency exception, or an owner vote.
The five emergency grounds, because they are narrower than boards assume
Section 514B-148(h) lists them: a court order; a threat to personal safety; an unforeseeable repair; an unforeseeable legal or administrative proceeding; and — the one that matters most right now — where it is “necessary for the association to obtain adequate insurance for the property that the association must insure.”
That last ground is a deliberate legislative response to the insurance market. A board assessing to close a coverage gap has a statutory route that does not require an owner vote.
But note what the emergency exception does not do: it does not make the money easier to pay. It removes a procedural obstacle for the board, not a financial one for the owner.
What a board can and cannot do for an owner who cannot pay
Cannot: waive or reduce the assessment for hardship. Common expenses are allocated by common interest under § 514B-41 and § 514B-144. A board that forgives one owner’s share is redistributing it to the others, and it has no statutory authority to do so.
Cannot: accept partial payment as settling the debt. “No unit owner shall withhold any common expense assessment claimed by the association” — § 514B-146(e).
Can: offer a payment plan, and in a foreclosure posture must consider one. Under HRS § 667-92(c), an owner served with a notice of default may submit a payment plan within thirty days, and “The association shall not reject a reasonable payment plan.” A reasonable plan means timely payment of assessments coming due plus additional monthly payments sufficient to cure the default within a reasonable period — “provided that a period of up to twelve months shall be deemed reasonable,” with board discretion to allow longer. From the date the owner gives notice of intent to cure or submits a plan, any nonjudicial foreclosure is stayed.
Can: borrow instead of assessing. A loan spreads the cost over years rather than demanding it at once, which is precisely the difference between a manageable increase and a forced sale. The association’s borrowing power comes from § 514B-105 and its own documents, and Hawaii created a state loan programme for exactly this — though it is on hold as of this writing.
Can: fund reserves properly and avoid the situation. This is the only real answer, and it is unavailable to a board that is already in the crisis.
The disclosure that was supposed to prevent the surprise
Section 514B-148(a)(6) requires the budget summary’s computation explanation to state “planned increases in the estimated replacement reserve assessments over the thirty-year plan”, and whether the prior year’s actual assessments were less than the reserve study called for, by how much, and the impact on future assessments.
Act 157 (2025) then added that “the budget summary shall contain all required information without referring the reader to other portions of the budget,” and gave any unit owner standing to sue for a violation and seek an injunction.
An owner reading a compliant budget summary should never be surprised by a reserve-driven assessment. The reason owners are surprised is that many summaries are not compliant.
The oversight gap advocates point at
A DCCA condominium specialist, quoted in the same commentary: “We don’t have enforcement authority. We don’t have authority to advocate or mediate.”
An owner facing a six-figure assessment who believes the board misfunded reserves for a decade has, today, the § 514B-148(g) injunction route and private ADR. There is no agency that will look at the file.
That is what the Act 189 task force’s June 2026 recommendation is aimed at — making chapter 514B rights “enforceable through reviewable standards, practical enforcement mechanisms, and meaningful remedies,” with “personal accountability for knowing violations by responsible decision makers.”
What an owner in this position should do
- Ask for the budget summary and the reserve study, in writing. They are records under § 514B-154.5 and must be provided within thirty days.
- Keep paying while you dispute. The mediation and arbitration routes in § 514B-146(f) are conditioned on being paid in full and staying current, and a refund is available if amounts turn out not to be owed.
- Ask about a payment plan early — before a notice of default, when the board has more discretion, not less.
What to watch
The 2027 introduction of the task force package, and whether the state’s condominium loan programme comes off hold before its June 30, 2027 commitment deadline.
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