Hawaii HOA law guide.
Every Hawaii statute that governs condominium and planned community associations, hosted in full on HOPB with the official text — plus the eight further chapters that decide association questions from outside them. Hawaii spares you the did we opt in? question other states force; what it asks instead is that you read the right chapter of two that look alike. This index is how the pieces fit together.
Which statute governs your community — and why that is the easy part in Hawaii.
Hawaii asks less of you here than most states. There is no opt-in and no cut-off date. Section 514B-21(a) applies the Condominium Property Act to “all condominiums created within this State”, qualified only in that applying it cannot invalidate existing provisions of the declaration, bylaws, condominium map or other constituent documents where that would invalidate a developer’s reserved rights, and adds that amendments to the chapter “apply to all condominiums, regardless of when the amendment is adopted”. Section 421J-1 applies the planned community chapter “to all planned community associations existing as of June 16, 1997 and all planned community associations created thereafter”. Older buildings are handled by translation rather than exclusion: § 514B-21(b) provides that “condominium property regime” and “horizontal property regime” correspond to “condominium”, “apartment” to “unit” and “association of apartment owners” to “association”, and § 514B-23 lets a condominium created before July 1, 2006 amend its documents “to achieve any result permitted by this chapter” by a majority vote or written consent — though no such amendment may invalidate a developer’s reserved rights.
So the real question is not whether a chapter applies but which. A “planned community” under § 421J-2 expressly excludes a condominium, a cooperative housing corporation and a time share plan; a community is an “association” if a declaration imposes responsibilities and grants authority, or if it is a planned community association as defined in § 607-14 — “a nonprofit homeowners or community association existing pursuant to covenants running with the land” — or if ten or more parcel owners vote and assessments can become a lien. And here is the Hawaii mistake to avoid: the two chapters run in close parallel and then diverge, on lien priority, on whether arbitration exists at all, on whether a conflicted director may vote, on board-meeting notice, on records deadlines and copy fees, and on reserves and insurance. Reading the familiar chapter instead of the governing one is how most Hawaii association questions get answered wrongly.
What the association can charge, and what happens when it is not paid.
Both chapters create the lien; a third chapter enforces it. Unpaid assessments become a lien on the unit — but the priority is not the same in both. In a condominium the lien has statutory priority over everything except real property taxes and government assessments, and sums unpaid on a mortgage of record recorded before the association recorded its notice of lien (§ 514B-146(a)). In a planned community there is no statutory priority at all: it is, except as otherwise provided by law, “as provided in the association documents or, if no priority is provided in the association documents, by the recordation date of the liens”, and an amendment cannot leapfrog a mortgage recorded before it (§ 421J-10.5(a)).
Both chapters then close the same door on the same terms: no association may use the nonjudicial or power-of-sale remedies in chapter 667 to foreclose a lien “that arises solely from fines, penalties, legal fees, or late fees” — that foreclosure must be filed in court. Both also forbid withholding, but not of everything: in a condominium the bar covers common expense assessments, and fines, late fees and lien filing fees may be contested before payment by demanding mediation, which stops collection of the disputed charges until the association has mediated (§§ 514B-146(e), (g)). In a planned community the bar is broader, subject to § 667-92(c) (§ 421J-10.5(c)). Either way an owner who pays gets a written itemisation, a route to mediation, and a refund of anything not owed. Increases need thirty days’ written notice (§§ 514B-144(h), 421J-9), and past-due condominium assessments bear interest capped at 18% a year (§ 514B-144(b)).
The corporate statute most associations are incorporated under, and the fair housing statute both association chapters name.
Two more chapters apply to almost every Hawaii association, and the order of reading matters. Chapter 414D supplies the corporate framework — but § 414D-311 provides that on any conflict with chapters 421J, 514B or 514E, those chapters “supersede and control”. So start in the association statute and come to 414D for what it does not answer. Two sections of 414D go further and step aside by their own terms: §§ 414D-114(e) and 414D-138(j), added in 2022, each say the section “shall not apply to any planned community association governed by chapter 421J”, moving cumulative voting and director removal for planned communities to §§ 421J-3.2 and 421J-3.3.
Chapter 515 is Hawaii’s fair housing statute, and both association chapters name it. Sections 514B-113 and 421J-16 void a governing-document provision allowing the discriminatory practices listed in § 515-3(a)(1) to (7) against a resident holding a valid medical cannabis certificate — unless the documents ban tobacco smoking and the cannabis is smoked — and each closes by preserving the association’s obligation to provide reasonable accommodations under § 515-3(a)(9). Separately, § 515-6 voids discriminatory covenants — excepting a religion-based limitation on property held and used by a religious institution or a charitable organisation it controls — and makes it a discriminatory practice “to honor or attempt to honor such a provision in the chain of title”.
The eight other chapters that decide association questions.
A great deal of Hawaii association law sits outside chapters 514B and 421J, and none of it is obvious from their tables of contents. Solar panels, EV chargers and clotheslines are in chapter 196, which defines a “private entity” to include “any association of homeowners, community association, condominium association, cooperative” — so those sections reach associations directly rather than through either chapter. Attorneys’ fees are capped at 25% of the judgment, in actions in the nature of assumpsit and on written contracts providing for a fee, by § 607-14 — which then exempts “a planned community association and its members” in assessment, lien and governing-document actions. Whether an association can sue for unfair or deceptive practices depends on two provisions read together: § 480-2(d) limits those actions to a consumer, the attorney general or the director of the office of consumer protection, and § 514B-104(a)(4) deems associations to be consumers for chapter 480 actions.
And two provisions can stop an association suing — failing to register (§ 514B-103(b)) and failing to pay the education trust fund fee (§ 514B-72(c)), each applying only to a project or association of more than five units, and each stating its own boundary in the same provision: the association may still defend, and its claims remain valid. Administrative dissolution for not filing the annual report for two years (§§ 414D-248, 414D-249) is often assumed to be a third and is not — it confines the corporation to winding up, but § 414D-245(b) provides that dissolution does not prevent commencement of a proceeding in the corporation’s name, nor abate a pending one.
General information, not legal advice. Statutory references are to the Hawaii Revised Statutes as published by the Hawaii State Legislature, current through the 2025 Regular Session, and may not reflect the most recent amendments.