Homeowners Association Oversight

As many of you may know, there has been much discussion about how your Homeowners Association is overseen, how its leadership is fairly elected, and how accessible is the association’s financial statements. While we fully acknowledge the need for transparency and proper management of the association, we should make it known that finding resolutions within the legislative framework is proving to be more difficult than anticipated.

Chapter 421J, Hawai’i Revised Statutes (HRS), establishes statutory requirements applicable to homeowner associations and planned community associations. Even within the framework of Chapter 421J, this doesn’t specifically assign responsibility for overseeing associations to any executive branch department, which provides a framework of self-governance among homeowner associations. Despite our best efforts thus far, the balance between government encroachment and freely governing private associations is the tight rope I am finding hard to balance.

Homeowners associations are sometimes organized as a Hawaii nonprofit corporation under the Hawaii Nonprofit Corporation Act (Chapter 414D, HRS). Accordingly, certain judicial relief may be available under Chapter 414D. For example, under section 414D-103, provides for the imposition of a court-ordered annual or regular meeting of a corporation’s members in certain circumstances.

When it comes to resolving disputes among homeowners with their association, we note that the Real Estate Commission similarly suggests that individuals contact the Hawaii State Bar Association to be referred to a legal expert. In addition to hiring an attorney, there is always the option of mediation, which is even laid out in Chapter 421J, HRS.

Please understand we’ve been intently listening to you and that these are issues that we’ve labored over for quite some time.

If you are interested in participating in this issue, please contact Senator Joy San Buenaventura’s office at (808) 586-6890. In 2022, she received funding to start a working group.