The honest headline first: yes, a Hawaii association — planned community or condo — can foreclose on your home over unpaid assessments, and since 2019 it can use the nonjudicial power-of-sale process in Chapter 667 whether or not its governing documents ever granted a power of sale. The legislature paired that power with owner protections that are your real leverage. The association's notice of default must give you a cure deadline at least sixty days after service. You can cure by paying the full default, or you can submit a payment plan by certified mail or hand delivery — and the association shall not reject a reasonable one, with a plan of up to twelve months deemed reasonable by statute. Once you give written notice of intent to cure or timely submit a plan, the nonjudicial foreclosure is stayed while you perform.
The lien itself has boundaries worth checking. Under § 421J-10.5 (and § 514B-146 for condos), a recorded lien for unpaid assessments expires six years from the date of recordation unless enforcement proceedings are started first, and any proceeding to enforce the lien over an assessment must be instituted within six years after the assessment became due. A lien arising solely from fines, penalties, legal fees, or late fees cannot be foreclosed nonjudicially at all — it must be filed in court. And Hawaii law caps what a foreclosure purchaser can be specially assessed for the prior owner's delinquency at six months of unpaid regular periodic assessments.
The pressure tools short of foreclosure
Two collection tools deserve attention before any auction. First, for an owner-occupied unit, § 421J-10.5(e) lets the association, after sixty days' written notice, cut off the delinquent unit's access to common areas and association-supplied services until the delinquency is paid in full — but only if the board first adopted a written policy approved by a vote of the owners (§ 421J-10.5(f)). Second, if you rent your unit out and fall thirty days or more behind, § 421J-10.6 lets the board demand your tenant's rent directly, after written notice to you by first-class and certified mail stating the exact amount claimed — again only under an owner-approved written policy. Both tools have procedural preconditions boards skip; check whether the required policy and votes actually exist before treating either as valid.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-10.5
Creates the planned-community assessment lien; allows judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure regardless of power-of-sale language but bars the nonjudicial route for fine-only liens; recorded liens expire six years after recordation absent enforcement.
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 514B-146
The condo parallel: assessment lien, six-year expiration of recorded liens, nonjudicial foreclosure allowed for assessments but barred for liens arising solely from fines, penalties, legal fees, or late fees.
Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 667-19, 667-92
Association foreclosure procedure: notice of default with a cure deadline at least 60 days out, a right to submit a payment plan the association may not reject if reasonable (up to 12 months deemed reasonable), and a stay of nonjudicial foreclosure while the owner cures or performs.
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 421J-10.6
After 30+ days of delinquency and written notice by first-class and certified mail, the board may collect rent directly from a delinquent owner's tenant — but only under a written policy approved by the owners.
Step by step
How to respond to a Hawaii association lien or foreclosure notice
Steps to take when a Hawaii HOA or condo association records a lien or serves a notice of default and intention to foreclose.
- 01
Read the notice for the cure deadline
The notice of default must state a cure date at least sixty days after service. Calendar it immediately — everything protective you can do happens inside that window.
- 02
Demand the itemized breakdown
Request the written statement separating regular and special assessments from penalties, late fees, lien fees, and attorneys' fees (§ 421J-10.5(c)). If the balance is mostly fines and fees rather than assessments, the nonjudicial route is off-limits for the fine-only portion.
- 03
Submit a payment plan in writing
Send a payment plan by certified mail, return receipt requested, or hand delivery. The association may not reject a reasonable plan, and up to twelve months is deemed reasonable by statute. A timely plan stays the nonjudicial foreclosure while you perform.
- 04
Check the lien's age and the six-year clocks
Confirm when the lien was recorded and when the underlying assessments came due. A recorded lien more than six years old with no enforcement, or an enforcement action begun more than six years after the assessment came due, runs into the statute's expiration rules.
- 05
Get a Hawaii attorney before any auction date
A nonjudicial sale moves without a courtroom. If a sale is scheduled, have a licensed Hawaii attorney review service of the notice, the cure-window math, the payment-plan rejection, and the fine-only lien bar — each is a recognized defect.
Straight answers
Common questions
Can a Hawaii HOA foreclose without power-of-sale language in its documents?
Yes. Since 2019, both § 421J-10.5 and § 514B-146 authorize nonjudicial or power-of-sale foreclosure under Chapter 667 regardless of the presence or absence of power-of-sale language in the governing documents — subject to the notice, cure, and payment-plan protections in that chapter.
How long do I have to cure before a nonjudicial foreclosure?
At least sixty days after service of the notice of default. You can cure by paying the full default, or submit a payment plan — the association may not reject a reasonable one, and plans up to twelve months are deemed reasonable. Either path stays the nonjudicial process while you perform.
Can they foreclose over fines and late fees?
Not nonjudicially. A lien arising solely from fines, penalties, legal fees, or late fees must be foreclosed in court under Chapter 667 part IA. Scrutinize any ledger where fines and fees dwarf the actual assessments.
Can the association shut off my amenities or take my tenant's rent instead?
Both exist, with preconditions. After 60 days' written notice, an owner-occupied delinquent unit's common-area access and association-supplied services can be cut off — but only under a written policy the owners approved. And after 30 days' delinquency, the board can demand a tenant's rent directly with proper dual-mail notice, again only under an owner-approved policy. Ask to see the policy and the vote.