Opinion ID: 2521501
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: History of ROH chapter 38

Text: ROH chapter 38 (entitled Residential Condominium, Cooperative Housing and Residential Planned Development Leasehold Conversions), enacted by City and County of Honolulu Ordinance 91-95 (1995), is modeled after HRS chapter 516 (known as the Hawai'i Land Reform Act (HLRA)). Richardson v. City and County of Honolulu, 802 F.Supp. 326, 340 (D.Haw.1992); see generally, Richardson v. City and County of Honolulu, 76 Hawai'i 46, 868 P.2d 1193 (1994) (outlining Hawai`i's involuntary fee conversion scheme under state statute and county ordinance and stating that both HRS chapter 516 (HLRA) and ordinance 91-95 (presently codified as ROH chapter 38) appertain to involuntary fee conversion; however, the statute and ordinance cover different subject matterthe HLRA applies to land underlying single family homes and ROH chapter 38 applies to condominium, cooperative housing and planned development units.) The intended similarity between ROH chapter 38 and the HLRA is evident in the City Council's statement regarding the purpose of the Ordinance: [t]he purpose of this measure is to provide to the leasehold owners of condominium properties the same right to purchase the land under their homes as is currently provided the owners of single family dwellings.... See Coon, 98 Hawai'i at 251 n. 27, 47 P.3d at 366 n. 27 (citing the report of the City Council Committee on Housing, Committee Report No. 545 (1991)). In enacting ROH chapter 38, the City Council determined that there was a serious shortage of fee simple residential condominium land, which resulted in artificial inflation in the value of such land on O'ahu and increasing lease rents, with many owner-occupants of leasehold residential condominium units unable to afford to continue living in their homes. Id. at 249, 47 P.3d at 364; see also Hous. Fin. and Dev. Corp. v. Castle, 79 Hawai`i 64, 898 P.2d 576 (1995) [hereinafter, HFDC ] (providing a detailed explication of the public purpose underlying the HLRA). In order to alleviate these perceived undesirable economic and social conditions, the City Council deemed it necessary to enact ROH chapter 38 to provide a right to leasehold owners of residential condominium units to purchase at a fair and reasonable price a proportionate share of the fee simple title to the land upon which their condominium units are situated. Coon, 98 Hawai'i at 249, 47 P.3d at 364. Consistent with the stated purpose of ROH chapter 38, the threshold requirement and mechanism for the conversion of condominium owners' leased fee interests into fee simple interests are similar to those of the HLRA. Id. at 251 n. 27, 47 P.3d at 366 n. 27.