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Hawaii · HI

Sell your land in Hawaii.

Every acre in Hawaii carries a state land use district on top of county zoning — Urban, Rural, Agricultural, or Conservation under HRS chapter 205 — and that classification, not the county zoning map, sets the outer limit of what a parcel can become. Outside the urban district, almost everything is Agricultural or Conservation.

Tax sale type
Tax deed
Redemption period
1 year
Rate on redemption
12% interest
Closings handled by
Title company

Figures describe Hawaii generally. Counties administer their own sales and their own calendars — your county treasurer is the only source for a payoff figure or a sale date you can act on.

Local detail

What actually matters about land in Hawaii

Four state districts sit above county zoning

HRS chapter 205, adopted in 1961, classifies every parcel in the state into one of four districts. Counties administer the Urban district. The Land Use Commission and the counties share the Rural district, which contemplates lots of not more than one dwelling per half acre and small farms. The Agricultural district is governed by HRS § 205-4.5, which enumerates permitted uses. Conservation is administered by the Board of Land and Natural Resources through DLNR's Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, and it is the hardest classification to build in. Changing a boundary on more than 15 acres, or on any conservation land, is a Commission petition; 15 acres or less outside conservation goes to the county.

Ag CPRs divide without subdividing

A condominium property regime under HRS chapter 514B lets an owner carve a large agricultural parcel into separately conveyable units with exclusive-use areas, without county subdivision approval. It is common on Hawaii Island and Maui, and it is not a subdivision. The county still controls road standards, water, wastewater, setbacks, and whether a farm dwelling is permitted, so a CPR unit can be sold long before it can be built on. HRS § 514B-52(b) requires a project in the state agricultural district to carry a verified statement from a county official that the documents impose no restriction limiting agricultural use, in compliance with HRS § 205-4.6. Conventional financing is often unavailable.

Lava hazard zones price insurance and credit

On Hawaii Island the USGS lava-flow hazard zone map, most recently revised in 1992 as Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2193, ranks the island from 1 to 9, with 1 the highest probability of coverage by lava. Zone 1 is the summits and rift zones of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa; Zones 1 and 2 fall largely in Puna and Kaʻū. USGS built the map to convey long-term relative hazard for planning, not to price anything, but insurers and lenders use it. The legislature created the Hawaii Property Insurance Association in 1991 precisely because the voluntary market withdrew from Zones 1 and 2, and it remains the insurer of last resort.

Leasehold is a real category in Hawaii

Leasehold residential land is far more common in Hawaii than on the mainland, a legacy of large estate ownership, and the statutes assume it: HRS § 508D-1 defines residential real property as fee simple or leasehold. A leasehold interest has a term, scheduled rent renegotiation dates, and a reversion to the fee owner, so two identical lots can be worth very different amounts. HRS chapter 516, the Land Reform Act upheld in Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff, 467 U.S. 229 (1984), created a mechanism to convert single-family residential leasehold to fee. Homestead leases under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, administered by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, are a separate system entirely.

Questions

Selling land in Hawaii

Do I need a seller disclosure statement for vacant Hawaii land?

No, the mandatory disclosure chapter does not reach bare ground. HRS § 508D-1 defines residential real property as fee simple or leasehold real property on which there currently sits one to four dwelling units, or a residential condominium or cooperative apartment used primarily as a residence. Land with nothing on it fails that test, so the statutory form and its timelines do not apply. Hawaii common law still requires a seller to disclose material facts, and on vacant land the material facts are usually district classification, access, water, and wastewater.

Can I build a house on land in the state agricultural district?

Sometimes, but it is a farm dwelling permitted by statute rather than a residential right. HRS § 205-4.5 enumerates the uses allowed in the Agricultural district, and the county then applies its own zoning, minimum lot size, road, water, and wastewater standards on top. Acreage alone does not qualify a parcel. Moving land out of the Agricultural district means a boundary amendment: the Land Use Commission hears petitions over 15 acres, and the county hears 15 acres or less outside the Conservation district.

Does a lava zone designation make my Big Island lot hard to sell?

It narrows the field rather than closing it, and the effect runs through insurance and financing more than through the land itself. The USGS zones on Map MF-2193 were drawn in 1992 to describe long-term relative hazard for planning purposes, and USGS says so, but insurers and lenders read them as underwriting criteria. In Zones 1 and 2 the voluntary property market largely withdrew, which is why the legislature created the Hawaii Property Insurance Association in 1991. Cash sales are common there for that reason.

Sources for the figures above

These are secondary references, accurate enough to orient you and not a substitute for the statute or your county. Tax procedure changes; nothing here is legal advice.

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