Hawaii Condo Board Roles & Responsibilities
What each board position actually does, how many people you need, and how to keep a volunteer board functioning as members rotate out year after year — including where board composition is actually set by state law versus your own bylaws.
Hawaii at a Glance
Most HOA boards have three to five members, elected by the membership for terms set in the bylaws — often one to two years, frequently staggered so the entire board doesn't turn over at once. Your specific bylaws define much of the exact structure, but in some states, part of that structure — minimum board size, owner-eligibility, or officer requirements — is actually set by statute, not left to the association to decide.
⚠ Common mistake: Assuming your bylaws alone decide how big the board is. In Hawaii, the minimum board size is set by a law written specifically for condominium associations.
Dillo ExplainsPsst… here's what this actually means…
Hawaii's condo law covers every condo in the state, and its board rules apply no matter when your condo was built.
President
Runs board meetings, is usually the primary point of contact with homeowners and outside parties (attorneys, vendors, the county), and typically has authority to sign on the association's behalf for routine matters. The president does not unilaterally make board decisions — actions still require a board vote — but does set the agenda and keep meetings moving.
Secretary
Keeps official records: meeting minutes, the membership roll, and official correspondence. In a self-managed HOA, the secretary is often the person who ends up being the institutional memory of the association — the one who can answer "wait, when did we actually vote on that?" This role matters more than it sounds like it should, because undocumented decisions are one of the most common sources of later disputes.
Treasurer
Handles dues collection, financial reporting, and the annual budget process. Many associations require some form of annual budget, and increasingly a reserve study projecting future major expenses. The treasurer role is also the one most commonly outsourced even in an otherwise self-managed association — hiring an accountant or bookkeeper for the mechanics while the treasurer sets policy and reviews the numbers is common and often worth the cost.
Hawaii — Officer RequirementsHOA/condo statute
The bylaws must provide for the board to elect a president, treasurer, secretary, and any other officers the bylaws specify.
Minimum board size and who can serve
Whether your association has a statutory floor on board size, and whether some or all of the directors must be owners, depends on your state. Where a rule exists, it usually comes from one of two places: a law written specifically for homeowners or condominium associations, or general nonprofit corporation law, which applies only because the association is incorporated as a nonprofit. The badge on each rule below shows which one applies in Hawaii.
Hawaii — Minimum Board SizeHOA/condo statute
Once the developer's control ends, the owners must elect a board of at least 3 members. Condominiums created after May 18, 1984 with 100 or more units must have at least 9 board members, with limited exceptions.
Hawaii — Owner/Member RequirementHOA/condo statute
Board members must be unit owners or co-owners, buyers under an agreement of sale, a trustee of a trust that owns a unit, or an authorized representative of an entity that owns a unit, with no more than one representative from any one unit.
Hawaii — Other Eligibility Rules
The bylaws must set the qualifications of directors and officers. No tenant, resident manager, or employee of the condominium may serve on the board, and an owner may not be both an officer of the association and an employee of its managing agent.
Here's the ArmadealioLet me put that in plain words…
Only owners (or someone representing an owner that's a company or trust) can sit on the board, and only one per unit. Tenants, resident managers, and building employees can't serve.
Term limits
Some states cap how long a single director term can run. A cap on one term is different from a limit on how many terms in a row someone can serve: a term cap alone doesn't stop a director from being re-elected. That takes a separate consecutive-term limit. Check both rows in the reference below for Hawaii.
Hawaii — Term LimitsBylaws/documents
No statutory maximum. The bylaws must set terms of office and may stagger directors' terms.
Conflict-of-interest disclosure
If a board member stands to personally benefit from a contract or decision the board is voting on, several states require a specific disclosure process before that vote can happen — not just a general "act in good faith" expectation. Some states wrote this rule directly into their HOA or condominium statute; others expressly import the state's general nonprofit corporation conflict-of-interest rules instead of creating a separate one.
Hawaii — Conflict-of-Interest RuleHOA/condo statute
Officers and board members owe the association a fiduciary duty and must exercise the care and loyalty required of a Hawaii nonprofit corporation's officers and directors. A board member who is also an employee of the managing agent may not take part in any board discussion of the management contract and is excluded from executive sessions about it or the property manager.
Here's the ArmadealioIn everyday terms…
A board member who works for your management company has to stay out of any board discussion of the management contract.
⚠ Common mistake: Treating a conflict of interest casually because "everyone already knows" a board member has a stake in a vendor contract. In states with a statutory disclosure requirement, informal awareness isn't the same as a documented disclosure — skipping the formal step can make the contract itself challengeable later, regardless of whether the board's decision was actually reasonable.
Additional roles on larger boards
Associations with five or more board members sometimes add a vice president (covers for the president, sometimes chairs a specific committee like ARC) and an at-large member with no fixed portfolio, available to take on whatever the board needs — chairing a violations committee, leading a specific project, or simply providing another vote and perspective.
Can one person hold two roles?
It depends mostly on your bylaws, and in some states on the statute itself. Very small associations sometimes explicitly allow combining roles out of necessity. Others prohibit certain combinations — most commonly, keeping treasurer separate from any role with check-signing authority, as a basic financial control. Check your specific bylaws, and the state reference below, before assuming either way.
The real challenge: surviving turnover
The hardest part of running a self-managed board usually isn't any single role — it's what happens when the person who understood how everything worked rotates off the board and nobody wrote it down. A self-managed HOA has no institutional memory beyond what the current board happens to remember or document. The associations that handle this well share one habit: they write things down as they happen, not from memory afterward — meeting minutes the same day, a violation logged when it's observed, a decision recorded the moment it's made.
State-by-State Quick Reference
Select your state below for its actual board-composition rules. Every field is tagged with where the rule comes from — a statute written for HOAs or condominiums, general nonprofit corporate law that happens to apply, or your own governing documents — because those aren't the same thing, even when the resulting number looks identical.
| Scope / governing statute | Hawaii's Condominium Property Act (HRS Chapter 514B) applies to all condominiums in Hawaii, and its amendments apply to all condominiums regardless of when they were adopted. Its board rules apply to condominiums under the chapter, with limited exceptions. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, the Hawaii Nonprofit Corporations Act (HRS Chapter 414D) also applies. |
| Minimum board size HOA/condo statute | Once the developer's control ends, the owners must elect a board of at least 3 members. Condominiums created after May 18, 1984 with 100 or more units must have at least 9 board members, with limited exceptions. |
| Owner/member requirement HOA/condo statute | Board members must be unit owners or co-owners, buyers under an agreement of sale, a trustee of a trust that owns a unit, or an authorized representative of an entity that owns a unit, with no more than one representative from any one unit. |
| Other eligibility rules | The bylaws must set the qualifications of directors and officers. No tenant, resident manager, or employee of the condominium may serve on the board, and an owner may not be both an officer of the association and an employee of its managing agent. |
| Officer requirements HOA/condo statute | The bylaws must provide for the board to elect a president, treasurer, secretary, and any other officers the bylaws specify. |
| Max individual term Bylaws/documents | No statutory maximum. The bylaws must set terms of office and may stagger directors' terms. |
| Consecutive-term limit | The nonprofit act allows directors to be elected for successive terms. |
| Conflict-of-interest disclosure HOA/condo statute | Officers and board members owe the association a fiduciary duty and must exercise the care and loyalty required of a Hawaii nonprofit corporation's officers and directors. A board member who is also an employee of the managing agent may not take part in any board discussion of the management contract and is excluded from executive sessions about it or the property manager. |
| Citation | HRS §§ 514B-21; 514B-101; 514B-106; 514B-108; 514B-107 |
Read the law
What Hawaii's law actually says about board composition, in its own words, with links to the full text where available:
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HRS § 514B-21
- Governing Statute / Scope: “This chapter applies to all condominiums created within this State”
- Governing Statute / Scope: “Amendments to this chapter apply to all condominiums, regardless of when the amendment is adopted.”
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HRS § 514B-101
- Governing Statute / Scope: “This part applies to all condominiums subject to this chapter, except as provided in subsection (b).”
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HRS § 514B-106(e)
- Minimum Board Size: “the unit owners shall elect a board of at least three members”
- Minimum Board Size: “projects created after May 18, 1984, with one hundred or more individual units, shall have an elected board of at least nine members”
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “officers and members of the board shall owe the association a fiduciary duty and exercise the degree of care and loyalty required of an officer or director of a corporation organized under chapter 414D.”
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HRS § 514B-107(a)
- Owner/Member Eligibility Requirement: “Members of the board shall be unit owners or co-owners, vendees under an agreement of sale, a trustee of a trust which owns a unit”
- Owner/Member Eligibility Requirement: “There shall not be more than one representative on the board from any one unit.”
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “No tenant, resident manager, or employee of a condominium shall serve on its board.”
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “shall not participate in any discussion regarding a management contract at a board meeting”
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HRS § 514B-108(b)(3)
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “The qualifications, powers and duties, terms of office, and manner of electing and removing directors and officers”
- Required Officer Positions: “Election by the board of a president, treasurer, secretary, and any other officers of the association the bylaws specify”
- Maximum Individual Term: “The bylaws may provide for staggering the terms of directors by dividing the total number of directors into groups.”
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HRS § 414D-135
- Consecutive Term Limit: “Directors may be elected for successive terms.”
Making the transition easier
Formtabulous keeps your association's records — elections, violations, ARC requests, homeowner communication — in one place that survives board turnover, instead of scattered across whoever's personal inbox happened to handle it.
See how it works →Hawaii — Common Questions
This article is general information about how HOA boards typically operate and is not legal advice. The specific roles, terms, and requirements for your association are set by your bylaws and, in some states, statute — consult the governing documents and, where needed, a qualified attorney for your specific situation.