Ascertaining and Disclosing Material Facts
Seven of the fifty Hawaii state items sit here, and the bulletin's subtopics are unusually concrete: the Bureau of Conveyances and Land Court, the tax office, the statutory disclosures, environmental conditions, and Hawaii land history and property rights.
Two record systems, two taxes
Hawaii keeps a Regular System and a Land Court (Torrens) system in the same Bureau of Conveyances. For Land Court parcels, HRS 501-101 makes registration itself the operative act of conveyance, and an unregistered deed 'shall operate only as a contract between the parties'; ownership is evidenced by a transfer certificate of title. Two state taxes surface in every file. The conveyance tax under HRS 247-2 runs on two ladders, and the higher one applies to a condominium or single-family residence whose purchaser is ineligible for a county homeowner's exemption; HRS 247-4 charges it to the seller and makes it due within ninety days. HARPTA, HRS 235-68, makes the buyer withhold 7.25 per cent of the amount realized when the seller is a nonresident person, with a return due to the Department of Taxation within twenty days of the transfer date. Parcels are identified throughout by tax map key, expressed as zone, section and parcel.
The statutory disclosures
HRS chapter 508D governs sales of residential real property, meaning fee simple or leasehold property with one to four dwelling units or a residential condominium or cooperative apartment. The seller must deliver the disclosure statement no later than ten calendar days from acceptance of the purchase contract (508D-5(a)), and the buyer then has fifteen calendar days to examine it and decide whether to rescind, with deposits returned immediately on rescission (508D-5(b)). If a material fact was omitted or misstated and it directly, substantially and adversely affects value, 508D-6 gives a further fifteen days from discovery, but not after the sale is recorded. Where the property is subject to a recorded declaration, 508D-3.5 requires the articles, bylaws, declaration and use rules, produced within ten days of a current title report, with another fifteen-day rescission window. Section 508D-8 excludes two categories from the disclosure statement: that an occupant had AIDS or was tested for HIV, and events with no effect on the physical structure or environment.
Environmental conditions and land history
HRS 508D-15(a) requires the seller to disclose that the property lies within any of five mapped areas: the special flood hazard area, airport noise exposure areas, military Air Installation Compatible Use Zones, tsunami inundation areas, and the sea level rise exposure area designated by the Hawaii climate change mitigation and adaptation commission, the last added in 2021 and amended in 2023. The duty is conditional on maps that identify properties by tax map key, and shoreline parcels carry the extra duty in 508D-15(b) to disclose permitted and unpermitted erosion control structures, permit expiry dates, violation notices and fines. Hawaii land history is not decoration here: HRS 7-1 preserves native tenant rights to firewood, house-timber, thatch and drinking water, and provides that 'the springs of water, running water, and roads shall be free to all, on all lands granted in fee simple.' Article XII section 7 of the state constitution protects traditional and customary rights alongside it.
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State-specific details
State exam facts
- State regulator
- Hawaii Real Estate Commission (DCCA)
- Exam vendor
- PSI
- Scored questions
- 125
- Time limit
- 240 minutes
Who regulates real estate brokers in Hawaii?
The Hawaii Real Estate Commission, within the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), licenses brokers and salespersons. The Commission contracts with PSI to deliver the exams.
What experience do I need before the Hawaii broker exam?
Broker applicants must have been a Hawaii-licensed salesperson associated with a Hawaii-licensed broker for at least three of the five years immediately before applying, and must obtain an approved Broker Experience Certificate before registering for the exam — otherwise the exam score is invalidated.
How is the Hawaii broker exam structured?
The Hawaii broker exam has about 125 questions in a uniform (general) portion and a Hawaii-specific portion, delivered by PSI over 4 hours. Confirm the current passing score for the broker exam with the Commission.
Sources: https://cca.hawaii.gov/reb/real_ed/real_ed-exam_lic/, https://cca.hawaii.gov/reb/16-99-19-2-experience-certificate-application/
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