Multifamiliy housing laws (real estate, rental, homeowners association)

[shangar]

I am trying to find information on cohousing laws in Hawaii and cannot seem to find what I am looking for. Does anyone know what the zoning laws are or how I find them? (Google has not been helpful). I am looking to find the laws on multifamily housing or cohousing. Any links to credible resourses would be appreciated! thanks

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by shangar

I am trying to find information on cohousing laws in Hawaii and cannot seem to find what I am looking for. Does anyone know what the zoning laws are or how I find them? (Google has not been helpful). I am looking to find the laws on multifamily housing or cohousing. Any links to credible resourses would be appreciated! thanks

There are state laws, county laws, and some subdivisions have association rules (or bylaws) too. What area(s) are you looking into? We can help better with more details.

And when googling, "ohana housing" can be added to your phrases.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by CyberCity

And when googling, "ohana housing" can be added to your phrases.

And also "ohana zoning." I researched this a bit a couple of years ago because I have several neighbors who have recently added "ohanas" to their property, and my own zoning permits it.

"Ohana" is a Hawaiian word that means extended family, and is an unusual feature of Hawaiian culture and law. Traditionally your ohana included all your living relatives, including your most remote aunts and uncles and cousins and even "adopted" members, and it wasn't unusual for a Hawaiian household to be big, multi-generational, and to include disparate members of the ohana. Additions to houses or even separate buildings to accommodate these relatives were common, and mainland-style real estate law didn't seem to fit the island way of life.

So, at various points in time State and County officials, as well as Homeowners Associations, have loosened laws and regulations, tightened them up, loosened up, tightened up again, so that today it can take some research to determine what is permitted and what is not on a particular piece of property. In my neck of the rainforest a "single family residential" property can be permitted to have two houses on it (subject to all the usual setbacks and square footage limits, etc.), or a house with an attached unit that has a separate entrance (think mother-in-law suite) as long as the second dwelling has no kitchen. This rule (where it applies) is designed to prevent the ohana being rented to non-family, and is rationalized on the principle that "if you're really family you all eat together."

But people, being people, cheat on this rule, illegally renting out ohana space for extra income. Any time you see a rental advertised as having "refrigerator, sink, microwave and hotplate," rather than a full kitchen with a stove, it's almost guaranteed to be an illegal rental. Periodically there have been various crackdowns to try to stop the practice, usually with limited success. But if you have an ohana that you rent it's best not to have disputes with your neighbors, because they can and will turn you in.

Here's an old article from BizJournals that tells some key parts of the story from the Oahu perspective. County of Hawai'i (Big Island) has had a slightly different history with the concept, but the same state laws apply.

Ohana program gets cool reception - Pacific Business News

[terracore]

Originally Posted by OpenD

And also "ohana zoning." I researched this a bit a couple of years ago because I have several neighbors who have recently added "ohanas" to their property, and my own zoning permits it.

"Ohana" is a Hawaiian word that means extended family, and is an unusual feature of Hawaiian culture and law. Traditionally your ohana included all your living relatives, including your most remote aunts and uncles and cousins and even "adopted" members, and it wasn't unusual for a Hawaiian household to be big, multi-generational, and to include disparate members of the ohana. Additions to houses or even separate buildings to accommodate these relatives were common, and mainland-style real estate law didn't seem to fit the island way of life.

So, at various points in time State and County officials, as well as Homeowners Associations, have loosened laws and regulations, tightened them up, loosened up, tightened up again, so that today it can take some research to determine what is permitted and what is not on a particular piece of property. In my neck of the rainforest a "single family residential" property can be permitted to have two houses on it (subject to all the usual setbacks and square footage limits, etc.), or a house with an attached unit that has a separate entrance (think mother-in-law suite) as long as the second dwelling has no kitchen. This rule (where it applies) is designed to prevent the ohana being rented to non-family, and is rationalized on the principle that "if you're really family you all eat together."

But people, being people, cheat on this rule, illegally renting out ohana space for extra income. Any time you see a rental advertised as having "refrigerator, sink, microwave and hotplate," rather than a full kitchen with a stove, it's almost guaranteed to be an illegal rental. Periodically there have been various crackdowns to try to stop the practice, usually with limited success. But if you have an ohana that you rent it's best not to have disputes with your neighbors, because they can and will turn you in.

Here's an old article from BizJournals that tells some key parts of the story from the Oahu perspective. County of Hawai'i (Big Island) has had a slightly different history with the concept, but the same state laws apply.

Ohana program gets cool reception - Pacific Business News

Another non-ohana ohana I've seen is the "AG building with running water" meaning it has a sink, toilet, shower, and kitchenette.