Amidst the rubble of the collapse of failed legislation on condo justice, there’s a glint of hope: revision of the Condominium Educational Trust Fund. If there has been one promising direction beneficial to Hawaiʻi’s condo owners, it was that development of 1990.

Mere “direction” here, because the Condominium Educational Trust Fund’s current provisions quite simply do not adequately support individual justice and home ownership peace of mind through practical solutions at reasonable or no additional cost to owners who currently pay dues under $12 total, biannually.

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Unknown to this writer are how much wrangling and deliberation transpired in the passage of the original measure, but in place of lengthy criticism of where current provisions fall short, offered here are directives that ought to have been the core of the fund’s goals from its inception.

Pro Se Education

The Condominium Educational Trust Fund education offerings should include basic pro se (legal self representation) procedures taught by qualified attorneys, with case studies, and legal-precedents studies for condo owners who face management-initiated adversarial situations, as well as owner-board misunderstandings.

Among other materials, knowing how to draft and word pleadings, how to respond to them, basic court procedures, and other complaint filing procedures, would go a long way toward dispelling the myth that legal self help is a forbidding, ambiguous minefield.

“Education” should be bare-bones practical, and not slanted in favor of management interests. Forget the fancy, expensive lunches, and management-targeted lectures benefiting parties other than owners who need no-nonsense, essential instruction on how to self-handle crises such as board retaliatory overtures.

Insurance Provision

The legal insurance provision should be available to cover what pro se education does not. Owners should be able to call management’s bluffs of unwarranted legal fee threats, and unfounded violation accusations, with legal access of their own through attorneys experienced in condo law.

A nominal, reasonable deductible owners pay would go the distance in offsetting criticism that the insurance should not be in any way entitlement for condo owners. It is inconceivable that there would be significant opposition to this benefit that would empower owners to afford, understand and navigate their way through threats to their financial stability, even if a small increase in dues is necessary.

Financial Transparency

In-depth auditing or examination of Condominium Educational Trust Fund expenditure records and proposals should be available to any and all owners who request the reports, without attempts to obscure the identities of parties who receive any part of the funding used for purposes adversarial to the interests of condo owner justice and owner-initiated legislation. 

There should be no opposition or impediments by our Real Estate Commission, or any other principals, to this right.

Dispute Resolution

Published periodic reports from the Real Estate Commission itself do not support the overall assessment of the current mediation process as overwhelmingly successful.

Notably, individuals who participate in our mediation proceedings at some of the centers, have alluded to an appalling absence of an adequate number of mediators with sufficient knowledge of condominium governance, and to an ingrained, even inculcated biased stance toward condo owners by some of the staff, even before cases are deliberated on.

Through use of fund monies, why not make available either more in-depth condo dispute training of mediators — including comprehensive training on condo owner rights — or increased compensation to qualified staff and attorneys knowledgeable in condo disputes and sworn to an unbiased mediation stance?

The basis of these modifications can only benefit all condo owners, including board members who can conceivably find themselves in legal straits, with insurmountable financial obligations.