Hawaii Seller Disclosure Requirements: What Home Sellers Must Reveal

· ✓ Last verified Oct 4, 2026 · March 7, 2026 · by AskDoss Editorial Team ·Home Selling · 7 min read

Yes. Under Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 508D, the seller of a one-to-four-unit home, condo or co-op apartment must hand the buyer a written disclosure statement no later than ten calendar days after the purchase contract is accepted. The buyer then gets fifteen calendar days to rescind in writing and recover the deposit.

The text below was read from the Legislature’s current HRS pages (edition published January 2026). Bills before the 2026 session that would have amended the chapter, including SB 293 and HB 1749 (a cesspool form), were not enacted. If you are selling a home in Hawaii, these are the rules that apply to your sale.

Chapter 508D clock: the numbers that matter

Event Deadline in the statute Section
Seller signs and dates the statement “within six months before or ten calendar days after” the buyer’s acceptance of the purchase contract § 508D-4(1)(A)
Statement delivered to the buyer “No later than ten calendar days from acceptance” § 508D-5(a)
Buyer reviews and may rescind fifteen calendar days from receipt; written notice to the seller or seller’s agent § 508D-5(b)
Seller learns a new adverse fact before recording amended statement within ten calendar days of discovery, and no later than twelve noon of the last business day before the recorded sale § 508D-13
Association documents (property under a recorded declaration) seller is “not required to provide” them “until ten calendar days after” both sides receive a current title report; buyer then has fifteen calendar days from receipt to rescind § 508D-3.5(c)
Lawsuit under the chapter two years from the buyer’s receipt of the statement, or two years from the recorded sale if none was delivered § 508D-17(a)

Buyer and seller “may agree in writing to reduce or extend” the delivery and rescission periods (§ 508D-5(c)), so read the contract you signed before counting days.

Sales the chapter covers, and the eight it excludes

“Residential real property” means fee simple or leasehold land carrying one to four dwelling units, or a residential condominium or cooperative apartment used mainly as a residence (§ 508D-1). A “sale” includes an exchange, an auction and a lease with option to buy. Section 508D-3 removes these sales from the chapter:

  1. Sale to a co-owner.
  2. Sale to a spouse, parent, or child of the seller.
  3. Sale by devise, descent, or court order.
  4. Sale by operation of law, including but not limited to any transfer by foreclosure, bankruptcy, or partition, or any transfer to a seller’s creditor incident to a deed (or assignment) in lieu of foreclosure, workout, or the settlement or partial settlement of any preexisting obligation of a seller owed a creditor and any later sale of residential real property by such creditor.
  5. Sale by a lessor to a lessee resulting from conversion of leased land to fee simple.
  6. Initial sale of new residential real property pursuant to chapter 484 under a current public offering statement or chapter 484 exemption.
  7. Sales of condominium apartments or units accompanied by delivery of an unexpired developer’s public report.
  8. Sale of time share interests as defined under chapter 514E.

A builder’s first sale escapes only through items 6 and 7; a resale of a house built last year is not on the list. A seller who skips the statement does not cloud the buyer’s title: noncompliance “shall not affect the validity of title” (§ 508D-2).

What goes into a Hawaii disclosure statement

The statement must “fully and accurately disclose all material facts” within the seller’s knowledge or control, observable from visible, accessible areas, or named in §§ 508D-4.5 and 508D-15 (§ 508D-1). A material fact is one “that would be expected to measurably affect the value to a reasonable person.” Chapter 508D does not print a form; § 508D-11 only requires the form to carry three notices (get professional advice and inspections; the statements are the seller’s, not the agent’s; the buyer’s rescission rights).

Items the statute names

  • Five mapped areas (§ 508D-15(a)): a FEMA special flood hazard area; an airport noise exposure area mapped under 14 C.F.R. part 150; a military Air Installation Compatible Use Zone; a tsunami inundation area; and the sea level rise exposure area designated by the state climate commission, all “subject to the availability of maps” by tax map key. An ambiguous boundary “shall be construed in favor of the seller” after a good-faith check.
  • Shoreline parcels (§ 508D-15(b)): every permitted and unpermitted erosion control structure, permit expiration dates, notices of alleged violation and fines.
  • Construction-defect releases (§ 508D-4.5): any release or waiver the seller gave a contractor, government agency or licensed design professional for a defect that measurably affects value.
  • Electricity cost (§ 508D-10.5): a good-faith declaration based on the most recent three months of occupancy, where the owner pays the utility directly; not in a foreclosure.
  • Recorded declarations (§ 508D-3.5): the association’s articles, bylaws, declaration and rules, plus deed restrictions. See also selling a home in an HOA.

Two facts may be left out: that an occupant had AIDS or was tested for HIV, and that the property was the site of an event “that had no effect on the physical structure or the physical environment” (§ 508D-8). Beyond §§ 508D-3.5 and 508D-15, the seller has “no duty to examine any public record” (§ 508D-15(d)). Separately, § 508D-21 (added in 2024) fines a private landowner $1,000 for failing to disclose and record burial or archaeological sites the landowner “knew of or should have known of.”

After delivery: rescission ends when the deed records

A buyer who rescinds within the fifteen days loses no deposit; deposits are “immediately returned” (§ 508D-5(b)). Silence for fifteen days “shall be deemed an acceptance of the disclosure statement.”

If the buyer later finds a gap or error that “directly, substantially, and adversely affects the value” and did not already know of it, § 508D-6 gives another fifteen calendar days from the earlier of the discovery or receipt of an amended statement. Every rescission right under chapter 508D ends at recording: a rescission action must “commence prior to the recorded sale” (§ 508D-16.5), and after recordation the buyer “shall have no right under this chapter to rescind” (§ 508D-16(a)).

Money claims: the negligence rule and the two-year limit

A statement “prepared in good faith and with due care” gives the buyer no cause of action against the seller or the seller’s agent (§ 508D-9(a)). The seller is “under no obligation to engage the services of any person,” and may rely on government data and existing reports prepared for the seller by third-party consultants. Representations are “deemed accurate only as to the time when made,” subject to the amendment duty in § 508D-13.

When the seller “negligently fails to provide the disclosure statement,” the seller owes the buyer’s “actual damages, if any” (§ 508D-16(c)), and a court “may also award the prevailing party attorney’s fees, court costs, and administrative fees” (§ 508D-16(d)). A buyer who rescinds after a proper statement “shall not be entitled to any damages” beyond the deposit (§ 508D-16(b)). Section 508D-17 “supersedes all other laws” on timing for these claims. A contract clause requiring mediation or arbitration comes first (§ 508D-18), and the chapter adds to any other disclosure duty in Hawaii law (§ 508D-14).

The seller’s agent does not prepare the statement, but under § 508D-7 must notify the buyer in writing of the right to it when it cannot be obtained, and must pass on any facts that contradict it to the seller, the buyer and the buyer’s agent.

Homes built before 1978

Lead-based paint disclosure comes from federal law, not chapter 508D. Before the buyer is bound, the seller gives the EPA pamphlet and any known lead information and reports (40 CFR 745.107) and must allow “a 10-day period (unless the parties mutually agree, in writing, upon a different period of time)” for a lead inspection, which the buyer may waive in writing (40 CFR 745.110). Foreclosure sales are exempt (40 CFR 745.101); elderly or disability housing and 0-bedroom units are outside “target housing” unless a child under 6 lives there or is expected to (40 CFR 745.103).

Questions Hawaii sellers and buyers ask

Is my lava zone a required disclosure?

Not by name. The five mapped areas in § 508D-15 are flood, airport noise, military air zone, tsunami inundation and sea level rise. The general standard still reaches any fact within your knowledge that “would be expected to measurably affect the value,” so say what you know about the zone.

I inherited the house. Do I have to fill out the statement?

Usually yes. Item 3 exempts a sale “by devise, descent, or court order,” and items 1 and 2 exempt a sale to a co-owner (such as a co-heir) or to your spouse, parent or child, but Hawaii’s list has no general exemption for executors, trustees or heirs, so an heir or personal representative who lists the home on the open market follows the ten-day and fifteen-day rules. You can lean on reports: order an inspection and attach it.

Can I sell “as is” and skip the form?

No. The exemption list has no as-is item, and § 508D-4 bars a covered sale unless the statement is signed, delivered and acknowledged. An as-is clause limits repairs, not disclosure; see our as-is selling guide.

The buyer found a leak after closing. What now?

Rescission under the chapter is gone once the sale is recorded, but §§ 508D-6 and 508D-13 keep “all additional remedies provided by law.” The chapter’s own damages clause targets a seller who negligently failed to provide the statement, and any claim under it must be filed within the two years of § 508D-17. Keep the statement, photos and repair bids, and have a Hawaii attorney read them.

Sources and related pages

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