Hawaii Revised Statutes

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 501-82 (2026)

Tenure of holder of certificate of title

✓ current as of July 2026

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§501-82 Tenure of holder of certificate of title. (a) Every applicant receiving a certificate of title in pursuance of a decree of registration, and every subsequent purchaser of registered land who takes a certificate of title for value and in good faith, [holds] the same free from all encumbrances except those noted on the certificate in the order of priority of recordation, and any of the following encumbrances which may be subsisting, namely:

(1) Liens, claims, or rights arising or existing under the laws or Constitution of the United States, which the statutes of this State cannot require to appear of record in the registry; provided that notices of liens for internal revenue taxes payable to the United States, and certificates affecting such liens, shall be deemed to fall within this paragraph only if the same are recorded in the bureau of conveyances as provided by chapter 505;

(2) Unpaid real property taxes assessed against the land and improvements covered by the certificate of title, with interest, penalties, and other additions to the tax, which, unless a notice is filed and registered as provided by county real property tax ordinance, shall be for the period of three years from and after the date on which the lien attached, and if proceedings for the enforcement or foreclosure of the tax lien are brought within the period, until the termination of the proceedings or the completion of the tax sale;

(3) State tax liens, if the same are recorded in the bureau of conveyances as provided by section 231-33;

(4) Any public highway, or any private way laid out under the provisions of law, when the certificate of title does not state that the boundary of such way has been determined;

(5) Any lease, coupled with occupancy, for a term not exceeding one year; provided that the priority of the unrecorded lease shall attach only at the date of the commencement of the unrecorded lease and expire one year from the date or sooner if so expressed;

(6) Any liability to assessments for betterments, or statutory liability which may attach to land as a lien prior to or independent of, the recording or registering of any paper of the possibility of a lien for labor or material furnished in the improvement of the land; provided that the priority of any such liability and the lien therefor (other than for labor and material furnished in the improvement of the land which shall be governed by section 507-43) shall cease and terminate three years after the liability first accrues unless notice thereof, signed by the officer charged with collection of such assessments or liability, setting forth the amount claimed, the date of accrual, and the land affected, is registered and noted on the certificate of title within such three year period; provided further that if there are easements or other rights, appurtenant to a parcel of registered land which for any reason have failed to be registered, such easements or rights shall remain so appurtenant notwithstanding such failure, and shall be held to pass with the land until cut off or extinguished by the registration of the servient estate, or in any other manner;

(7) The possibility of reversal or vacation of the decree of registration upon appeal;

(8) Any encumbrance not herein required to be registered as provided in sections 501-241 to 501-248 and relating to a leasehold time share interest; or

(9) Money judgments, orders, or decrees of a Hawaii state court or the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, if the same are recorded in the bureau of conveyances; provided that only the monetary lien created by the recordation shall affect the land; provided further that no other provision of a judgment, order, or decree shall affect the land unless otherwise registered in compliance with this chapter.

(b) For the purposes of this section, an encumbrance shall be deemed sufficiently noted on a certificate if the notation:

(1) References a document by name or number which contains an encumbrance; and

(2) Indicates that the referenced document contains an encumbrance to which the registered land is subject.

(c) Except as provided in sections 501-241 to 501-248, if the title of a recorded document indicates that it contains an encumbrance, the assistant registrar shall note the document as an encumbrance on the certificate of title or the new certificate of title issued upon recordation of such document, as applicable. [L 1903, c 56, §39; am L 1909, c 139, §1; RL 1925, §3229; am imp L 1925, c 192, §14; am L 1931, c 222, §1; am imp L 1932 2d, c 140, §65; RL 1935, §5041; RL 1945, §12641; am L 1945, c 255, §1; am L 1949, c 144, §1; RL 1955, §342-42; HRS §501-82; am L 1972, c 91, §1(q), (r); am L 1973, c 128, §3; am L 1989, c 14, §17 and c 20, §2; am L 1994, c 206, §2; am L 1998, c 219, §7; am L 2014, c 19, §2]

Case Notes

Dower must be noted. 21 H. 431, 434 (1913); 35 H. 816 (1941).

Encumbrances which need not be noted: Third paragraph, relating to highways, construed. 31 H. 787, 789 (1931), aff'd 61 F.2d 896 (1932). See 39 H. 514 (1952). Relating to private ways, construed. 40 H. 730 (1955). Fifth paragraph, relating to statutory liens, construed. 31 H. 446 (1930).

"Good faith" of purchaser. See 33 H. 343 (1935); 35 H. 816 (1941); 37 H. 270 (1945); 44 H. 235, 248, 353 P.2d 1007 (1960); 44 H. 365, 367-368, 355 P.2d 40 (1960), aff'g 44 H. 147, 355 P.2d 40 (1960); 50 H. 189, 436 P.2d 207 (1967).

Purchaser of lease noted on certificate of title holds free of unregistered sublease. 33 H. 343 (1935).

Whether holder of equitable right may, by registration, cut off equities which otherwise would be superior, raised but not decided. 44 H. 235, 247, 353 P.2d 1007 (1960).

Unauthorized city and county deed, effect of. 44 H. 365, 367-368, 355 P.2d 40 (1960), aff'g 44 H. 147, 355 P.2d 40 (1960).

Knowledge of unregistered encumbrance does not disqualify holder of certificate of title from protection against it. 50 H. 189, 436 P.2d 207 (1967).

Maintenance of city and county sewer line across premises is required to be noted as an "encumbrance". 50 H. 189, 436 P.2d 207 (1967).

Whatever equitable rights may be possessed by holder of unregistered encumbrance, they cannot be asserted against holder of certificate of title. 50 H. 189, 436 P.2d 207 (1967).

One who takes a certificate of title to registered land for value and in good faith holds land free of all encumbrances except those noted on the certificate and enumerated in statute. 58 H. 580, 574 P.2d 524 (1978).

City condemning registered land may invoke the same rights and protections regarding the registered land as may be invoked by a private land purchaser. 60 H. 40, 587 P.2d 294 (1978).

Reference to height restriction on transfer certificate of title within document identified as a "consent" deemed to be insufficient notation of an encumbrance under this section; because height restriction was never explicitly and separately noted on 1988 transfer certificate of title, defendant-appellant was entitled to hold lot free from such restriction. 75 H. 370, 862 P.2d 1048 (1993).

Cited: 41 H. 490, 497 (1956), remanded 256 F.2d 208 (1958), modified 42 H. 661 (1958), app. dism'd 267 F.2d 449 (1959); 74 H. 85, 839 P.2d 10 (1992).

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 29 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1973–2026 · leading case: Ass'n of Apt. Owners of Wailea Elua v. Wailea Resort Co., 58 P.3d 608 (Haw. 2002).

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Ass'n of Apt. Owners of Wailea Elua v. Wailea Resort Co., 58 P.3d 608 (Haw. 2002). · cites it 8× “Here, WDC demonstrated in writing its intent to create easements through express language of a grant, which specifically asked for recognition of "Easement 61, affecting Lot 78 [Wailea Elua], for drainage, landscaping, pedestrian access, recreational and building setback…”

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Omiya., 420 P.3d 370 (Haw. 2018). · cites it 7× “HRS § 501-82 (Supp. 2016) (providing that holder of certificate of title holds "free from all encumbrances except those noted on the certificate" and statutorily enumerated encumbrances).”

Waikiki Malia Hotel, Inc. v. Kinkai Props. Ltd. P'ship, 862 P.2d 1048 (Haw. 1993). · cites it 12× “] HRS § 501-82 (1985) (emphasis added). In the present case, there is no dispute that the restrictive covenant is not noted on the 1988 TCT as an encumbrance.”

The Bank of New York Mellon v. R. Onaga, Inc., 400 P.3d 559 (Haw. 2017). · cites it 3× “” With respect to the motion to dismiss, the ICA cited HRS § 501-82 5 and stated that “the Ferraras do not assert that a Certificate of Title has been issued, and even if a Certificate of Title was issued, the Ferraras would need to establish that there is no encumbrance noted…”

City & Cty. of Honolulu v. As Clarke, Inc., 587 P.2d 294 (Haw. 1978). · cites it 16× “HRS § 501-82 (1976) provides as follows: Tenure of holder of certificate of title.”

Amfac, Inc. v. Waikiki Beachcomber Inv. Co., 839 P.2d 10 (Haw. 1992). · cites it 2× “Sawyer, 3 Haw. App. 555 , 655 P.2d 881 (1982), the only means of securing a valid sewer easement for Lot 54 across Lot 30-A was Land Court recordation of such an easement grant.”

Application of Sanborn, 562 P.2d 771 (Haw. 1977). · cites it 4× “The underlying purpose of land court registration under the Torrens system is to afford certainty of title, but it is unrealistic to expect the system to afford absolute certainty.”

Maunalua Bay Beach Ohana 28 v. State, 222 P.3d 441 (Haw. App. 2009). · cites it 3× “Our statute explicitly states certain exceptions to the eonclusiveness of land court decrees, both in HRS § 501-82 and in HRS § 501-71.... Such stated exceptions are not necessarily the sole limitations upon a Torrens decree of registration.”

Henmi Apts., Inc. v. Sawyer, 655 P.2d 881 (Haw. App. 1982). · cites it 4× “We recognize that HRS § 501-82 (1976) 2 evidences a policy against unregistered encumbrances upon Land Court registered *559 land.”

Fergerstrom v. PNC Bank, N.A., 342 F. Supp. 3d 1029 (D. Haw. 2018). · cites it 2× “HRS § 501-82(a) (Supp. 2016). Thus, "a land court certificate of title is 'conclusive and unimpeachable' with regard to 'all matters contained therein,' " which is "[t]he fundamental difference between a certificate of title issued by the land court and a recordation of title at…”

Cnty. of Hawaii v. Sotomura, 517 P.2d 57 (Haw. 1973). · cites it 2× “NOTES [1] HRS § 501-71 provides in pertinent part: Every decree of registration of absolute title shall bind the land, and quiet the title thereto, subject only to the exceptions stated in section 501-82. It shall be conclusive upon and against all persons, including the State, .”

Scholes v. Kiyoshi Kawaguchi, 419 P.3d 1029 (Haw. App. 2017). · cites it 2× “The reference to "section 5041" in the quote is a reference to Revised Laws of Hawai'i (RLH) § 5041 (1935), which is a predecessor statute to HRS § 501-82 (2006 and 2016 Supp.). Although Aames discusses the types of fraud recognized in the mortgage context, and this case does…”

Show all 29 citing cases →

— Haw. Rev. Stat. § 501-82(a) — 5 cases

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. Omiya., 420 P.3d 370 (Haw. 2018). “HRS § 501-82 (Supp. 2016) (providing that holder of certificate of title holds "free from all encumbrances except those noted on the certificate" and statutorily enumerated encumbrances).”

Fergerstrom v. PNC Bank, N.A., 342 F. Supp. 3d 1029 (D. Haw. 2018). “HRS § 501-82(a) (Supp. 2016). Thus, "a land court certificate of title is 'conclusive and unimpeachable' with regard to 'all matters contained therein,' " which is "[t]he fundamental difference between a certificate of title issued by the land court and a recordation of title at…”

Conner v. Macquarie Infrastructure Corp. (D. Haw. 2021).

Zhang v. Wu (Haw. App. 2026).

Cuzco Dev. U.S.A, LLC v. JCCHO Hawaii, LLC (In re Cuzco Dev. U.S.A., LLC), 574 B.R. 724 (D. Haw. 2017).

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