Council lets For the second time in as many weeks, City Councilman Gary Okino cast the pivotal vote on a controversial mandatory lease-to-fee conversion bill for condominiums.
conversion law stand
A bill had been introduced
to repeal the leasehold lawBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.comThis time, Okino was in the 5-4 majority yesterday against a bill that would have repealed Chapter 38, the 1990 law that allows condo owner-occupant lessees to petition the city to use its condemnation powers to compel a landowner to sell the fee interests on their units at prices determined by a third party.
Okino, who voted last week against a bill that would have allowed a broader number of condo owners to apply for mandatory conversion, said he still believes the program has public good.
"Chapter 38 has given lessees the expectation of being able to deal with the egregious aspects of leasehold," Okino said. "Many of our residents have faced the loss of their homes because of unanticipated, astronomical and therefore unaffordable increases in lease rents. Currently, there is no mechanism to ensure fair and reasonable increases in rents."
Joining Okino in killing the bill were Duke Bainum, John Henry Felix, Steve Holmes and Jon Yoshimura.
In favor of sending the bill to the Executive Affairs Committee for further discussion were Council Chairman John DeSoto, who introduced the bill, and members Darrlyn Bunda, Romy Cachola and Ann Kobayashi.
DeSoto objected to the suggestion that it should be left to the next Council, which will take office in January, to determine the fate of leasehold conversion, insisting that it is his job to tackle issues as they come before the Council.
DeSoto said he wants to introduce a resolution with the cooperation of his colleagues that would encourage further dialogue on mandatory conversion between the affected parties "so we can establish a win-win solution."
More than 60 people testified on the repeal bill, nearly evenly split between those who in favor and those opposed.
Carole Manuwa said repealing Chapter 38 would be breaking a promise to the 10,000 leaseholders like her who bought condominiums only after it became law under the expectation that they would one day have a chance to purchase the fee-simple interest at a reasonable price.
"We're not rich people. Leasehold was our only way to start in homeownership," Manuwa said. "It gave us an opportunity to get out of rental and to finally own property. It was our hope and our dream that one day we would have enough money to be able to negotiate a fair purchase of the fee, also."
But Jeremy Lam of the Small Landowners Association of Hawaii said the Council needed to eliminate a law that uses the city's condemnation powers to help a small number of lessees break their contracts and force his family to sell its land.
Only 13 lessees, he said, want to condemn property that he and 24 other relatives have an interest in.
"It's taking a small piece of land for private gain," he said.
City & County of Honolulu
