Section 208 - Conditions of leasesEach lease made under the authority granted the department by section 207 of this Act, and the tract in respect to which the lease is made, shall be deemed subject to the following conditions, whether or not stipulated in the lease:
(1) The original lessee shall be a native Hawaiian, not less than eighteen years of age. In case two lessees either original or in succession marry, they shall choose the lease to be retained, and the remaining lease shall be transferred, quitclaimed, or canceled in accordance with the provisions of succeeding sections.(2) The lessee shall pay a rental of $1 a year for the tract and the lease shall be for a term of ninety-nine years; except that the department may extend the term of any lease; provided that the approval of any extension shall be subject to the condition that the aggregate of the initial ninety-nine year term and any extension granted shall not be for more than one hundred ninety-nine years.(3) The lessee may be required to occupy and commence to use or cultivate the tract as the lessee's home or farm or occupy and commence to use the tract for aquaculture purposes, as the case may be, within one year after the commencement of the term of the lease.(4) The lessee thereafter, for at least such part of each year as the department shall prescribe by rules, shall occupy and use or cultivate the tract on the lessee's own behalf.(5) The lessee shall not in any manner transfer to, or otherwise hold for the benefit of, any other person or group of persons or organizations of any kind, except a native Hawaiian or Hawaiians, and then only upon the approval of the department, or agree so to transfer, or otherwise hold, the lessee's interest in the tract; except that the lessee, with the approval of the department, also may transfer the lessee's interest in the tract to the following qualified relatives of the lessee who are at least one-quarter Hawaiian: husband, wife, child, or grandchild. A lessee who is at least one-quarter Hawaiian who has received an interest in the tract through succession or transfer may, with the approval of the department, transfer the lessee's leasehold interest to a brother or sister who is at least one-quarter Hawaiian. Such interest shall not, except in pursuance of such a transfer to or holding for or agreement with a native Hawaiian or Hawaiians or qualified relative who is at least one-quarter Hawaiian approved of by the department or for any indebtedness due the department or for taxes or for any other indebtedness the payment of which has been assured by the department, including loans from other agencies where such loans have been approved by the department, be subject to attachment, levy, or sale upon court process. The lessee shall not sublet the lessee's interest in the tract or improvements thereon; provided that a lessee may be permitted, with the approval of the department, to rent to a native Hawaiian or Hawaiians, lodging either within the lessee's existing home or in a separate residential dwelling unit constructed on the premises.(6) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (5), the lessee, with the consent and approval of the commission, may mortgage or pledge the lessee's interest in the tract or improvements thereon to a recognized lending institution authorized to do business as a lending institution in either the State or elsewhere in the United States; provided the loan secured by a mortgage on the lessee's leasehold interest is insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, or any other federal agency and their respective successors and assigns, which are authorized to insure or guarantee such loans, or any acceptable private mortgage insurance as approved by the commission. The mortgagee's interest in any such mortgage shall be freely assignable. Such mortgages, to be effective, must be consented to and approved by the commission and recorded with the department. Further, notwithstanding the authorized purposes of loan limitations imposed under section 214 of this Act and the authorized loan amount limitations imposed under section 215 of this Act, loans made by lending institutions as provided in this paragraph, insured or guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, or any other federal agency and their respective successors and assigns, or any acceptable private mortgage insurance, may be for such purposes and in such amounts, not to exceed the maximum insurable limits, together with such assistance payments and other fees, as established under section 421 of the Housing and Urban Rural Recovery Act of 1983 which amended Title II of the National Housing Act of 1934 by adding section 247, and its implementing regulations, to permit the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to insure loans secured by a mortgage executed by the homestead lessee covering a homestead lease issued under section 207(a) of this Act and upon which there is located a one to four family single family residence.
(7) The lessee shall pay all taxes assessed upon the tract and improvements thereon. The department may pay such taxes and have a lien therefor as provided by section 216 of this Act.(8) The lessee shall perform such other conditions, not in conflict with any provision of this Act, as the department may stipulate in the lease; provided that an original lessee shall be exempt from all taxes for the first seven years after commencement of the term of the lease.Am Jul. 10, 1937, c 482, 50 Stat 504; Nov. 26, 1941, c 544, §2, 55 Stat 783; Aug. 21, 1958, Pub L 85-710, 72 Stat 706; am L 1963, c 207, §2; am L 1967, c 146, §§1, 2; am L 1973, c 66, §1; am L 1974, c 175, §1; am L 1978, c 229, §5; am L 1981, c 90, §2; am L 1985, c 60, §2 and c 284, §1; am L 1990, c 305, §1; am L 1997, c 196, §3; am L 1999, c 17, §1; am L 2002, c 12, §1; am L 2005, c 53, §1Attorney General Opinions
Lessee is prohibited from subdividing homestead tract and subleasing a portion thereof to lessee's daughter. Att. Gen. Op. 61-65.
Bank of Hawaii is not an eligible mortgagee; improvements may not be treated as personalty. Att. Gen. Op. 65-15.
Tax on the tract is the tax on the fee simple estate and not on lessee's leasehold interest. 60 H. 487, 591 P.2d 607. Third party agreements with non-Hawaiians which transferred portion of lessees' interest in homesteads void ab initio as violative of paragraph (5). 81 H. 474, 918 P.2d 1130. Where taxpayers failed to allege an injury-in-fact with regard to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act's native Hawaiian ancestry qualification for homestead leases, they did not have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the tax exemptions for homestead lessees or the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act generally. 128 Hawai'i. 89, 283 P.3d 695 (2011). Approval of home loan did not constitute approval of department for transfer of lease. 4 H. App. 446, 667 P.2d 839.