If the property you are transferring is leasehold, your quitclaim deed hands over the lease, not the land. The person receiving it gets what the lease gives, for as long as the lease runs, subject to the rent and every other term. When the lease ends, the land goes back to its owner unless the lease is extended or the land is bought.
Two things decide how much there is to think about. The first is whether the lease is of a house lot or a condominium, because Hawaii law gives house-lot leaseholders rights it does not give condo owners. The second is what the lease's own pages say about assignment, rent and what happens at the end.
Fee Simple and Leasehold, Side by Side
Own a property in fee simple and you own the land and whatever stands on it, for as long as you like, with nothing to hand back to anyone. Own it leasehold and someone else owns the land. You hold a lease of that land for a term of years, you pay lease rent for it, and what is yours outright is the lease itself and, usually, the house or apartment built on the land. The Hawaii Real Estate Commission puts it plainly in the public report a developer has to give condo buyers: the buyer acquires the right to occupy and use the apartment for the time stated in the lease, and does not acquire ownership of the land.
The people in the arrangement have legal names worth knowing, because the lease and every statute use them. The landowner is the lessor, or fee owner. The person holding the lease is the lessee, or leaseholder. The landowner's interest is the leased fee, and buying it is called buying the fee. This page says landowner and leaseholder except where it quotes the law.
Leases come in layers. A developer may hold a master lease of the land from the owner and grant each apartment owner a sublease, so the document you are assigning may itself be a sublease. That changes nothing about how the transfer is done, but it does mean there may be two sets of lease terms above you rather than one.
How a Leasehold Changes Hands: the Assignment of Lease
A leasehold is transferred by an assignment of lease. The Real Estate Commission describes it as a document whose purpose is similar to a deed's and whose effect is different, because it conveys only the rights and obligations the lease created, not the property itself. A quitclaim deed of a leasehold is exactly that: it assigns whatever interest in the lease the signer holds, and promises nothing about it.
Everything on our Hawaii quitclaim deed page applies to it. The document goes to the Bureau of Conveyances with the same first-page layout, the Tax Map Key, and a reference to the document number of the lease or the last assignment. If the land is in Land Court, the lease is registered there too, and the assignment has to carry the certificate of title number in its body the same as a deed of the land would. The grantor signs before a notary; the grantee's name and address go on the first page.
The conveyance tax reaches assignments of lease as well as deeds. It is worked out on whatever is paid for the assignment, plus the value of any increase in the rent or the term that comes with it, and a mortgage on the leasehold that the new holder takes over counts as payment. The family exemptions work the same way they do for a deed of the land, and Form P-64A or P-64B goes in with the assignment.
One thing is different, and it is the subject of the next two sections. A deed of land has no landowner above it to tell or ask. An assignment of lease may need the landowner to be told, paid a service charge, or asked, and whether it does depends on what kind of property sits on the land.
A House Lot Is Not a Condo: the Rights the Law Adds
In 1967 Hawaii passed a land reform law, now chapter 516 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, and one part of it hands the leaseholder of a residential lot a set of rights that apply "notwithstanding any term, condition, or provision in any lease to the contrary". A residential lot, for this purpose, is a parcel of two acres or less, zoned residential, used as the principal home of one or two families, held under a lease of twenty years or more. A house on its own lot fits. A condominium apartment does not, because the statute is written for lots of land. The Real Estate Commission's report to condo buyers makes the same point about the conversion law: there are no statutory provisions for the mandatory conversion of leasehold condominiums.
For a house lot, these are the rights that matter to someone transferring it:
- Assignment without consent. The leaseholder may assign the lease at any time without the landowner's approval. But the assignment does not take effect until the landowner has received a copy of it or written notice, a reasonable service charge, and the new holder's written promise to perform the lease, which can be written into the assignment itself. The person assigning stays liable under the lease unless the landowner consents in writing, and consenting counts as releasing them. The landowner cannot charge anything for consent beyond the service charge or withhold it unreasonably. Leases from state or county agencies, and lots bought through the conversion program, carry their own restrictions.
- Thirty days to cure. The landowner cannot declare the lease forfeited for unpaid rent or any other default without written notice and at least thirty days to put it right.
- Rent reopenings limited. Where the lease provides for the rent to be renegotiated, that cannot happen more often than every fifteen years, and not before year fifteen. The new rent cannot exceed four percent of the owner's basis, which is the land's current market value as bare land less the leaseholder's share of the off-site improvements. If the sides cannot agree, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation arbitrates.
- The improvements at the end. When the lease ends, a leaseholder who is not in default may take away the improvements they paid for. Or they may give the landowner sixty days' written notice that they decline to remove them, and if the landowner then refuses to extend the lease or grant a new one of at least thirty years at an agreed or arbitrated rent, the landowner has to pay the current fair market value of those improvements, appraised at the leaseholder's expense.
- The lease itself, on a sale. A seller has to give the buyer a copy of the recorded lease within ten days of the contract, with a plain-language summary of its term, rent, reopening dates and surrender terms, and the buyer then has ten days to walk away without losing the deposit. This rule does not reach the transfers most people use a quitclaim deed for: the statute says a sale does not include a transfer to a co-owner, to a spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, to a parent or child, or by inheritance or court order. Nothing stops you handing over the lease anyway, and the last section on this page says why you should.
The same chapter contains the machinery that let the State condemn the land under whole leasehold subdivisions so the families on them could buy it. Whether it can still be used for a particular lot is a question for the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation, which administers it.
What a Condominium Leaseholder Gets Instead
Almost everything about a leasehold condo comes from the lease, because the statute above does not apply to it. Whether the landowner has to consent to an assignment, how the rent is reset and how often, and what happens to the apartment when the lease runs out are all answered by the lease's own pages and nowhere else.
Read the surrender clause before anything else. The Real Estate Commission's warning to condo buyers is direct: at the end of the lease the apartment owners may have to surrender the apartments, the improvements and the land to the lessor without any compensation. Some leases instead require the owners to remove the building and restore the land. Either way, the number of years left on the lease is what the new holder is really receiving, so put it in front of anyone you are transferring a leasehold condo to.
What the law does give condo leaseholders is a chance to buy the land. If the landowner decides to sell the leased fee under a condominium project to anyone other than the owners' association, the association has a right of first refusal to buy it at the same price. A landowner who instead offers the fee to individual apartment owners has to give each of them at least ninety days to consider the offer, and a further ninety days to back out of a contract once signed. The association also has the power to negotiate and buy the fee on its members' behalf. None of that forces a sale; it only governs one if the landowner chooses to sell.
Read These Four Things in the Lease Before You Sign
The lease is recorded at the Bureau of Conveyances, so a copy is always available even if the paper one is lost. Before you draft the deed, find these four things in it.
- The expiration date. How many years are left is what the new holder is actually getting. A lease with a long term left and a lease with a few years left are different things, whatever the property looks like.
- The assignment clause. For a house lot, the statute overrides a consent requirement but not the notice, the service charge or the new holder's written undertaking, so the clause still tells you where to send the notice and what the charge is. For a condo, the clause is the rule.
- The rent and its reopening dates. Lease rent is usually fixed for a period and then reset. Knowing when the next reset falls, and how the lease says it will be calculated, tells the new holder what they are taking on.
- The surrender clause. For a condo it decides what happens at the end. For a house lot the statute adds the right to remove the improvements or be paid for them, but the clause still tells you what the landowner expects.
For a family transfer, the disclosure rule that would make a seller hand these over does not apply, so nobody is required to give your relative the lease. Give it to them anyway. A quitclaim deed promises nothing about what it transfers, and with a leasehold that includes the years left, the rent to come and the landowner's rights at the end. The lease is the only place those are written down.
Hawaii Leasehold Property — Common Questions
Can a Hawaii quitclaim deed transfer leasehold property?
Yes. What it transfers is the lease, not the land. The Real Estate Commission's own words are that title to leasehold property is normally conveyed by an assignment of lease, whose purpose is similar to a deed's but whose effect is different, because it conveys only the rights and obligations created by the lease. A quitclaim deed of a leasehold is that assignment. It is signed, notarized and recorded at the Bureau of Conveyances like any other deed, and it carries the same conveyance tax. Unlike a deed of land, it may also need something from the landowner: notice and a service charge for a house lot, or consent where a condominium lease requires it.
Do I need the landowner's permission to transfer a leasehold house lot?
For most house lots, no. Hawaii law lets the leaseholder of a residential lot assign the lease at any time without the landowner's consent, whatever the lease says, though leases from state or county agencies, and lots bought through the conversion program, carry their own restrictions. The assignment still does not take effect until the landowner has received a copy of it or written notice, a reasonable service charge, and the new holder's written promise to perform the lease. And unless the landowner consents in writing, the person assigning the lease stays liable under it. A condominium is different: no statute overrides a condo lease's consent clause, so the lease decides.
What happens when a Hawaii ground lease ends?
It depends on what is on the land. For a residential house lot, the leaseholder who is not in default may remove the improvements they paid for, or give sixty days' written notice that they decline to remove them, and if the landowner then refuses to extend or grant a new lease of at least thirty years, the landowner has to pay the current fair market value of those improvements. For a condominium there is no such statute. The lease's surrender clause governs, and the Real Estate Commission warns buyers that at the end of the lease the apartment owners may have to surrender the apartments, the improvements and the land to the lessor without any compensation.
How often can the lease rent go up on a leasehold house lot?
Not more than once every fifteen years, and not before the fifteenth year of the lease, for a residential lot lease that provides for rent reopenings. When it does reopen, the new rent cannot exceed four percent of the owner's basis, which is the land's current market value as bare land less the leaseholder's share of the off-site improvements. If the two sides cannot agree, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation arbitrates. Condominium leases are outside this rule; their reopening formula is whatever the lease says.
Will I owe conveyance tax when I transfer a leasehold?
The tax applies to an assignment of lease the same way it applies to a deed. It is worked out on whatever is paid for the assignment, plus the value of any increase in the rent or the term, and a mortgage on the leasehold that the new holder takes over counts as payment. The exemptions on our Hawaii quitclaim deed page apply here too, including transfers between spouses or between parent and child for a nominal amount, and either Form P-64A or Form P-64B has to go in with the assignment.
Why does Hawaii have so much leasehold property?
The Legislature answered that in 1967, in the findings that open its land reform law: land ownership in Hawaii was concentrated in a few owners who refused to sell and leased their land on long terms instead, which left a shortage of fee simple house lots and pushed land prices up. The same law let the State condemn the land under leasehold subdivisions so the families living there could buy it. That is where today's leasehold houses come from, and the law is still on the books.
Official Sources
Hawaii's laws are collected in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, and a citation such as HRS § 516-63 is an address: the first number is the chapter, the second the section within it. You do not need any of these to follow this page. They are here so that you, or an attorney, can read the exact wording rather than take this page's word for it. Each links to the text on the Legislature's own website, which opens in a new tab.
- HRS § 516-1 — the definitions: what counts as a residential lot, and a lease of twenty years or more.
- HRS § 516-61 — the leaseholder's rights apply whatever the lease says to the contrary.
- HRS § 516-63 — free assignability: no consent needed, but notice, a service charge and the new holder's written undertaking before the assignment takes effect.
- HRS § 516-64 — no forfeiture without written notice and thirty days to cure.
- HRS § 516-70 — what happens to the improvements when a house-lot lease ends: removal, or payment of their fair market value if the landowner will not extend.
- HRS § 516-71 — the seller's duty to hand over the lease on a sale, and the family and inheritance transfers that are not a sale for that purpose.
- HRS § 516-83 — the Legislature's 1967 findings on why Hawaii's land came to be leased rather than sold.
- HRS § 519-2 — rent reopenings on residential lot leases: no more than every fifteen years, capped at four percent of the owner's basis, with arbitration if the sides cannot agree.
- HRS § 514C-2 — the condominium association's right of first refusal when the landowner sells the leased fee.
- HRS § 514C-6.5 — sales of the fee to individual condo owners: ninety days to consider, ninety days to back out.
- HRS § 501-108 — Land Court: a lease or assignment, like a deed, must carry the certificate of title number in its body.
- HRS § 247-2 — the conveyance tax reaches assignments of lease, and consideration includes liens on the property.
- Real Estate Commission — Condominium Public Report form — the "Important Information on Leasehold Condominium Projects" page every leasehold condo buyer receives: the surrender clause warning, the assignment of lease, and the absence of any mandatory conversion law for condominiums.
- Instructions for Form P-64A — how the conveyance tax is worked out on an assignment of lease.
Checked against the Hawaii Revised Statutes and the Real Estate Commission's forms on September 3, 2026.