2017 Hawaii Revised Statutes
TITLE 28. PROPERTY
508C. Uniform Environmental Covenants Act
508C-3 Nature of rights; subordination of interests.
[§508C-3] Nature of rights; subordination of interests. (a) Any person, the agency, or a county may be a holder. An environmental covenant may identify more than one holder. The interest of a holder shall be an interest in real property.
(b) A right of an agency under this chapter or under an environmental covenant, other than a right as a holder, shall not be an interest in real property.
(c) An agency shall be bound by any obligation the agency assumes in an environmental covenant; provided that an agency shall not assume obligations merely by signing an environmental covenant. Any other person that signs an environmental covenant shall be bound by the obligations the person assumes in the covenant; provided that signing the covenant shall not change obligations, rights, or protections granted or imposed under law other than this chapter except as provided in the covenant.
(d) The following rules apply to interests in real property in existence at the time an environmental covenant covering that real property is created or amended:
(1) An interest that has priority under other law shall not be affected by an environmental covenant, unless the person that owns the interest subordinates that interest to the covenant;
(2) A person that owns a prior interest shall not be required to subordinate that interest to an environmental covenant or to agree to be bound by the covenant;
(3) A subordination agreement may be contained in an environmental covenant covering real property or in a separate record. If the environmental covenant covers commonly-owned property in a common interest community, the record may be signed by any person authorized by the governing board of the common interest community; and
(4) An agreement by a person to subordinate a prior interest to an environmental covenant shall affect the priority of that person's interest; provided that it shall not by itself impose any affirmative obligation on the person with respect to the environmental covenant. [L 2006, c 279, pt of §2]
