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What is leased fee interest?

Wednesday, November, 16th, 2022 at 8:33 pm by Richard S. Ekimoto, Esq.

The technical definition of “leased fee interest” is the Fee Simple interest in real property encumbered by a lease. Many people confuse “leased fee interest” and “fee simple interest”. If you own 100% of the interest in real property, you own the real property in fee simple. The owner of real property in fee simple can do many things with the property including selling the property, mortgaging the property or leasing the property. If the [Read More...]

Purchase of Leased Fee Interest by Condominium Association Upheld

Wednesday, November, 16th, 2022 at 8:32 pm by Richard S. Ekimoto, Esq.

On July 22, 2005, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in Association of Apartment Owners of Maalaea Kai, inc. v. Stillson that the purchase of the leased fee interest by the condominium association was proper. This is the second appeal in this case. The case began when Stillson failed to pay his maintenance fees. After several demands, the Association filed a notice of lien and then sought to foreclose the lien. Stillson claimed that the Association was prohibited from purchasing [Read More...]

What is a disability?

Wednesday, November, 16th, 2022 at 8:31 pm by Richard S. Ekimoto, Esq.

The Federal Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act provides protections for people with disabilities. The Fair Housing Act uses the term, “handicap” while the Americans with Disabilities Act uses the term, “disability” but they are defined the same. A person with a disability is someone who: (1) has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities (i.e., caring for one’s self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, breathing, etc.); (2) has [Read More...]

What is a reasonable modification?

Wednesday, November, 16th, 2022 at 8:24 pm by Richard S. Ekimoto, Esq.

The Federal Fair Housing Act “FHA” provides protections for people with disabilities. In addition to a prohibition against discriminating against someone because they are disabled, the FHA has two affirmative duties for those covered by the Act. One of them is to provide a reasonable accommodation. The other is that a housing provider must permit people with disabilities to make reasonable modifications to their dwelling or the common areas at the disabled person’s expense that are necessary for the disabled person to use [Read More...]

What is a reasonable accommodation?

Wednesday, November, 16th, 2022 at 8:24 pm by Richard S. Ekimoto, Esq.

The Federal Fair Housing Act “FHA” and the Americans with Disabilities Act “ADA” provides protections for people with disabilities. In addition to a prohibition against discriminating against someone because they are disabled, these laws have affirmative duties for those covered by the two Acts. Under the FHA, one of the affirmative duties is to permit reasonable modifications. In addition, a housing provider must make reasonable accommodations to its policies, practices or procedures if it is necessary for a disabled person to use or [Read More...]