Resources

Quick Guide to TV Remote & Set Top Box

Click here for help to use and to sync your new Hawaiian Telcom TV Remote with your new Set Top Box.

Bulky Pickup Policy

As per the House Rules, schedule appointments for large items disposal on the City & County of Honolulu’s Bulky Pickup website https://honolulu.sanstar.net/honolulu-public-client/app/appointments/create-appointment.

Ask the Resident Manager regarding any coordination needed with the building’s operations.

The Bulky Pickup trucks will only remove the items noted in the appointment. Any person who leaves items for Bulky Pickup without making an appointment (thus disposing of items in a Common Area without permission) will be in violation of the House Rules, and may be subject to fines.

Reporting Illegal Vacation Rentals

Click here for the City & County of Honolulu’s website on Short Term Rentals. There are no legal vacation rentals in Waikiki Lanais. Fines for operating an illegal vacation rental can be up to $10,000 per day.

Fire & Life Safety Evaluation

The City & County of Honolulu’s Ordinance 19-4 affects over 350 condo buildings over 12 stories island-wide. It requires associations to decide to either install a fire sprinkler system OR to do a series of building/apartment upgrades to receive and acceptable score on an evaluation. Our insurance agent, Sue Savio, informed the AOAO that insurance premiums for sprinklered buildings will be lower than for non-sprinklered buildings. The deadline to upgrade was extended in 2022 to 2038 with Ordinance 22-02.

Click here for Honolulu Fire Department’s website about sprinklers.

In 2020 the Board of Directors hired a consultant to research estimated costs for both alternatives.

Click here for the letter and ballot sent to owners in August 2022 to choose which option.

Click here for 12/14/2022 Civil Beat article “Fire Sprinkler Retrofits Gain Traction as Building Owners Eye Rising Insurance Costs”.

Window & Sliding Door Replacement

Owners who would like to replace their windows & sliding doors at their own expense must follow these Board-approved Specifications:

Fleetwood Sliding Door, Windows and Jalousies (approved 6/2/22)

Arcadia Sliding Door (approved 4/6/23)

Per the Waikiki Special District Design Guidelines, homeowners in a condo building must follow the established (the building’s existing C&C approved) window designs, including material, color and proportions to maintain aesthetics and prevent a motley exterior appearance.

A windows and/or sliding door replacement project still requires prior Board approval.

Lockbox Removal

As advised by the Association’s legal counsel and insurance agency, for safety and security reasons the Board of Directors decided at the February 4, 2022 regular board meeting to follow the example of other neighborhood buildings that have removed lockboxes attached to their building or fencing. Not only do lockboxes attached to residential and commercial buildings invite crime (of course the fobs to the building and elevators are in them…), but they also pose a potential liability for a homeowner association.

Click here for the notice regarding lockbox removal, unpaid storage lockers & cages rental and property, and the new fob policy

Click here for a 7/17/16 Los Angeles Times article written by an attorney about liability

Click here for a 5/11/19 Honolulu Star Advertiser report

Click here for a 5/21/19 Honolulu Star Advertiser report

Click here for 5/26/23 Honolulu Star Advertiser report

Waikiki Lanais Lawsuit caused by the 2019/2020 Board

Questions are often asked about a lawsuit the AOAO filed against the City & County of Honolulu so as a resource to all owners, the following is a quick summary.

Six members of the 2019-2020 Board of Directors (Vladimir Gurovich, Ainslie Ports, Kerry Kassover, Steve Chu, Madeline Yanov, and Esther Cinco, all removed from the Board in December, 2020, during the pandemic-delayed Annual Meeting by a vote by a large majority of owners) supported using AOAO maintenance fees to sue the City & County of Honolulu regarding Ordinance 19-18 that became law on 6/25/19. Ordinance 19-18 merely added enforcement rules to existing laws on illegal vacation rentals. No Regular Board meeting or Executive Session minutes show that the Board even voted to approve the lawsuit, yet somehow the AOAO’s newly chosen attorney filed a complaint (lawsuit) on 9/3/19.

Board member voting history showing the six Board members tenaciously supporting the very expensive lawsuit may be seen (by owners) on this website in the Meeting Minutes (2019 to 2020). Three Board members, Denise Boisvert, Patti Nakatani, and Nancy Nagamine tenaciously made motions to try to stop the lawsuit and the complete waste of AOAO funds, but the motions always lost, 6 to 3.

During the course of the lawsuit, a motion was filed on 4/22/20 for preliminary injunction so a minority of vacation rental operators/owners in Waikiki Lanais who were not following the 30-day minimum zoning ordinance would be exempted from following the new law until the original lawsuit was finished.

The court date for the motion of preliminary injunction was 5/15/20. On 5/30/20 the judge announced his decision and denied the motion for preliminary injunction. Part of his opinion was that the Plaintiffs (AOAO) were unlikely to prevail based on the merits of the Complaint, and that the request for a preliminary injunction and claim that HRS Chapter 514B preempts county zoning were frivolous.

The AOAO filed a motion for partial reconsideration regarding the conclusion of the claim being frivolous, and being required to pay the Defendants’ attorney fees and costs for the defense.

The judge agreed to slightly amend his Conclusions of Law by removing the line item referring to the claim being frivolous; but the injunction remained denied.

Click here for the judge’s amended Findings of Fact dated 8/31/20.

Although the main lawsuit was still on-going, by November 2020 it was obvious to these six board members that it would never prevail in Court so they finally decided to withdraw the Complaint (drop the lawsuit). The Stipulation for Dismissal was filed 11/4/20. It is fortunate for our AOAO that after all the legal expenses our AOAO incurred because of the lawsuit, the City’s attorneys granted the AOAO’s request to not also pay for their defense fees and costs after the lawsuit was dismissed.

At the delayed 2020 Annual Meeting (finally held 12/19/20 due to the pandemic) all six board members who supported the lawsuit were removed and replaced by other owners on the Board of Directors.