What are squatters’ rights in Hawaii?

In Hawaii, an action to recover possession of land must be started within 20 years after the right to bring it first accrued. A person claiming title by adverse possession must show good faith, meaning a reasonable belief of an interest in title based on inheritance, a written instrument of conveyance, or a court judgment. An action to establish title on 20 years of adverse possession is open for a parcel of five acres or less, and a person may assert such a claim only once in 20 years. For a parcel larger than five acres, the adverse possession must have lasted at least 20 years before November 7, 1978, or for an earlier applicable period. Until that period has run, a person occupying property without permission has no claim to its title. This is Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 657-31, 669-1.

WhatHawaii
Adverse possession period20 years

Source

Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 657-31, 669-1

Read the statute in the Hawaii Revised Statutes (Hawaii State Legislature): capitol.hawaii.gov.

Checked against the statute on November 13, 2026.

This is a summary of the published procedure, not legal advice. Courts, local rules and the facts of a tenancy change what applies, and a defect in a notice or a filing can end a case. Have a lawyer review anything before it is served or filed.

How Seayora uses this rule

Seayora does not file, serve or appear in an eviction, and is not anybody’s lawyer. When a tenant has stopped paying, it lays out these steps for the property’s own state and city with the statute beside each one, holds back any step that would come too early, keeps an append-only record of the case — and shows the resident what would end it, legal-aid links included.

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