 to finding your piece of the rock on ThinkTech OIE. I'm your host, Abe Lee. I've been licensed real estate agent since 1973. I'm the owner of Century 21 I Profits OIE and work with close to 100 wonderful real estate agents. I started Abe Lee seminars in 1980. I have been privileged to teach over 11,000 students to help them get their real estate licenses and have continued education to licensees to maintain their license every two years. Our show is dedicated to helping buyers and sellers understand the process involved in a real estate transaction. Our special guests will talk about legal issues, escrow, title, getting a loan, survey, home inspection, insurance, contracts, rules and trust, and much, much more. Today, we were supposed to interview a wonderful person from the escrow industry and titled in the tree, but she got sick yesterday and texted me and said Abe, I can't be on the show today. So I asked the powers that be at ThinkTech, can I be my own guest since I don't have a speaker at the last minute, and I got permission to do this. So you're going to see me interviewing me. So it's good or bad. So I'll let you be the judge once we finish the course or the discussion. I'm going to be talking about several key items that I think people should know, especially on Oahu, but it applies to different islands with just a different name or title. But I'm going to be talking about what they call the Ohana properties homes, accessory dwelling homes or units called ADUs. And then I'm going to talk about the zoning issues on the zoning table that we're going to be showing you on the computer. So this should be fun because a lot of people say, well, what can I do with my property? And they really don't know. And so I'm going to hopefully shed some light on this for you. And in fact, let's make this a game here. If you can answer about 70% of the questions that I asked in this show, email me at ably1948andgmail.com and say, hey, I got 70% or more right. I'll take you to lunch or breakfast. So that should be fun. And this is on the honor system. All right. So first question. Who was the mayor that promoted Ohana dwelling units in Honolulu? And what year was it? Who was the mayor that promoted Ohana units in Honolulu and what year was it? So the answer is Mayor Eileen Anderson in 1982. And she promoted what would they call the Ohana units? It used to be called excessive dwelling units and the law in the state law. The legislature mandated that every county shall allow more than one house to be built on certain zone properties. And so Mayor Eileen Anderson promoted it through city council and got the quote Ohana law. So it wasn't really only for family, but everybody thought it should be for families. So in the Ohana law in 1982, if you had say a 6,000 square foot lot and what they call R5 zone, that's residential minimum lot size 5,000 square feet. Now there's other zoning destinations which I'll show you on the chart later. And we have R3.5, R5, R7.5, R10 and R20. So those are three different zoning areas. So the number stands for the minimum lot size, like 3.5 would be 3,500. R5 would be 5,000 minimum lot size and so forth. So on any given lot, residential lot, the law said you could put a second house on even if you didn't have double the land area that's normally necessary for the zoning chart. So the Ohana law said that you can put a second home and there's no size limit. So if you had a 6,000 square foot lot, normal rules are you can get 50% of the land area under the roof. So 6,000 square foot lot, you can put a 3,000 square foot home. And then if you have the right setback, you could go two-story and build a 6,000 square foot home on 6,000 square feet of land. So the density requirement was double, sorry, 50% of the land area. So in this case, R5 zone, 6,000 square feet and you can get 3,000 square feet on the first floor and possibly under the 3,000 on the second floor. So the Ohana unit could be half or less and the main owner would live on part of the house and the Ohana unit would be reached there for whoever is going to rent it. Under the old law, Ohana did not have a restriction where you had to rent it to relatives only. Now the Ohana law says you have to rent a relative. But back when the law first came out, there was no such limit. So the size limit was 50% lot coverage with a possible second floor and anybody could live there or rent there. And you could also, what they call, condominiumize the property and split the properties into two units and sell one and keep one or you could actually do a CPR is what they call it and your son or daughter or stranger could buy one unit and the other person could keep the second unit and split the ownership. And there are legal reasons why you may want to do a CPR on a Ohana unit. And in 1988, the neighborhood board got a lot of complaints from people saying, you know, you put a second house on and they're putting all kinds of parking and we don't have parking on the street and it's a jungle. So they complain to the neighbors complain to the city council and the city council then passed the law back in 1988 to limit the size of the Ohana unit to 700 square feet, 900 square feet, a thousand square feet depending on the zoning. So it went along for a while. And in 1992, the council passed another resolution that said from now on, Ohana units have to be attached. It couldn't be detached and you have to rent to relatives only and you could not condominiumize the property. So if you'll notice now in 1982, they're basically no rules except 50% locked coverage and they could be attached to detach and you could CPR or not CPR and family members did not have to rent the Ohana unit. In the 88, they had a size limit and in 1992 said no CPR, must be Ohana and must be attached. Now subsequently they changed the rules at the city council and said they can be detached and you have but you still have to be renting to relatives only and you cannot CPR. So that rule still applies today. So that's the short version of the Ohana. Then there's the next question. Who's the mayor that proposed the ADU, accessory dwelling unit rules? And what year was that? So if you know the answer to that, you might be winning a breakfast or lunch with me, all right? And the mayor was for how long? And the year was 2015, September. So with this new rule called the ADU, different from the Ohana. So you notice Ohana was back in 1982 and had several changes along the way and ADU came along in 2015 with Mayor Caldwell. And on that one, let me ask you a question. What's the maximum size of the ADU unit? If your lot is residential and it's 3,500 square feet to 4,999 square feet, what's the biggest unit you can build on the ADU? And the answer is 400 square feet under the roof and you have to have one car parking and you cannot see PR. And you could have a detached or attached and you didn't have to rent to relatives. So you see the difference now between ADU and Ohana is different sets of rules. So the question is, is your house permitted under Ohana or under ADU? So that's ADU. Now with the ADU, if your lot is more than 5,000 square feet, what's the maximum size of the ADU unit? 800 square feet maximum. If your lot is 3,500 to 4,999 square feet, the maximum size of the ADU would be 400 square feet. If your lot was over 5,000 square feet, the maximum ADU would be 830. And you can rent to anybody you want. It can be attached or detached, but it cannot be CPR. So current law under Ohana and current law under ADU is you cannot CPR. Those are the main rules. So if we look at the land use ordinance chart, which is going to be showing here, let's look at R5. Now, this may be a little too small for you to read. And if you want to have a PDF version, email me and I'll be glad to email it to you. All right. So I have two sheets. One is the land use ordinance copy of a page on the chart. And the other one is the ADU page from a booklet that Hawaiiapolis created, which is a really good book. And I've read that booklet front to back. And it's a very well written booklet. And I'll be glad to email you that as well. Okay. Now under the chart, if we look at R5's zone, you look at a one family dwelling detached and other uses, it says $5,000 per feet. So you have to have a minimum lot size of $5,000 per feet to be an R5 sub divided lot. If you look just below that, it says two family dwelling detached. And it's a $7,530. And you go, well, what is that? Well, that's really in our normal language. It's a duplex line where you can have $7,500 per feet or bigger. And you can have two kitchens on the property, but they have to be attached. But wait a minute. The land use ordinance label says two family dwelling detached. And I just told you that they had to be attached. It would take too long for me to explain this to you, but just know that it's detached from the boundary line and not from each unit, which doesn't make much sense. It took me a little years to figure out what this booklet, this zoning chart meant. Then if you notice, just below that, it says duplex $3,750 per feet. So people look at that and go, oh, an R5 zone, if I have $3,750 per feet, I can build a duplex. But if I have $7,500 per feet, I can build a two family dwelling detached. And I just told you it was a duplex. They have to be attached, not detached. So it's totally confusing, isn't it? So on the duplex lot, on the $3,750 per feet, imagine if we will a lot that is 60 feet wide and 125 feet. I believe 60 times 125 comes out to $3,750 per feet. So imagine if we will, you have two lots, 30 feet, 30 feet, that's 60 feet wide, and 125 feet deep, and draw the line right in the middle. So each lot would be $3,750. You have to, on this duplex lot, build a house and have the boundary line as a common line right in the middle. And then you can build a house on the left. You can build a house on the right. And that's your duplex. And they're attached at the boundary line. So if I have you thoroughly confused, lots of people are confused, right? So that's what they call the duplex lot. So lot one on the left is $3,750 per feet. Lot two on the right is $3,750 per feet. And the two lots of record are subdivided. And you can sell each one separately. But the common wall, you have to have a common wall between the two units. And that's why when they say two families are in detached, that means it's a duplex, but it's detached from the boundary line. That makes any sense. So I don't want to belabor this point, but just know that the chart says R5, $5,000 per feet for one house, $7,500 per feet for two families while in detached, which I'm going to tell you is a duplex. And then $3,750 is each side of a duplex lot. And you have to have always two lots. $3,750, $5,750. And you build a house right in the middle. And there's a common wall between the two units. And you have to have it attached. Now, if you go to R7.5, then you need $7,500 per feet to have a house, one house. And then if you do a two-family dwelling detached, you need $14,000 per feet to be able to build a duplex. And then if you're going to build a duplex lot, then you need $7,000 per feet on each side. So $7,000 per feet on the left, $7,000 per feet on the right. And the two together will be $14,000 per feet. And you'd have two separate lots of records. But again, you have to have the home attached at the boundary line. And then if you look at R10 and R20, then the lot sizes become bigger and bigger. So I'm sorry to confuse you, but this is how the zoning chart reads. And over the my 50-something years of doing developments and teaching classes and doing real estate work, it took me a while to figure out how to even decipher what the charts meant. And this is in the land use ordinance for the city and county of Honolulu. Now, the labor islands or other islands may not have the same kind of ruling. But what I'm teaching you is for Honolulu only. And other islands do have ADU and Ohana type projects, but their lot sizes are different. So you have to check the county requirements for each island to see what the requirements are for duplexes and single-family homes. Now, one other thing that you should know is I told you that after 7,500 square feet and higher, you can do a duplex or have two homes of one lot that are attached and have two separate kitchens or by the year, two parking stalls for each unit. Now, if you have 10,000 square feet in our five-zone land, you have double the minimum land area. So the city will allow you to put two homes on the property and they can be detached. They don't have to be attached. So you can detach the homes and on this property and also duplex property, by the way, you can cut the minimized and sell the separate units, either duplex or two families that are detached. And it's not a subdivision. It is a CPR, which is very different. CPRs go through the state law called Hawaii Revised Statutes 514B. That's a condominium law for the state of Hawaii. It applies to the whole state. So now the counties do not recognize CPRs. Counties recognize that you have a 7,500 square feet. It's a duplex and you have two kitchens that are legal. And whether you CPR them or not, the county does not recognize CPRs. But the state law 514B says if you have this under the county rules and they're legally permitted, then you can condominiumize it to and separate the ownership. So all the CPR does is transfer title to property with two or more units under a condominium setup rather than a subdivision. So the condominium laws are governed by the state of Hawaii and the zoning laws are governed by each county. And each county has their own set of rules. So now I've got you really confused and I'm so sorry, but that's how complex this situation can be. Every island is different. All right. So now let's go to the ADU. And if we go to the green chart, the one that the mayor put in for Caldwell. All right. And the way he did it was he said, okay, we're going to be different from the O'Hana rules. So in this chart you see on the left hand side, O'Hana unit. On the right hand side, you see ADU. So make sure you understand the difference in Honolulu. So O'Hana unit was started by or promoted by Mayor Eileen Anderson. And the ADU was promoted by Mayor Caldwell. And they're totally different. Even though they sound like they have different rules. If you look at the O'Hana unit on the left, on the zoning, you have to have an R5, R7.5, R10 country district, Ag1 and Ag2 zone land, and you get an O'Hana unit. Hey, what happened to R3.5? And what happened to R20? What is that in the charts? On the right hand side under ADU, these zoning areas are allowed ADU. Now there's 3.5, R3.5, R5, R7.5, R10, R20 and country district, but not Ag1 and Ag2 as you see under O'Hana. So how come? Well the city decided that they are going to allow different zoning types of properties to be allowed O'Hana units and ADU. And they're not the same, are they? Right? So a lot of eligibility. You have to, basic rules are that you have to have enough sewer capacity for the area. So there's some parts of O'Habu where the sewer capacity is passed and is inadequate. So you have to apply for a sewer adequacy permit for approval with the city and county of Honolulu, which we are a management department. There's a form that you fill out to check to see if there's sewer adequacy. So when I have a client that says, hey, can I build a second house on this property? The first thing we do is we do a sewer adequacy check. We fill out the form, put in all the information. They will send it to the Department of Waste Water Management and they have an email address that you can send it to. And within a couple of weeks, somebody from that department will say, sewer is adequate or sewer is inadequate? If the sewer is adequate, then you can build a second house, ADU or O'Hana or two homes detached or attached. If the sewer is inadequate, you're dead, you cannot build. So one of my agents had a client that owned a 20,000 square foot land in R10 zone and that means that he put two homes on that property. He had double-gum minimum land area, R10, 20,000 square feet. So he applied for O'Hana sewer adequacy form, send it up to the city wastewater department and we got back a rejection saying inadequate. So in that neighborhood, the sewer's capacity is maxed out, so they will not let you put another kitchen on that property. Now, if you're in a different part of O'Hana or different part of O'ahu and you apply for sewer adequacy, you may get approval. It just depends on the sewer line capacity and how big the pipes are and the engineers are calculating when everybody flushes the toilet at one time, will there be a backup or is the sewer adequate enough to flow freely? So if it's inadequate, then you get a rejection. If it's adequate, then you get an approval. In that adequate approval, it says this approval is good for two years only and then you have to apply for permit to build that second house or second unit or whatever or hundred homes or whatever and then you have to start construction within the third year. So you got two years to apply for a building permit, then one year to start construction and supposing you don't do that and you let time pass, you ran out of money or you're not interested and you just did it to see if there's sewer adequacy and if the two years passed and you did not apply for a building permit, someone next to you in your area could apply for a permit and if it's really tight on the sewer capacity, the sewer department will then take your approval away and give it to the next person in line and that's why it's important that if the sewer adequacy is tight in that neighborhood and you really want that house, you've got to get a permit within two years and then you have to start construction in the third year. Now if there's no problem with sewer adequacy and there's plenty of sewer space, then you don't have to worry but the wastewater department can take away your approval and give it to somebody else. That hasn't happened very often but it has happened and I also know that in certain cases where there's inadequate sewage, you cannot get a permit for the second home or third home or if you want to do a hundred lots of division, there is not enough sewer capacity. The other thing that you might want to do is if they say no, it's inadequate sewage, you could write to the wastewater department and say you have any thing in your budget for capital improvements to increase the sewer capacity in the next three years and the wastewater department knows when they're going to be applying for wider sewer pipes to increase the capacity. Hanoi and Kailua was like that for a few years. They increased the capacity and they allowed more homes to be built. Prior to that time, they said inadequate sewage. So it'd be nice to contact the wastewater department engineer and say do you have any plans in the future to increase the sewer capacity and when might that be and they'll tell you we have X amount of earmark or increase the sewer capacity in the Kalei, Lileha or Nuwana area. So it's nice to know that you could have sewer capacity rejected now like to be approved a few years later. Of course, you have to be patient and wait for that. And then remember under Ohana, you have to have two car parking for each kitchen and the ADU, you only need one car parking for each unit. So there's a difference of two units, two parking stalls versus one parking stall. Now, I'm almost out of time. Can you believe it? I'm interfering myself and I'm almost out of time. So as you can tell, this is a pretty complicated issue. And I've learned this thing over the last 45, 50 years. And I teach this in my zoning class, in my condominium class, my development class. If you have any questions, email me at ably1948 at gmail.com. And you can also go to ablyseminars.com to see if you want to take a class on getting a real estate license. And I cover some of this stuff. Now, the pre licensing school is to get a test so you can get a real estate license. What I covered for you today is strictly post graduate class. And I don't believe any school will teach what I taught because that's not part of the real estate licensing requirements. This was zoning requirements that you should know this information. Or future shows, or shows that we've done in the past. If you go to Think Tech Hawaii and look at the archives and put in Think Tech Hawaii, Abe Lee, I think I've done 22 shows now. And this is the 23rd. I post a new show every two weeks. And I've had lots of different wonderful instructors and guest speakers. And I'm sorry that my guest speaker today was not feeling well. And I had to take her place. But I hope this was worth it to you. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. And also, if you go to YouTube, look up Abe Lee free licensing school. I posted seven short videos on what I covered in the real estate school in short snippets. So I'm trying to provide free service on Think Tech Hawaii as well as YouTube. So thank you so much for being here today. I hope it was a help to you. And again, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Thank you very much. Aloha.