Kauai County Foreclosure Resources

Both paths exist in Hawaii. Non-judicial foreclosure under a power of sale is the common path, and it was significantly reformed in 2012 by Act 182. However, a borrower has the right to convert a non-judicial foreclosure to judicial foreclosure, which brings the matter under court oversight. Which path applies to your loan changes your timeline, the notices you receive, and where a defense is filed.

It is Hawaii's state-funded foreclosure mediation program, available to owner-occupants of residential property. You request it after the notice of default is served. It gives you a structured process to work out the default before a sale occurs, and it is one of the strongest protections available to a Hawaii homeowner facing foreclosure.

Generally not on residential property. Hawaii prohibits a deficiency judgment after a non-judicial foreclosure of residential property under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 667-105, and non-judicial is how most Hawaii residential foreclosures proceed. If the matter is foreclosed judicially, a deficiency is permitted but the court applies a fair-value offset, so the lender is limited to the gap between the debt and the property's fair market value.

You may cure the default by paying the full amount in default plus fees and costs up to 3 days before the sale. That is a comparatively generous cure window. Note that Hawaii has no post-sale right of redemption, so the cure period and MFDRP mediation are the principal pre-sale opportunities to keep the property.

Under the 2012 reform, the notice of default must be served personally or by certified mail — constructive notice is not sufficient — and it must inform you of your option to convert the matter to judicial foreclosure. The public sale notice must then be published three times, once a week for three weeks. Because these requirements are strict, a defect in service or publication can be the basis for challenging the foreclosure.

Kauai County covers Kauai and Niihau, with Lihue as its county seat and principal town. Kauai is a comparatively small island market — the fourth-largest county in the state by population — and its housing combines resort and second-home development along the north and south shores with older plantation-era towns such as Lihue, Kapaa and Waimea and rural communities in the island's interior. Two features of that market bear on a foreclosure. A meaningful share of shoreline and resort-adjacent property is not owner-occupied, so the analysis for a second home or vacation rental differs from an owner-occupant file. And because Kauai is an island with a limited population, the pool of potential buyers at any given time is inherently narrow, which can affect how quickly a property sells and at what price. Hawaii's process is uniform statewide: non-judicial power-of-sale foreclosure under Act 182 is the common path, a borrower may convert to judicial, and owner-occupants may request MFDRP mediation after the notice of default.