Rising insurance and maintenance costs stressing residents

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Residents are finding their home insurance costs are more than doubling, those living in community associations are seeing those increases in their maintenance fees.

It is a troubling situation for many who already struggle to keep up with the state’s high cost of living. 

From one month to the next, Northpointe residents in Mililani Mauka saw their maintenance fees nearly double. 

Asami Meikle said the condo association where her mother lives is requesting a special assessment fee to cover the cost of insurance. 

Meikle said, “This is a three-bedroom and  my mother pays approximately $625 in maintenance fees a month and for the five months she’s expected to pay $1,102 every month.”

In a letter to residents, Hawaiiana Management Company said the community’s board of directors budget fell more than $395,000 below this year’s actual insurance costs. The company said natural disasters like the Maui Wildfires are impacting premiums. 

They said they are tapping into the association’s reserves, part of it being used to repave the parking lot, but they said funds in the reserve cannot be used to pay for insurance. The money needs to be paid back through the special assessment fee. 

Meikle said, “Who has that kind of money just laying around an extra 500 bucks a month.”

Hawaiiana declined to comment on this story, but this is hardly an isolated issue. The Hawaii Insurance Division with the state’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs said insurance costs have increased by at least 50%. 

Seth Colby is part of the Hawaii Economics Association Board of Directors, the organization will be hosting a webinar on Thursday to address the rising cost of condo insurance. He said two issues are impacting homeowners, costly hurricane insurance coverage and increasing maintenance fees. 

“In the case of hurricane insurance, it is definitely going up and that is, insurance is one of the biggest things for condo boards, in addition to the maintenance,” said Colby. “When you’re buying a condo take a look at the reserve fund, how well the condo is being managed and just because it has low condo fees does not guarantee that you’re not going to pay.”

A spokesperson with the Hawaii Insurance Division said discussions are ongoing to expand the Hawaii Property Insurance Association and its capacity to take on new business for a potential decline in insurance availability within the Hawaii market. 

Forecasters said costs are likely to remain high for the next few years.