Search Deed Records in Urban Honolulu
Urban Honolulu deed records are maintained by the Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances, the only recording office for the entire state. The Bureau sits in the Kalanimoku Building at 1151 Punchbowl Street in downtown Honolulu, making Urban Honolulu the physical home of every property deed filed in Hawaii. Whether you need to verify ownership, trace a chain of title, or check for liens on a parcel, this guide walks you through the tools and offices that serve Urban Honolulu property owners and researchers.
Urban Honolulu Overview
Where Urban Honolulu Deed Records Are Filed
Every deed recorded in Hawaii goes through one office: the Bureau of Conveyances (BOC). That office is physically located in Urban Honolulu, inside the Kalanimoku Building at 1151 Punchbowl Street, Suite 120, Honolulu, HI 96813. There is no county recorder's office in Hawaii and no separate city filing system. All deeds for all islands come here. This centralized setup is unique among U.S. states and means that Urban Honolulu is not just a place where deed records are created, but the place where every Hawaii property deed ends up, regardless of which island the land sits on.
The BOC records deeds, mortgages, liens, easements, and other land documents under Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 502. Recording fees start at $26 for the first five pages, with each additional page costing $5. Documents must include a properly executed conveyance tax form, either Form P-64A for taxable transfers or P-64B for exempt ones. The BOC homepage at dlnr.hawaii.gov/boc has current fee schedules, form downloads, and contact information for staff.
Walk-in recording is accepted at the Punchbowl Street office. Mail-in recording is also available. If you are submitting by mail, include the document, the recording fee, and the completed conveyance tax form. The BOC stamps and indexes documents by date and time of receipt, so the order of recording matters for priority purposes.
The RecordEASE system gives online access to recorded documents from 1976 forward. You can reach it at bocdataext.hi.wcicloud.com. Viewing a document costs $1 per page, paid by credit card. For records before 1976, you need to visit the Bureau in person or work with a title company that has access to older indexes.
Search Urban Honolulu Deed Records Online
The RecordEASE portal is the main tool for searching Urban Honolulu deed records online. You can search by grantor name, grantee name, or Tax Map Key (TMK). Urban Honolulu properties fall under TMK Zone 1, so searches scoped to Zone 1 will focus on Oahu parcels. The portal returns a list of matching documents with recording date, document type, and parties. Click any result to view and purchase the document.
One thing to watch for in Urban Honolulu deed searches is the property type shown in the deed. Hawaii has a much higher share of leasehold properties than the mainland. In a leasehold transaction, the buyer purchases the right to use the land for a set term but does not own the underlying land outright. Fee simple ownership, by contrast, means the buyer owns both the building and the land beneath it. The deed document itself will identify which type applies. This distinction can affect financing, resale value, and long-term planning, so checking the deed type is a critical step for any Urban Honolulu property transaction.
For condominium properties, the TMK will reflect both the master parcel and the individual unit. Urban Honolulu has a dense mix of condominium buildings, so many deed searches will return unit-level TMKs. The deed for a condo unit covers only that unit's airspace interest; the land under the building is either fee simple common area or leasehold, and that status will be spelled out in the master deed or declarations filed with the BOC.
A second tool for Urban Honolulu property research is qPublic, which pulls Honolulu County assessment data. qPublic shows ownership, assessed value, property class, and tax history. Billing records are updated daily and ownership records update weekly. This makes it a useful cross-reference when you are trying to match a deed to current tax records.
Note: RecordEASE document images are sold per page. Budget a few dollars per search if you plan to download full documents.
Honolulu Real Property Assessment
The City and County of Honolulu official website serves as the central hub for property owners in Urban Honolulu, covering services from permitting to assessment and tax payment.
The Real Property Assessment Division (RPAD) of the City and County of Honolulu handles property valuations for all parcels in Urban Honolulu and throughout Oahu. The main office is at 842 Bethel Street, Basement, Honolulu, HI 96813, reachable at (808) 768-3799. A second office serves the west side of the island at 1000 Ulu'ohi'a Street, Suite 206, Kapolei, HI 96707.
RPAD assigns assessed values to every parcel based on market data. Those values drive property tax bills. For Urban Honolulu, where property values are among the highest in the state, accurate assessments matter a great deal. You can search current assessment data through the Honolulu Real Property portal at realproperty.honolulu.gov. Enter a TMK or address to see the current assessed value, property class, exemptions on file, and prior-year tax history.
RPAD links each parcel to its recorded deed through the TMK system. When a deed is recorded at the BOC, the TMK on that deed ties it to the RPAD record. This means deed research and assessment research often go hand in hand. If you are reviewing a deed and want to know the current tax standing of that parcel, the RPAD portal gives you that context quickly.
Property owners who need to contest an assessed value can file an appeal. Assessment notices go out in December, and the appeal window closes January 15. Filing an appeal requires a deposit, and hearings are held before the Board of Review. RPAD staff can explain the process or point you to the appeal form on the Honolulu.gov site.
Property Tax in Urban Honolulu
Urban Honolulu has a wide mix of property types, and tax rates vary by class. For the 2024-2025 tax year, the rates per $1,000 of assessed value are: Residential $3.50, Hotel/Resort $13.90, Commercial/Industrial $12.40, and Bed and Breakfast $6.50. Transient Vacation Rental (TVR) properties face tiered rates of $9.00 (Tier 1) and $11.50 (Tier 2).
The Residential A classification applies to non-owner-occupied properties with a net assessed value over $1 million. Many Urban Honolulu properties fall into this category given local market values. The Residential A rate is $4.00 per $1,000 for the first tier and $11.40 per $1,000 for values above the threshold. This two-tier structure can significantly affect the tax bill on high-value investment properties in Honolulu. If you are reviewing a deed transfer involving a high-value non-owner-occupied parcel, checking the current RPAD classification is a smart first step after recording.
Home exemptions reduce the taxable value for owner-occupants. The standard exemption is $120,000 for owners under 65. Owners 65 and older can claim a $160,000 exemption. One key point that affects Urban Honolulu property transactions: if an owner transfers a home into a trust, the home exemption does not carry over automatically. A new exemption claim must be filed after the transfer. The filing deadline is September 30 each year for the following tax year. Missing this deadline after a trust transfer can mean a higher tax bill for the year.
Key tax dates to keep in mind: the first payment is due August 20, and the second is due February 20. Assessment notices arrive in mid-December, and the appeal window closes January 15. Taxes can be paid online at rphnlpay.com. That portal accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, and Discover. There is a convenience fee of 2.25% plus $2.50 per transaction.
Note: A home held in a living trust may still qualify for a home exemption, but the trust beneficiary must file the claim separately after transfer.
Condominium and Leasehold Deed Records
Urban Honolulu has one of the highest concentrations of condominium properties in the country. Searching deed records for a condo unit requires understanding how TMKs work for multi-unit buildings. The master parcel has a base TMK, and each unit gets a unit-level identifier appended to that base. When you search RecordEASE for a condo deed, you may need to use the unit-specific TMK to find the right document. The master deed and condo declarations are filed separately and cover the entire building's legal structure.
Leasehold vs. fee simple is the other major issue to understand when searching Urban Honolulu deed records. In a fee simple transaction, the buyer gets full ownership of both the structure and the land. In a leasehold transaction, the land stays in the hands of the lessor, often a large estate, trust, or church landholding entity, and the buyer purchases only the leasehold interest for a defined term. Leasehold deeds are recorded at the BOC just like fee simple deeds, but the document type will reflect the leasehold character. Many older Urban Honolulu developments were built on leasehold land, and while some have been converted to fee simple over the decades, a significant number remain leasehold. Checking the deed type before any purchase or financing decision is essential.
For a condo purchase, title companies in Honolulu will pull both the unit deed and the master deed to confirm fee simple or leasehold status. If you are doing your own research in RecordEASE, look at the document type field and the body of the deed for language indicating a leasehold interest, a lease term, or references to a lessor.
Note: Some Honolulu condo buildings have converted from leasehold to fee simple in recent years. A deed search will show the most recent conveyance type, but checking the full document chain confirms when and how the conversion occurred.
Historical Deed Records in Honolulu
The Honolulu Museum of Art reflects the broader cultural and historical significance of Honolulu, a city whose land records reach back to the era of the Hawaiian monarchy.
Land records in Honolulu have a history that stretches back to the Great Mahele of 1848, when the Hawaiian Kingdom divided land between the crown, the government, the chiefs, and the people. The deeds and awards from that era form the foundation of Hawaii's modern land title system. For researchers tracing old chains of title, the records from that period are not in RecordEASE. They require a different approach.
The Bureau of Conveyances holds physical records for older documents that predate the 1976 cutoff for RecordEASE. In-person visits to the BOC can get you access to those records through staff assistance. For even older materials, the FamilySearch database has digitized a collection of Hawaii land records from 1846 to 1900. You can search that collection at familysearch.org for free. This is particularly useful for genealogical research or title chains that go back to the kingdom era.
The University of Hawaii at Manoa library also maintains a guide to Hawaii land record research. That guide, available at guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu, covers how to navigate historical deed indexes, land court records, and related archives. Title companies with deep Hawaii experience are another resource for complex historical title research, especially for properties with mixed fee simple and leasehold histories or those that passed through multiple estate settlements.
If you are researching Urban Honolulu properties with complicated histories, combining RecordEASE (1976-present), BOC in-person records (pre-1976), and the FamilySearch collection gives you coverage across most of the relevant eras. For kingdom-era records, the Hawaii State Archives in Honolulu may also hold land commission award records and other supporting documents.
Note: Hawaii's land court system, which runs parallel to regular deed recording, has its own index and may apply to some Urban Honolulu parcels. Check whether a property is land court registered before assuming standard deed research methods apply.
Honolulu County Deed Records
Urban Honolulu is part of Honolulu County, which covers the entire island of Oahu. All deed recording for Honolulu County properties goes through the state Bureau of Conveyances in downtown Honolulu. The Honolulu County Real Property Assessment Division manages parcel valuations and tax records for every property in Urban Honolulu, connecting deed information to current tax status through the TMK system.
Nearby Cities
Other Honolulu County communities also use the Bureau of Conveyances for deed recording. The cities below have their own deed record guides covering local assessment offices, property tax details, and search tips.