Judge picks contractor to demolish mistakenly built HPP house

Hawaii Tribune-Herald ^ | Dec 19, 2024 | JOHN BURNETT

[where's_the_Outrage?]

A contractor has been chosen to demolish a house built on the wrong lot in Hawaiian Paradise Park.

Kona Circuit Judge Kimberly Tsuchiya has selected the proposal by Sanborn General Contracting Inc. of Hilo to remove the house mistakenly built on a lot owned by Annaleine “Anne” Reynolds.

The proposed, all-inclusive budget submitted by Sanborn is $121,690.28. The contractor who erroneously built the house on Reynolds’ lot, Patrick John Lawrence Jr. — doing business as PJ’s Construction — was ordered by the judge to deposit the funds for the demolition and removal of debris by Jan. 21, 2025 into an account established by the court.

PJ’s — which was contracted by the developer, Keaau Development Partnership LLC, to build the house on a lot adjacent to Reynolds’ on 8th Avenue — is free to seek reimbursement from KDP through the court.

KDP sued PJ’s and Reynolds after learning the house had been built on Reynolds’ lot rather than the adjacent lot owned by KDP. The civil litigation came after Reynolds rejected KDP’s offer of the adjacent lot in a proposed land swap and made a counter-offer the developer found unacceptable.

Both KDP and PJ’s testified during a three-day hearing in April before since-retired Third Circuit Chief Judge Robert Kim that no survey of the land was done prior to the construction of the three-bedroom house.

Kim granted Reynolds’ motion for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order on June 24, ruling Reynolds is likely to prevail at trial “on the merits as she is an innocent victim in this case.”

Kim denied Reynolds’ request seeking to restore her one-acre lot — which she purchased in 2018 for $22,000 at a county tax auction — to its original, predevelopment condition, deeming it “impossible to return the property to its original state.”

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

First time I went over there I walked into the HPP office and asked how to find it. They told me how many telephone poles it was down 19th ST. Gotta count the poles! lol

And, that is exactly how this property was "surveyed."

The worst part for the homeowner is that because the property has been developed, she's been having to pay higher property taxes.

See: $500K Hawaiian home accidentally built on wrong plot overrun by pooping squatters — as developer sues owner

An attorney for PJ’s Construction told the outlet the developers didn’t want to hire surveyors for the land, where lots are identified by telephone poles.

[Dr. Franklin]

Seems to me, the builder should have done survey before they built. They didnt, now all that money is forfeit because they failed to do due diligence. Seems like the builder is trying to pull some sort adverse possession on a greatly accelerated scale.

Contractors like to cut corners and they have money to pay lawyers and bribe local officials. So, they frequently get away with a lot. Most landowners would have just taken a settlement. Few would litigate to compel a contractor to remove an entire house. That has a high cost, and the contractor, usually a corporate entity, can just file bankruptcy while its owner walk away and form another company.

[Dr. Franklin]

Seems to me, the builder should have done survey before they built. They didnt, now all that money is forfeit because they failed to do due diligence. Seems like the builder is trying to pull some sort adverse possession on a greatly accelerated scale.

Contractors like to cut corners and they have money to pay lawyers and bribe local officials. So, they frequently get away with a lot. Most landowners would have just taken a settlement. Few would litigate to compel a contractor to remove an entire house. That has a high cost, and the contractor, usually a corporate entity, can just file bankruptcy while its owner walk away and form another company.

[cquiggy]

Mrs. Reynolds should simply move into the house. Squatters seem to have more rights than anyone.
Let’s see how that would play out in ultra liberal Hawaii !

[alexander_busek]

Seems to me, the builder should have done survey before they built.

I have owned, at various times, several one-acre lots in HPP, which has a for-the-most-part strictly rectilinear layout. On most streets, no surveying is necessary: You can just start from Paradise Drive, Maku'u, or Kaloli (the main perpendicular streets leading to the Hawai'i Belt Road) and begin walking along the given road (like 8th St. here - whose Hawaiian name is "Kahili"), counting the lots as you go.

One would have to be an idiot to miscount - though I do know personally of instances where it happened.

Some of the streets are crooked, and so it is possible to miscount.

I am surprised to learn that prices have dropped so far (again). When I purchased in 1989, I paid $15,000 for a one-acre lot on 19th - a real bargain at the time. A few years later, I paid $25,000 for a one-acre lot on 5th.

This was back when most of the development of HPP was without city power or water.

And depending upon how far from the sea one was, one could dispense with a septic tank and instead simply dig leach lines.

Regards,

[metmom]

If the owner is amenable, let them keep it.

Yes, the mistake needs to be corrected, but what a waste.

[sheana]

An attorney for PJ’s Construction told the outlet the developers didn’t want to hire surveyors for the land, where lots are identified by telephone poles.

Ha ha! I didn’t see that. I see nothing has changed! When I first went it was about 20 years ago. lol

[kenmcg]

Out of control judges. No need anymore for town council, mayors or supervisors.

[Political Junkie Too]

The builder wants to use the "property rights" of the materials and labor that was used to illegally build the house on someone else's property as justification to seize that person's property?

Can you imagine buying the premiere corner lot at a new development, and then some other person decides to build on your preferred lot so they can claim "property rights" of the home that was illegally built in order to steal your prime location from you?

-PJ

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Is this the case where a Hawaiian woman checked on her empty lot, only to find a new home was built on it?

The builder who messed up and built on her lot then proposed a lot swap, which she refused.

Is this that same case or is this something else?

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Yup, link from post 1 provides the back story.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Why is the judge out of control here?

[Does so]

Doesn’t Japan own Hawaii today?

(Financially).

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Thanks.