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HRS §490:2A-305

When a lessee sells or subleases leased goods

This section says what happens when someone who is leasing goods sells them or subleases them to someone else. It explains when the new buyer or sublessee gets rights to the goods and when they must follow the original lease. It also covers special situations like fraud or goods with a title certificate.

businessesbuyerssurveyors

The statute, as written — Sale or sublease of goods by lessee

(a) Subject to the provisions of section 490:2A-303, a buyer or sublessee from the lessee of goods under an existing lease contract obtains, to the extent of the interest transferred, the leasehold interest in the goods that the lessee had or had power to transfer, and except as provided in subsection (b) and section 490:2A-511(d), takes subject to the existing lease contract. A lessee with a voidable leasehold interest has power to transfer a good leasehold interest to a good faith buyer for value or a good faith sublessee for value, but only to the extent set forth in the preceding sentence. When goods have been delivered under a transaction of lease the lessee has that power even though: (1) The lessor was deceived as to the identity of the lessee; (2) The delivery was in exchange for a check which is later dishonored; or (3) The delivery was procured through fraud punishable as larcenous under the criminal law. (b) A buyer in the ordinary course of business or a sublessee in the ordinary course of business from a lessee who is a merchant dealing in goods of that kind to whom the goods were entrusted by the lessor obtains, to the extent of the interest transferred, all of the lessor's and lessee's rights to the goods, and takes free of the existing lease contract. (c) A buyer or sublessee from the lessee of goods that are subject to an existing lease contract and are covered by a certificate of title issued under a statute of this State or of another jurisdiction takes no greater rights than those provided both by this section and by the certificate of title statute.
Read the official text at capitol.hawaii.gov ↗as published Jan 6, 2026our copy taken Aug 20, 2026

LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.