The Hawaii vacation rental market faces major transformation with this controversial plan. Set to help address housing shortages, it will without doubt stir significant debate among residents, Hawaii visitors, and industry stakeholders.
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230 thoughts on “Updated: Hawaii Vacation Rental Legislation: Governor Says He’ll Sign Ban Approval”
This bill simply transfers the responsibility of regulating STRs from the state to individual counties. Folks need to dial the outrage back a notch or two.
Why are we in this situation? Because, like usual, past enforcement of zoning was either lax or non-existent. My residential neighborhood, nowhere near beaches has vacation rentals that are often a nuisance. The permits should never been approved, or theyʻre currently operating without STR permits. At least here on the Big Island, theyʻre only going after illegal STRs, dwellings that are not up to the basic minimum building codes, and primarily unhosted (VBRO) home rentals. Nobody is going after condos in designated vacation zones, or ohana units.
Thank you Drew- it is this kind of clarification I wish I saw more often in articles about this issue.
At least not yet….
2 of the above statements say it all…..”it lets legislators and the governor shift the blame for whatever might go wrong with this plan” …..and, “Alleged Hawaii Travel Industry Corruption Exposed By NYT.” This way, if nothing happens and the counties can’t find solutions to a decades old problem, then it isn’t his fault and no one will focus on the crooks in the Hawaii Travel Industry. What a stand up guy ya’ll voted for. I wonder how much money that could be going to build affordable housing will be spent on the inevitable legal battles?
There is plenty of available land in Lahaina, which seems to be the area of concern. Bring in Chinese company and they can have 500 units up in a week.
None of which will adhere to basic building codes, and will fall down within a couple of years.
Hawaiian lawmakers have too long enjoyed their position and incomes without doing the hard work. Unfortunately, there has been no foresight in addressing growth and other economic changes.
My heart goes out to those who lost their homes in the Maui fires. I also lost my home to fire 2 1/2 years ago. Since the state lawmakers have no real solution, due to their negligence, they pick an easy target to shift responsibility. Tourism is the lifeblood of Hawaii. It makes no sense to decrease short-term rentals, no matter who the owner might be.
Legislators: It’s time to put on the work clothes and get out your checkbooks to help those who trusted you with their vote.
I live out of state and have multiple STVR rentals in residential neighborhoods. I realize I’m speculating and taking big risk in the housing market, but if can’t pay my multiple mortgages is the State going to bail me out (taxpayers), or who is going to help me with my investments, because I really like the passive income and I also provide really good jobs for cleaners?
You are exactly why this law is coming about. You don’t live here, you own multiple house, you rent them out like hotels in residential areas, and all you care about is your passive income and getting bailed out.
that’s called Wealth Building…you should try it
Been coming to Maui for years. Still unclear just which units this will impact. We rent a condo in the hotel zone so we shall see. But agree with many on this site, this move would not magically fix the housing problem. Breaks my heart to say it, but if the situation gets really ugly we will go elsewhere.
I think that assuming a sate wide ban because of this bill is premature. All the bill does is move control for short term vacation rentals to the local counties who have a better idea of what their local needs are. You may find that some counties ban them outright in certain areas, etc. but I’d be surprised if any county actually banned them completely county wide. You may find them a little harder to get, and a bit more expensive, but gone entirely, I doubt it.
This bill is not about providing more housing opportunities, it is about preserving the exorbitant hotel prices that create huge profits for the mega-corporations.
Yup. And what will happen? The STR’s will all go underground. They will still exist. There will always be a loophole because the politicians here need them for their own STR’s
We have a condo on Maui & the taxes we pay are quite high which means that Maui gets quite a bit of tax revenue from condo’s, rented housing and such while hotels pay the least amount of tax compared to other choices. Governor Green should view the numbers prior to making a rash decision to sign any approved bill. We tried to help by offering up our condo after the fires but FEMA would only deal with property management companies that had 20 units or more. We can’t afford to hire a property manager as we manage it ourselves.
Bill
Although I understand what you are saying Santa Ana is in California and is not as reliant on tourists. If short term rentals go away it won’t necessarily have a negative impact on the economy. The people will still come to Disneyland for example and California has industry outside of tourism.
If short term rentals leave Hawaii it will have a major impact on the economy and I say this as a concerned business owner reliant on tourism not a property owner of such a rental.
So what about Palm Springs then? A major tourist destination.
Google the recent LA Times article: “Palm Springs capped short-term rentals. Now some home prices are in free-fall”
It is actually tourist areas that have had the most proliferation of people hoarding houses for profit, not the other way around.
Palm Springs is not a good example. They close down months each year. Retirees live there. There’s so many others choices to move to rather than a desert oasis that mostly attracts the nearby states. Palm Springs not a high demand destination. People will easily move to where there’s work. We can’t do that.
So you are saying areas relying on tourists aren’t a problem?
“The Italian city of Florence – by density, The Country’s Most Heavily Touristic City – has banned new short-term listings by property owners in its historic centre, and is offering three years of tax breaks to landlords of existing short lets if they switch to ordinary long-term letting. In Iceland you can let out your home, or part thereof, for no more than 90 nights per year and there is an annual income cap on how much a host can receive. In Tokyo – where the annual limit is 180 nights – hosts must either live and remain in the property that’s let, or have an administrator employed to do the same.”
Hmmmmm…