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”
I owen a STR in south Kihei. It was bùilt in 1971 and I believe it has always been a STR. Zoned hotel, and is valued by the state for tax purposes at 750,000. Just in property tax and occupancy tax it generates over 20,000 dollars, that does not including all the revenue it generates from guests eating out, going on excursions, car rental, shopping, my local cleaner, my repair person and visiting the national park. How are they going to replace that revenue and jobs?
I won’t sell, I would continue to let my family use it and just list it as my permanent residence and save on taxes.
Somebody in the government needs to do the math. As the owner
of an STR I paid over $15,000 in GE & TA taxes last year and spent another $17,000 in housekeeping, maintenance , supplies and repairs.
If you multiply that by the number STR units on the island (over 1,000)
you get a major hit to the local economy.
This doesn’t even consider the elevated R.E. taxes we pay.
We will not convert to long term rental.
Ronald Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help. “
Reagan was a putz
Which branch of the government do you work for, if you work?
Will be interesting to see which county bans STVR’s first. My guess is Maui. That will be the proverbial canary in the coal mine. I’ll be surprised if the mayor doesn’t go all-in under local pressure. The misguided think it will make properties “more affordable” because there will be a glut of former STVR homes on the market. Instead, the county will be paying lawyers to defend the many lawsuits from homeowners – burning up taxpayer money of course. It’ll be years of litigation.
Last time Oahu tried, over 1,000 owners & managers unified and fought back – and defeated the city.
Next time (I predict) Honolulu & Maui will pick off str units one by one – to avoid a unified opposition. If they do it this way, they will win, because one single property owner can’t afford to fight the city in court…
PS: this won’t solve homelessness / affordble housing. The tourism decline / recession has already begun, and when this results in some str unit owners switching to long term rentals, the government will claim their policies are working.
I’ve been going to Hawaii almost annually since 1974. Back in the day when Lahaina was a funky little town, Hana was an unknown, Kalalau Trail wasn’t regulated, park reservations were unheard of and the natives had true aloha spirit welcoming this wide eyed haole! Even with the crowds and increased popularity of Hawaii, it remained my happy place.
Today, I’m not sure. I’m not feeling that warm and fuzzy aloha spirit. In recent years our favorite islands have been the Big Island and Kauai. We’ve chosen to return to Maui next month to support the economy. This may be our farewell tour not only to Maui but to the Hawaiian Islands. Not feeling the love anymore! So sad.
We own a condo on Maui, and would rather live in it, or leave it empty the rest of the time, rather than to bow down to government oppression. We don’t believe many local families can afford a mortgage and maintenance fees of $1500-$2500 per month. We also don’t believe the counties realize how much in taxes they would lose in the process. We pay over $13,000 per year in property taxes. Throw in the TAT and GET, that would be a tremendous loss of income to the county and state. This is an ill informed and ill thought out piece of legislation.
There’s more logisitcs to this and even with Green’s approval. This has been brewing so not a surprise. The gov is for the people of the island. Fantastic. Unfortunately, many people of the island, are not prepared to handle what is given to them.FEMA And Govt will only go so far. They have stated they will be self sufficient. They have not done much to prove that in the past 90+ days; Mourning, begging tourists to overtip.Many are unable to move past the tragic events. I have not had a golden life, so will speak my mind. This STR law will happen, Hawaii will continue on 5-10 years, then as Maui goes to hell in a hand basket. I will be gone, but Maui will return.Japanese will tour again. Full circle. It will look like Oahu someday.
Senate and House met April 24th and agreed on SB2919 SD2 HD2 and thus goes to govenor for signature.
Oops, I was wrong as not going to governor yet.. on April 24 it was House and Senate sub-committees that voted. The bill has to be voted on by full house and Senate.
I love coming to Hawaii. That being said if STR’s are no longer available I won’t be able to visit the islands any more because of the costs hotels is exorbitant. I won’t be the only one saying this. And even if STR’s are limited they will become unaffordable (because of their lower numbers) to the normal Joe. This will hurt Hawaii’s economy. It seems like Hawaii should be able to figure out how to build affordable housing and make sure they don’t become STR’s. Just saying.
My wife and I own a timeshare in Hawaii. Are they included in the vacation rental ban legislation? Just returned from 2 weeks on Oahu and most everyone was very friendly. Thanks.
Here we go again. State and county governments never pointing the finger at themselves. Always someone or something else to blame. Instead of making affordable housing a priority, the officials just saw $ signs and continued to allow rampant hotel and condo growth, so as to line the coffers. Of course the money was never directed towards the people of Hawaii in a way to make their lives easier. I lived there in the early to mid 80’s and even then my Hawaiian friends had to work 2 jobs just to survive.