What you need to know. Thousands of Hawaii vacation rentals in jeopardy.
66 thoughts on “New Bills Passed | Honolulu Hawaii Vacation Rentals to Be Slashed”
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Home » Blog » Hawaii Travel Tips » New Bills Passed | Honolulu Hawaii Vacation Rentals to Be Slashed
Actually, it should be a good think for long term rentals. Free up some units that were for vacationers only. And it’s also meant to preserve neighbourhoods. It’s not fun living in a area zoned residential when every other house is being used as a vacation rental- the noise, the constant coming and going of strangers. And it’s a good thing for revenue- too many illegal vacation rentals mean lost revenue from hotel tax and the homeowners not paying income or GE Tax. Yeah, for once our local governments put us residents first.
Hello
I have already booked 5 day rental in Oahu using VRBO. If the bills pass would you have any idea as to when they would go into effect. Wondering if you think I should be looking for alternative reservations (ie hotel, etc). Of course, any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Wanda
Hi Wanda.
First, check to see if it is a legal rental, in which case there’s no issue. We don’t know more yet.
Aloha.
Aloha,
Will this mean that the only short-term rentals on Oahu would be in Honolulu?
Thanks for all your great information!
Hi Susan.
We hope to have access to mapping for approved vacation rentals going forward. Certainly there will be other approved areas outside Honolulu.
Aloha.
Any idea how quickly this could happen? We have a unit rented through VRBO for September of this year, and am now worried it will be cancelled due to this bill. Or is it something that would not go into effect immediately. Thanks!
Hi Stacie.
Good questions, but we don’t have answers yet. We should know more soon. Check to see if your VRBO is a permitted rental and, if so, there’ll be no problem.
Aloha.
Will do! Thank you so much for responding. Have a great day!
Is there an available map showing which areas on each island are “approved” designated rental areas?
So what are the “ok areas” where short-term rentals will be allowed
Hi Terr.
We have not been able to locate a current listing of permitted vacation rentals but when we find one we will add it. Those should all, as far as we know, have a TVR number associated with them.
Aloha.
I can see the problem if they aren’t well-regulated, but these bills aren’t addressing that. This ultimately this looks like a loss for the small guy (both as renter and lessor) and a win for the large hoteliers. I bet it doesn’t take many dots to connect the hoteliers to the politicians’ pockets.
Aloha!
With a family of five, we depend on short term vacation rentals and not just in Hawaii. We need more room to make it enjoyable, and a full kitchen to make it affordable. If we are unable to find affordable vacation rentals we will not probably be able to afford our Hawaiian vacations. Standard hotel rooms are rarely an option with five especially now with three teens. Whatever they work out, I hope it does not take too many units off the market.
Thanks for all the information you provide in your newsletters. It is very helpful in our vacation planning.
Hi Tammy.
We get it. Complicated and global issues as travel paradigms shift. Vacation rentals won’t be disappearing, that’s for sure. This is largely about those that aren’t in designated areas.
Aloha.
We have an oceanfront condo on Maui that we’ve owned for 20 years, that we rent on VRBO when we aren’t there. The whole building is considered condo-tel, we pay a lot of taxes, collect and remit all the TAT and GE taxes. I don’t think anybody is trying to get rid of rentals like ours. Btw, we are middle class people who were just lucky enough to buy it when we did. So grateful!
Thank you for this wonderful website!
Hi Lanell.
Thank you!
Aloha.
It will destroy the diverse accommodations we have on the Hawaiian Islands. Allot of couples and families want to able rent out a whole house not a just a room or Hotel room. Cost is a big factor as well being a bale to stay in unique getaways and in areas that are not known ” tourist guidebooks” and helps the local economy.
How does regulation of short-term vacation rentals adversely affect long-term (6+ mos.?) rentals, please?
Hi Nick.
As far as we know, there will be no impact on long-term rentals.
Aloha.
A fairly large percentage of short-term rentals outside the resort zones are ‘unhosted’ entire housing units, meaning that the owners live offsite, often on the mainland, and have taken whole houses (or condos) off the market and converted them into mini hotels. For these people, these are second (or third) homes, so they are not being used to earn extra money to cover for high living expenses, that is just a convenient excuse that is being propagated by the industry and by people who try to obfuscate the issue in public. To make matters worse, some of these owners have bought up five, six, seven… sometimes as many as 38 homes and list them for several hundred dollars per night. These kinds of activities combined with more beneficial homeshares or hosted B&Bs have helped drive house prices in many of our residential and agricultural zones beyond sustainable levels. Santa Monica has successfully shut down many of these large commercial illegal hotel operations and it is encouraging to see that Hawai’i is finally slowly turning up the heat on what has become an unsustainable situation for neighbors, renters, and homebuyers.
Yes. The big IF on this entire controversy is IF the Counties will Identify the illegal STVRs and actually shut them down. Enforcement is the key. Otherwise illegal vacation rentals will continue. Will the Counties then leave up enforcement to the neighbors who subsequently have to go through the courts to get the illegal rental shut down? Seems very onerous way to enforce a County ordinance.
I prefer vacation rentals for our travels since I have food allergies and finding cooperative restaurants is a challenge.
Bea, I agree. The same thing has happened in Taos, New Mexico a tourist town. During the 2008/9 housing crash properties were bought up by ‘investors’. These homes and apartments now flood the market and demand top dollar rental fees making affordable housing ridiculous. There really should be sensible management of opportunistic investment (individuals or groups who don’t even live in the community). But don’t throw the baby out with the bath water! Some people who rent rooms, or rent a home while they live in a smaller place on the property do so to make ends meet. There is a big difference.