Enforcement of new law for Oahu short-term rentals begins Monday

Oct. 21—Blangiardi said while the city cannot enforce the minimum-stay provision, the city is ready to begin enforcing its new rules on rentals of less than 30 days and all other provisions of Ordinance 22-7 (Bill 41 ), which sets fines at up to $10, 000 a day.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi says the city will fight a court challenge to having a 90-day minimum stay for Oahu vacation rentals that are outside of resort districts, and starting Monday will begin aggressively enforcing all other provisions of its new short-term rental law.

Blangiardi and city officials gathered Thursday at Honolulu Hale to address an Oct. 13 order court order granting a preliminary injunction to stop enforcement of an increase from 30 days minimum to 90 days at nonresort rentals.

Blangiardi said while the city cannot enforce the minimum-stay provision, the city is ready to begin enforcing its new rules on rentals of less than 30 days and all other provisions of Ordinance 22-7 (Bill 41 ), which sets fines at up to $10, 000 a day.

Under the new rules, short-term rental owners in resort districts who are allowed to rent for less than 30 days must register their properties when the city's goes live Monday, Blangiardi said.

He was adamant that the preliminary injunction would not "diminish our ability to enforce, " and said he believes in the law, which came about because "we wanted to take back our neighborhoods."

Blangiardi said the city is down 80 positions in the Department of Planning and Permitting but plans to dedicate seven full-time inspectors to the endeavor, and more if needed. The city is working on filling DPP's 80-person shortage and wants to hire an additional 80 workers.

A short-term rental monitoring system has been purchased and will sweep websites to find illegal short-term rentals, which Blangiardi said could be as high as 14, 000.

The city also has set up a telephone hotline (808-768-7887 ) so that DPP can field complaints about illegal short-term rentals.

The preliminary injunction was granted by U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson in response to a lawsuit filed in federal court in early June by the nonprofit Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance.

The ruling enjoins the city from "enforcing or implementing Ordinance 22-07, signed into law on April 26, 2022, insofar as it prohibits 30-89-day home rentals, or the advertisement of such rentals, in any district on Oahu, pending further order from this Court."

HILSTRA's lawsuit alleges that the new city ordinance is unconstitutional because it interferes with owners' vested rights to own and rent property and violates state zoning law.

Blangiardi said at the news conference that the city disagrees with Watson's interpretation and that if necessary the city could approach state lawmakers about updating state laws.

Five concerned community groups filed a motion Wednesday in U.S. District Court seeking to intervene in the HILSTRA v. City &County of Honolulu lawsuit.

The groups—which include Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Save Oahu's Neighborhoods, HI Good Neighbor, Keep It Kailua and Save North Shore Neighborhoods—say they support the enforcement of Ordinance 22-7 (Bill 41 ) and contend that HILSTRA's arguments to stop enforcement of the ordinance "are a threat to all residential-­zoned neighborhoods and communities on Oahu."

If the request is granted, these groups, which are not a party to the HILSTRA v. City &County of Honolulu lawsuit, could join the ongoing litigation to protect their own rights and interests.

The issue of how to manage vacation rentals has been contentious for the city both in and out of court. The city's attempt at managing vacation rentals goes back decades.

The proliferation of illegal short-term rental activity that accompanied the advent of online hosting platforms led the City Council to pass Bill 89 (Ordinance 19-18 ). Signed by former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell, it gave the city stronger tools to regulate vacation rentals and increased fines for those in violation.

Waikiki Improvement Association President Rick Egged, who attended the Thursday news conference, said he was "very impressed with the mayor's commitment to enforcing (Ordinance 22-7 ) to the degree possible within limits of the preliminary injunction."

Egged said that "although people use the 30 days as a dodge, there is real strength in the remaining portions of the law. Before, (the city ) had to prove that you were illegally renting. Now just the act of advertising makes it illegal. That's a huge difference."

Honolulu City Council member Andria Tupola, who represents District 1, which runs from Ewa Beach to Kaena Point, said she is skeptical of DPP's readiness.

Tupola, who cast the lone dissenting vote when Bill 41 was passed, said the city's track record with enforcement gives her pause.

"Bill 89 was already on the books. It had already passed into law, but nobody was enforcing it, " she said. "So what the heck are we doing ? We have laws on the books that we are not going to enforce, but here we are trying to do another law and saying, 'OK, ignore that one because we are doing a new one.'"

Tupola said she is also concerned because DPP already is struggling to provide timely residential and commercial permits. She added that DPP lacks a permanent director, among other staffing shortages.

The city named Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, a former state deputy attorney general, as DPP's acting director in September. Her appointment followed the Sept. 7 resignations of top DPP officials Director Dean Uchida and and Chief Innovation Strategist Danette Maruyama.

In April, Uchida recused himself from working on Bill 41 after guidance from the Honolulu Ethics Commission, which had received a complaint alleging that he had a financial conflict of interest because his wife, Joy Uchida, was an executive at Aqua Aston Hospitality LLC. The issue was brought up because two condo properties above Kuhio Avenue that were managed by Aqua Aston Hotels were among the properties that the city included when mapping out the Waikiki resort area where vacation rentals were allowed.