You all may or may not be aware of the upcoming endeavor by Hawaii County to amend the current and future status of currently permitted and future applications for what is currently named by the zoning code as a Short-Term Vacation Rentals (STVR’s). An STVR currently in the zoning code is considered to be a rental of less than 30 days. The STVR’s permitted today in Hawaii County have been a great stream of revenue as a secondary income for a lot of local people who call the Big Island home, as well as a source of business for many people of well. Whether that be cleaners, property managers, or lawn and landscaping professionals ect. Owners have been able to rent out their additional dwelling units (ADU’s or Ohana units) as they pretty much very well please, being that the zoning and STVR permit has been granted by the county.
The Transient Accommodation Rental draft 4 is now proposing to remove all of the past rules and regulations, and replace them with an entirely new set of rules and regulations. Owners/operators of short-term rentals are being challenged by the current administration in an attempt to make it more difficult to attain an STVR permit as well as more burdensome to operate an un-hosted STVR (an AirBnb with no host in the home along with the guests. The 4th draft of the bill has been released as of June 19th, 2023. This caught many real estate professionals by surprise as the changes from draft 3 to draft 4 were allegedly more aggressive towards owners/operators of STVR’s. This sudden change has been taken on by many within the real estate space as an infringement on an individual's property rights.
In my opinion there are certain propositions with-in draft 4 that personally make sense to me. One of the most prevalent of these is the requirement for a timely response from a host, if the property owner is not on island, the need for an in lieu host who is held to a high standard of assisting the guests as well as accommodating the property. This makes sense for a couple reasons, safety being number one. Personally, I have run into this scenario a couple of times with the condominium complex that I reside in. It is not uncommon for visitors to arrive at the airport late and get to their lodging accommodations later in the evening, at hour there could be a number of problems that the guests run into. The guests get in past 9 am, having no one or anything to coordinate their stay and access their room with but an email that was sent to them from the owner or operator of the AirBnb. This creates fear and confusion, as it would for all of us, given that we were in an unfamiliar place with this unfamiliar problem. The guests then try to call the host with the number that they have from the email, but there is no answer. This is most likely because the host lives and operates the AirBnb from the mainland and is fast asleep at this point given time zone differences, or some sort of negligence from the operator thinking that it is past 9 pm, that is no time for a business call.
There is always a possibility for some other extenuating circumstances being the reason for the owner/operator of the AirBnb, but if the issue lies within either of the first two cases then there is no real excuse for this, and this is something that I believe should not go unaddressed and requires some sort of consequences. Plain and simple that is just bad business on the behalf of the host and they should be reprimanded for leaving their customers (short-term renters) out to dry like this.
To summarize, what the new draft is intending to do is replace the current rules and governances put in place with the STVR rules and regulations that have been set in Chapter 25 of the Hawaii County Code. I personally disagree with the proposition to replace the current STVR rules and regulations. I, too, see draft 4 as an infringement on personal property rights. With that being said, I also believe that there is nothing wrong with a potential revision or amendment to the current code as I have stated earlier. I will attach a link to the 4th draft so that you can take a look at the proposed change yourself, and I do encourage you to read it through so you may formulate your own thoughts and opinions.
As always feel free to reach out to the real estate professionals at the Island Land Company Inc. with thoughts and opinions that you may have. If you are the owner of a current STVR, and would like to learn more about taking your rental to the next level with professional management. Check out our sister company Island Resort Properties for all of your short-term rental management needs and questions.
Draft 4- Transient Accommodation Rental
https://files.constantcontact.com/b42863ab001/81f7f042-5d13-4271-9ba1-066cae2bfdc9.pdf?rdr=true