A bill that will curtail short-term vacation rentals has been signed into law after the Honolulu City Council passed it earlier this month.
Under the new law, a unit can be rented without a permit for a minimum of 90 days — a change from 30 days. It also restricts new vacation rental permits to resort-zoned areas such as Waikīkī and Ko Olina.
On-street guest parking is also prohibited.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi signed Bill 41 at a press conference Tuesday at Kailua Beach Park.
His administration introduced the measure in order to curtail the number of illegal vacation rentals in areas like Kailua that are not zoned for tourism, but have become hot spots for visitors.
While previous laws have restricted vacation rentals, Blangiardi believes the new law will allow for more enforcement.
![[FILE] Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi speaks at a press conference at Kailua Beach Park on April 26, 2022](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a635e66/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2432x3648+0+0/resize/840x1260!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9d%2Fe3%2F112faa5e47d49c93bc9a97d7b358%2Fimg-5943.JPG)
“It’s interesting that today is a historic day. We've signed a bill, it's into effect, but we'll begin enforcing in six months — the time it takes to prepare," Blangiardi said. "But the reason why Bill 89 wasn't suitable enough for us is we felt that it didn't have the enforcement capability that we're looking at with 41. And we've been over this and over this."
"It's always about execution. Plans are one thing, right? So I don't have the ability to predict the future except to say we've put everything in place now and we will execute. So I'm serving fair warning,” he said.
The city’s Department of Planning and Permitting has requested seven full-time positions for short-term rental enforcement.
The council had voted 8-1 with Councilmember Andria Tupola being the only “no” vote.
