As Maui County faces lawsuits over a new law that phases out thousands of short-term vacation rentals, vacation rental owners on Hawaiʻi Island have been given more time before new registration requirements take effect.
Bill 47, now Ordinance 25-50, was extended to July 1, 2026, from Dec. 20, 2025. Council member Heather Kimball said this will give the county more time to get a registration management and enforcement system in place.
The bill doesn’t change any zoning requirements or limit the number of rentals that can operate.
“It’s just the registration, and it distinguishes between hosted and unhosted,” said Kimball, who introduced the legislation along with Council member Ashley Kierkiewicz. “Bill 108 in 2019 regulated short-term vacation rentals, but we haven’t regulated hosted rentals.”
The new ordinance defines a transient vacation rental as any accommodation that rents for 180 days or fewer. Hosted rentals are defined as any TVR located on a property that is the principal home of the host.
Kimball said the county also wants to make sure it’s collecting the required transient accommodations taxes for the rentals.
“We are failing to collect about $12 million annually,” Kimball said, citing a recent economic study. “I can think of a few things that I could do with an additional $12 million a year to help our community and support the infrastructure that supports the visitor industry.”
The ordinance sets registration fees at $250 for hosted and $500 for unhosted rentals. Failing to register could result in a fine of up to $10,000.
“Part of the picture is ensuring that we don’t have the same pressures as Maui or Kauaʻi County on the housing market that transient vacation rentals can present,” Kimball said, when asked about her goal for the new rules.
“Not only do transient vacation rentals take away individual units from the housing market, but they have an overall inflationary pressure on the market itself in terms of rent.”
The bill attracted strong public testimony during council meetings over the last year.
Supporters said the registration requirements will help the county make better policy decisions. Opponents said register fees and fines are too high, and some vacation rental owners fear they will no longer be able to operate.
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