DON’T RISK YOUR OAHU VACATION
WITH AN ILLEGAL B&B OR HONOLULU VACATION RENTAL

 

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PLANNING A VACATION OR BUSINESS TRIP TO OAHU (HONOLULU)?

 

DON’T  HAVE  IT  RUINED  BY  ACCIDENTALLY  OR  UNKNOWINGLY  RENTING  AN  ILLEGAL  BED  &  BREAKFAST  OR  VACATION  UNIT.

 

The difference between a Transient Vacation Unit (TVU) and a Bed & Breakfast (B&B) is that a B&B must have a resident ‘operator’ in the home whereas this is not the case with a TVU.  See Officialdom and the Law for the legal definitions.

 

Oahu's neighborhoods include Hawaii Kai, Honolulu, Waikiki, Waimanalo, Lanikai, Kailua, Kaneohe, Kahaluu, Kahuku, Kawela Bay, North Shore, Diamond Head, Black Point, Pupukea, Haleiwa, Mokuleia, Makaha, Portlock, Waianae, Ewa, Makakilo, Maunawili, Palolo, Turtle Bay, Koolina, Nuuanu, Manoa, Tantalus, Aina Haina, Kahala.

There are three basic types of legal short‑term (29 days or less) rental activity:

 

1)      Hotels

2)      Transient Vacation Unit (TVU) with appropriate zoning or a Nonconforming
   Use Certificate (NUC).

3)      Bed and Breakfast (B&B) with a Nonconforming Use Certificate

 

There are basically two types of illegal short‑term rentals:

 

1)      TVU without appropriate zoning or a Nonconforming Use Certificate

2)      B&B without a Nonconforming Use Certificate

 

Have a look at all our web pages to help ensure that your stay is worry-free:

 

Click ‘Legal B&B? Or not’ to help you determine if the B&B you are thinking of visiting is legal – or illegal.

 

Click ‘Legal TVU? Or not’ to help you determine if the TVU you are thinking of visiting is legal – or illegal.

 

Click ‘Officialdom and the Law’ and you will see that enforcement against these illegal operations is increasing and that legislators are also supporting the enforcement effort.

 

Click ‘No Pockets’ and learn that you may be ‘traveling naked’ without insurance protection.

 

Click ‘Funny Tricks’ to discover some of the ruses illegal operators use.

 

Click ‘About Us’ to find out who we are, who we are not, and who you are.

 

Then continue below to find out why we are helping you.

 

Over the past few years, a rash of illegal B&Bs and TVUs have sprung up in Oahu’s residential neighborhoods.  They are an unwelcome and destabilizing influence in our otherwise desirable suburban areas.  They introduce a constant flow of overnight vacationers and nuisances into long‑established tranquil neighborhoods.

 

They are not ‘a struggling little old lady renting out a room occasionally to make ends meet’.  They are commercial hotel rooms in close-knit residential neighborhoods run by people who are willing to sell their neighborhood for a profit.

 

Many of us are sick and tired of these illegal operators cashing in on our suburban tranquility by selling our property rights.  We are beefing up enforcement activities against these illegal rentals and want to alert you about the problem so that you might avoid any problem with illegal rentals on your Oahu vacation.

 

Because illegal operators can get so much more for a room or a house from a vacationer, they no longer rent to local people in need of housing – adding to our housing crunch and homeless problem.  All the while, hundreds of legitimate hotel rooms sit vacant.

Oahuans are begging you to respect our neighborhoods and property rights just as we would respect yours.  We inherited or bought our property with property rights established through the zoning laws.  The illegal operators are thumbing their nose at our property rights and laughing all the way to the bank. This does not foster the aloha spirit in our neighborhoods.

 

Vacationers and permanent residents are a poor mix in a close setting.  The illegal rentals are just houses in a residential neighborhood – not a charming old house by itself in a remote setting.  Some are very close to other working family’s homes.  Noise carries, parking is scarce, traffic is slow, and tempers flare.

 

One basic problem with these establishments is that tourists want to visit the prime neighborhoods.  Wherever these establishments are allowed into the residential neighborhoods, they become ‘vacation’ neighborhoods. Local residents are priced out by higher property taxes then forced to leave their homes and live elsewhere.

 

In some neighborhoods, property taxes have doubled in the past four years, partly because illegal rental‑home sales have brought artificially high sales prices – triggering higher assessment values for all residential homes in the same tax evaluation district.

 

There is inadequate police protection assigned to residential neighborhoods with illegal vacation rentals.  Hotels employ a security staff for the benefit of guests.  Illegal rentals charge high prices but do not provide security.  Illegal vacation rentals pay residential rate property taxes while hotels have to pay higher rates on higher valuation.  This is unfair to the neighbors of the illegal operations and to the hotels.  Union and non-union hotel workers suffer from the loss of business to hotels.

 

Oahu’s zoning laws, Development Plan and Sustainable Communities Plan are all turned upside down by this attack from illegal operators.  Help yourself to a great vacation and help us stop it – refuse to participate.