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Honolulu officials want to crack down on illegal vacation rentals by requiring rental operators to publish permit numbers on any advertisements. Maui officials are using the same tack, but they aren’t having much success.

William Spence told Civil Beat that the advertising rules haven’t helped his department curb illegal rentals.

“The idea of having the permit number on all advertising means that if there’s no number, then presumably, they haven’t gone through the permitting process,” Spence said. “Have we seen a real impact? Not really.”

Former Maui Mayor Charmaine Tavares in January 2009 signed into law streamlining the permitting process for bed-and-breakfasts. It includes a requirement that “all advertising for any bed and breakfast home in a residential district shall include the number of the permit granted to the owner-proprietor.”

Similarly, Honolulu officials will hear that would require Oahu vacation rental operators and so-called B&B operators to include a city permit number and street address in “all advertisements for occupancy of the unit.” Violators would face fines. Similar measures have previously failed to pass the Honolulu City Council.

In Maui County, Spence said, “the original idea was that it was going to help with enforcement — and it does to a degree — but there haven’t been a lot of people who have been deterred enough by the requirement to come forward and get the permits.”

He added: “Enforcement will come down to, by and large, other things.”

Spence said his department also doesn’t have dedicated staff trolling for advertisements in violation of the law.

“It’s more complaint-driven,” he said. “You could spend a whole lot of time going around and looking for violations. It has to be complaint-driven. The really obnoxious uses will come to the surface. Those are the ones you really need to give priority to and go after.”

In Maui County, there are an estimated 16,000 legal short-term vacation rentals, most of them in condominiums in such areas as Kihei, Wailea and Kaanapali, along with several hundred single-family units in such areas. Because these legal units are located in approved zoning districts — hotel, business and historic — the operators do not need so-called “conditional permits.”

The permits are required for residential areas, and they are hard to come by. The permitting process for short-term rentals — defined by Maui ordinance as anything less than 180 days — takes three years, Spence said. He estimates there are just 15 permits for short-term rentals and 60 permits for B&Bs in Maui county.

“Residential areas — that’s where the big concern is,” he said. “If there are vacation rentals, are they going to take over neighborhoods or are people going to have a lot of noise disruption? Some people are concerned about having strangers next door. That’s part of what the permitting process is about — helping make sure it would fit in with the neighborhood.”

Here’s an example of listings on the Maui Vacation Rental Association’s website. Some include permit numbers:

Illegal operators are subject to an initial fine of $1,000, and a daily fine of up to $1,000. But Spence says the department is fairly lenient with violators.

“We do investigations, and if there’s an issue, we’ll issue a citation,” he said. “But we give people a chance to come in compliance before we just fine somebody. They can come in and apply for permits, or we give them a chance to shutdown.”

Similar Fines Proposed to Curb Honolulu Rentals

Honolulu’s proposed bill, which will be heard by the city’s Planning Commission, would also impose a $1,000 fine for a first violation, and daily fines up to $1,000 per day.

Since 1989, Honolulu has banned vacation rentals of fewer than 30 days, making an exception for a privileged . Residents who were granted permits more than 20 years ago are allowed to renew them, but no new permits are granted, and lapsed permits are ineligible for renewal. Illegal short-term rentals on Oahu are classified either as:

• Bed-and-breakfast units, where the property owner stays with the vacationers renting the property.
• Transient vacation units, where the owner is not present while vacationing tenants stay on the property.

Honolulu’s Department of Planning and Permitting relies mainly on tips from residents to investigate who might be breaking the law. Last year, city officials reprimanded just 18 property owners for 24 total violations and fined only two of them.

Vacation Rental Owner: Lift the Ban on Permits

Angie Larson, president of the Hawaii Vacation Rental Owners Association, wants Honolulu’s ban on short-term rentals lifted. Her organization advocates on behalf of illegal vacation rental owners. She does not support the current proposal.

“I’m in favor of reasonable rules and regulations with permits,” Larson said. “But the proposed bill is very premature. It has no money attached to it, the (Department of Planning and Permitting) has said during hearings back in 2009 that they lack the personnel for more enforcement. With this proposed legislation, (the department) plans to pick up more tools for the toolbox, but with existing personnel.”

Larson said she supported a that would have lifted the ban, as well as require the advertising rules found in the new proposal.

If new applicants were allowed permits, she said she believes rental operators would be “overjoyed” to include permit numbers on ads. But she said the requirement to include addresses on ads would jeopardize security.

“We’re not a hotel. We want to be quietly in the community, not out there with big signs,” she said. “We’d like to blend in. Putting our address would take away security. I protect the privacy of the people who stay with me.”

One community group, Save Oahu’s Neighborhood, supports the proposed bill as a step in the right direction.

“This is what we’ve been screaming for for years now: better enforcement,” said Larry Bartley, executive director of Save Oahu’s Neighborhoods. “If they have to put the (permit) number and address in an advertisement, that identifies the property. If it has no certificate number or address, and they are offering rentals for less than 30 days, that’s the evidence. Just the ad alone will be cause for offense.”