If you're a property owner on Oahu, I've got great news for you! I'm not sure if you've been paying attention to the news over the holidays, however on December 21st, a federal judge stepped in and issued a summary judgement stopping the city's draconian law, which was ordinance 22-7, which wanted to take the minimum rental period on Oahu from 30 days to 90 days. That was in complete contrast to the landlord tenant code, which deals with month to month rentals.
Forever, since I've been in the business (now, I'm dating myself, 23 years), it's always been a 30 day minimum for rentals on Oahu. Now, obviously there are areas on the island where you can rent for shorter terms. Some are in Waikiki, however they have to have the specific zoning or be grandfathered in to do something less than 30 days. There's been a big fight over the last several years with Airbnb's, VRBO's and short term rentals on the island.
I've always been non-biased. When I do represent a client, I do let them know the minimum rental period in general is 30 days outside of specific areas. There's a few outside of Waikiki. We can get into those later. Feel free to send me a message or we can cover that on another meeting here. However, since I've been in the business, I've always said it's a 30 day minimum. I never took sides. I never tried to push the envelope less than 30 days. i thought that was fair. I get it when people live in a residential neighborhood and you see people "turning and burning" every couple of days or weeks. That's not what those particular neighborhoods were zoned for. But, I think the 30 days is fair and I'm glad we're getting back to some kind of sanity here on Oahu because it did take away people's property rights and what they want to do with their places. I've never had skin in that game. I've had clients that have done 30 day rentals and it was going to effect them severely financially.
Meanwhile, the lobbyists behind that bill (41, which became ordinance 22-7) were everyone in the hotel industry. The hotels right now have been flush since they were able to open back up after COVID. There's really no need to take it from 30 to 90 days, so I'm glad a federal judge with some sense stepped in and now it's back to business as usual on Oahu.
If you're looking to purchase a place on Oahu, where you can do something short term, feel free to reach out. I've been doing this long enough where I know the places where you can and can't do it. In the meantime, I hope you're having a great 2024 so far. We're almost a week into it here and I look forward to you this coming year. Mahalo!