Maui County Proposing New Regulations For Vacation Property Owners

New regulations are being proposed up by Maui County Councilors that will affect vacation rental properties. These new regulations will put into affect several requirements onto owners of short-term rental properties located on Maui.

If the proposals go into effect, owners of vacation rental properties will need to be available 24 hours a day and live within a 20 mile radius of the property they rent out. In the event the owner does not actually reside in the Maui County, the property owner would be required to have an acting property manager who would both hold an active real estate license for Hawaii and live within 20 miles of the vacation rental property.

It has also been discussed to limit vacation property owners to one permit per person. This provision may not affect owners of estate homes, however, as the council is not wanting to punish owners who have spent large amounts of money on non-residential properties.

It can be expected that the legislation will take months to create while the Maui County Planning Committee tries to establish rules, enforcement procedures and a process to allocate permits to short term vacation rental properties found in residential areas. This is not entirely unprecedented, as the council put similar policies into action several years ago for Bed-and-Breakfast establishments, but with the present scenario’s exception that Vacation Rentals can be managed by someone living off-site.

The number of properties an owner can operate has also been a discussion for the Council members. While all members side that vacation rental property owners should be limited to one permit, the council was split with respects to an exception for multi-million dollar home owners. Noting that estate housing would never be used for affordable housing, Council Member Gladys Baisa felt that such a cap on permits would hurt owners currently operating more than one vacation rental. Council Member Mike White also had concerns about the cap, as it could potentially hurt the employment of people already working at such large estate-type vacation property rentals, like housekeepers, gardeners and managers.

The cap concerns are not echoed by all council members. Council Member Joe Pontanilla said, “People who want to operate a chain of vacation rentals should stay within the resort district, where those activities are allowed. If the person owns more than one property that is in excess of several million dollars, then it’s just exploiting Maui County. It’s almost like running a hotel. You come here, buy five or six lots, put up million-dollar homes, and then apply for short-term rentals. I think that’s wrong.”

The council eventually agreed on an exception to the one permit rule for houses worth more than 7 times the average Maui home price, putting the value about $3.2 million, as it “…ensures someone doesn’t come in and just buys a bunch of houses for that purpose.” Council Member Mike Victorino said.