HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
122 |
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019 |
|
|
STATE OF HAWAII |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND TOURISM AND COUNTY PLANNING DEPARTMENTS TO COLLECT INFORMATION FROM ASSOCIATIONS OF APARTMENT OWNERS AND ASSOCIATIONS OF CONDOMINIUM OWNERS THAT HAVE OWNERS WHO RENT THEIR UNITS AS TRANSIENT ACCOMMODATIONS and make the information available to ASSOCIATION MEMBERS AND unit owners.
WHEREAS, transient accommodations, or vacation rentals, are often equated to hotel rooms, but residential condominiums are often used as transient accommodations; and
WHEREAS, a transient accommodation is a room, apartment, house, condominium, beach house, hotel room, suite, or similar living accommodation rented to a transient person for less than one hundred eighty days in exchange for payment in cash, goods, or services; and
WHEREAS, transient accommodations have proliferated across the State in response to tourists who seek out vacation rentals in search of authentically local experiences or places that are less expensive than commercial hotel rooms; and
WHEREAS, The Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice estimates that there are twenty-three thousand vacation rentals in Hawaii; and
WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting estimates that between eight thousand and ten thousand vacation rentals operate on Oahu at any given time; and
WHEREAS, on Oahu, outside of resort areas like Waikiki, a legal vacation rental must meet certain criteria and receive special permission in the form of nonconforming-use certificates, which the City and County of Honolulu stopped issuing in 1989; and
WHEREAS, only eight hundred sixteen vacation rentals on Oahu have special permission to operate a vacation rental outside of a resort area; and
WHEREAS, many owners that operate vacation rentals operate them illegally; and
WHEREAS, fifteen to twenty percent of the requests for investigations at the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning's Customer Service Division are for complaints of suspected illegal vacation rentals; and
WHEREAS, between January 2018 and September 2018, the City and County of Honolulu Department of Planning's Customer Service Division received one hundred four complaints, made two thousand forty-two visits to properties, and issued twenty-three notices of violation; and
WHEREAS, major changes, such as the establishment of a vacation rental registration process, are needed to enhance regulation of vacation rentals; and
WHEREAS, for condominiums used as vacation rentals, owners and associations may play an important role in rooting out illegal vacation rentals and enforcing regulations for transient accommodations; and
WHEREAS, because owners of properties in the immediate proximity of vacation rentals in apartments or condominiums are directly impacted by vacation rentals, those owners should have the ability to take action against illegal vacation rentals; and
WHEREAS, because renters of condominium-based vacation rentals can become nuisances to the surrounding apartment and condominium owners, concerned property owners need to have access to neighbor empowerment tools, such as a listing of, or access to information on properties within their apartment or condominium complex that are leased as transient accommodations; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT) and the county planning departments are requested to collect information from associations of apartment owners and associations of condominium owners that have owners who rent their units as transient accommodations; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the associations of apartment owners and associations of condominium owners are requested to collect information regarding units in their respective apartment and condominium buildings and projects that are made available and rented as transient accommodations; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the associations of apartment owners and associations of condominium owners are requested to make reports of the information transmitted to DBEDT and the county planning departments available to all association members and unit owners; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DBEDT is requested to submit reports to the Legislature regarding the apartments and condominium units being leased or rented as transient accommodations; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Chair of the Real Estate Commission; and Director of each county planning department.
|
OFFERED BY: |
_____________________________ |
DBEDT; Transient Accommodations; Vacation Rentals; Reports; AOAO