On Kauai, 1 in 8 homes is a vacation rental. And on Maui it's 1 in 7. Most Illegal (Kailua: rental market, condo)

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

So, If I buy a parcel of land in Kailua, should I be able to put a hotel up - or a 50 story building?

You have to have rules and regulations - because most people don't necessarily have good intentions - and usually the opposite.

No, but I'm referring to private homes. I don't have a problem with someone choosing to use their private home in a manner that they see fit; again, so long as it isn't posing a physical or similar threat to others.

As far as rules and regulations, I don't mind them in order to ensure peace/tranquility, cleanliness, etc. But keeping people from renting out their homes to short term visitors is overreach in my view.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by WaikikiBoy

I am 100% against illegal vacation rentals and believe regulating vacation rental zones and/building locations is appropriate.

That's fair. And I don't think yours is an unreasonable position. Its just one point of disagreement. Again, though, I do have a problem with people breaking the law. So while I dislike restrictions on short term rentals, I say that people should still follow the laws where they live.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident

No, but I'm referring to private homes. I don't have a problem with someone choosing to use their private home in a manner that they see fit; again, so long as it isn't posing a physical or similar threat to others.

Except if a neighbor rents his house on Airbnb, it can be a revolving door of felons - my personal opinion, the potential threat is real.

It is different than a hotel with security - and the expectations of guests to be around a bunch of strangers, as a homeowner, I feel it is a reasonable expectation for stability.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

We have a similar problem on one of our beaches here in California. I live in Oxnard, which is on the Pacific. At one beach the home owners have put signs up saying No to weekly rentals. About half of the homes are owners that live full time. Many are full time rentals. Maybe 20% are outsiders that rent the homes out on a weekly basis. This has been going thru the court system as one couple wants to be able to rent their home for vacationers.

https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/lo...icy/464524002/

I do know a few people here that have condo's somewhere on the Islands. They do rent them out when they are not visiting. Another couple I know sold their Hawaii Condo. The week or two that they visited was spent fixing things that the weekly renters broke.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Except if a neighbor rents his house on Airbnb, it can be a revolving door of felons - my personal opinion, the potential threat is real.

It is different than a hotel with security - and the expectations of guests to be around a bunch of strangers, as a homeowner, I feel it is a reasonable expectation for stability.

I hear you. My counter argument would be that there is the threat of felons staying in the area/building now as landlords don't have to conduct a background check on potential long-term tenants. And, even if they do so, landlords are still free to rent to convicted felons. Of course, the argument would then turn to the point that these individuals have paid their debt to society and shouldn't continue to be ostracized.

Still, I feel that there are other ways to tackle those concerns that don't involve essentially banning most if not all vacation rentals in many cases. For instance, background check requirements could be instituted, which could be tackled onto the booking fee; they don't take that long to complete as a general matter if I recall correctly.

[mauialoha]

Um,prospectheightsresident, the owners are not allowed to do transient rentals in their homes for the same reason they can't open up a bar, or beauty salon in it - they are in a neighborhood that is zoned residential.

If you want to do vacation rentals you just need to buy a place in the hotel zone. It's not complicated or an infringement on anyones rights. Everyone knows what neighborhood they are in when they buy the place.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by mauialoha

Um,prospectheightsresident, the owners are not allowed to do transient rentals in their homes for the same reason they can't open up a bar, or beauty salon in it - they are in a neighborhood that is zoned residential.

If you want to do vacation rentals you just need to buy a place in the hotel zone. It's not complicated or an infringement on anyones rights. Everyone knows what neighborhood they are in when they buy the place.

Mauialoha, its not an infringement on anyone's rights because there is no inherent right to rent out your property. But that's besides the point. Its irrelevant to me why the laws exist. I still do not support them for reasons I explained before.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by prospectheightsresident

I hear you. My counter argument would be that there is the threat of felons staying in the area/building now as landlords don't have to conduct a background check on potential long-term tenants. And, even if they do so, landlords are still free to rent to convicted felons. Of course, the argument would then turn to the point that these individuals have paid their debt to society and shouldn't continue to be

But I can tell online if someone on my street is a registered sex offender. And I’m not very forgiving in that area. I can’t tell the same with a vacation rental.

[KauaiHiker]

I think what it boils down to is that the tourist industry distorts the local economy. This is actually true of any industry on the mainland as well (for example the software industry in Silicon Valley). But in Hawaii and especially Kauai, the island geography and non-development imperative really exacerbates the issue.

The solution is to have "hotel zones" (known as VDA = visitor destination areas) and residential be seperate. That way growth of the tourist industry does not cause a housing crisis, and regular housing can be developed without being turned into vacation rentals. Thus there is zoning and regulation preventing commercial use of residential housing. I think this is good for stabilizing local living conditions so I support these regulations.

Also related is the relatively new phenomenon of "monster homes" on Oahu: a bigger and usually run-down house in a decent neighborhood is split into 6-8 units inside and rented out individually. It's still residential long-term rentals, but now you have lots of cars and more traffic, and essentially poorer people in richer neighborhoods--always a recipe for local political drama. Probably some building code violations in there too.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

But I can tell online if someone on my street is a registered sex offender. And I’m not very forgiving in that area. I can’t tell the same with a vacation rental.

I'm curious, are you going to pack up and move if "x" or "y" number of sex offenders move into your area? True, even if you didn't move (and I don't expect that most would or could), you'd still be able to ID what the offender looks like/where they live in the situation you presented, which is a positive as you could better insulate yourselves from said offenders, but you still couldn't watch people 24/7. I see your fear, but I'm just not as concerned especially as its not been shown to me that it is a problem within existing vacation rental areas. And, the way I see it, sex offenders are free to use existing vacation rentals now without long-term residents and travel/walk around other parts of the island, etc.

I'm also curious to know how Airbnb impacts matter. Do those rentals violate laws governing vacation rentals? I'd imagine it would depend on the number of nights someone books an Airbnb rental and on whether the LL lives on site, but could be wrong.