Hawaii Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in Hawaii
Hawaii has no statute barring counties from regulating rents — state law expressly preserves county rent control ordinances adopted during a declared housing-shortage emergency — but no statute currently grants counties an express rent-control authorization and no Hawaii county regulates rents today.
Cited to Haw. Rev. Stat. § 666-20 (rent control ordinances savings clause) · Verified August 12, 2026 · Full Hawaii rent-increase rules →
Hawaii Security deposits
Hawaii caps security deposits at one month's rent — plus, since November 1, 2013, a separate pet deposit of up to one more month's rent for tenants with a pet (never for assistance animals) — and the landlord must return the deposit within 14 days after the rental agreement ends.
Hawaii Rent increase notice
Hawaii landlords must give at least 45 consecutive days' written notice before raising the rent on a month-to-month tenancy — an express statutory rule in HRS 521-21(d), not a derivation from termination notice — and 15 days' written notice for tenancies shorter than month-to-month.
Hawaii Late fees
Hawaii caps residential late fees at 8% of the amount of rent due, and only a late charge the rental agreement itself provides for may be collected at all (HRS 521-21(f)).
Hawaii Entry notice
Hawaii landlords must give tenants at least two days' notice before entering a rental unit and may enter only during reasonable hours, with no-notice entry allowed in an emergency or where notice is impracticable (HRS 521-53).
Hawaii Eviction process
To evict a Hawaii tenant for unpaid rent you must serve a written ten-calendar-day notice to pay or quit under HRS 521-68(a), send a copy of that same notice to a state-funded mediation center, and then file a summary possession case in the district court for the circuit where the property sits - and if the tenant schedules mediation within those ten days you must wait twenty calendar days from receipt before filing.
Hawaii mobile home park laws
Hawaii has no manufactured-home or mobile-home community tenancy act, and its Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, HRS chapter 521, reaches the rental of a dwelling unit, meaning a structure used as a home, rather than the rental of a bare lot to someone who owns the home standing on it.
Lot-rent, closure, park-sale and home-sale rules with statute citations →
Hawaii Fair Market Rents (FY 2026) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Hawaii metro area and county.
How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Hawaii State Legislature site (capitol.hawaii.gov, hrscurrent edition): sections 521-44, 521-21, 521-53, and 521-71 each read twice with character-identical results, and every decisive figure additionally reconciled against two more official documents — the Session Laws of Hawaii act PDFs on capitol.hawaii.gov (Act 179 (2017), S.B. 119, which sets out amended section 521-21 in full including the 45-day/15-day rent-increase notices and the 8 per cent late-charge cap, effective 2017-11-01 with an entered-into-or-renewed applicability clause; Act 206 (2013), S.B. 328, which sets out amended section 521-44(a)-(b) including the one-month cap plus the additional one-month pet deposit, applicable to agreements entered into on or after 2013-11-01) and the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Office of Consumer Protection's official 2024 Landlord-Tenant Handbook (cca.hawaii.gov), which matches on the 14-day return, forfeiture rule, treble small-claims penalty, one-year limitation, two days' entry notice, 45-day termination and rent-increase notices, 8 per cent cap and its 2017-11-01 applicability, and the no-interest negative. Also read in full: 521-7, 521-8, 521-10, 521-22, 521-31, 521-43, 521-46, 521-63, 521-66, 521-70, 521-73, 521-74, 521-75, 521-77, 521-85, 666-20, and 127A-30. Verified negatives (no deposit interest, no separate-account rule, no grace period, no rent-increase frequency or size tiers, no express rent-control preemption) each run against the full chapter 521 table of contents sweep. Legislative check 2026-07-11 on official capitol.hawaii.gov status pages and the LRB Bills Passed 2026 list: the 2026 regular session adjourned sine die 2026-05-08 ending the 2025-2026 biennium; no 2025 or 2026 act amended any topic section; SB 2539 (3% rent cap), SB 347 (late fee 8%-to-5%), HB 464 (60/90-day notices), HB 693 (increase increments), and SB 822 (code working group) all died.