Is there a legal limit on late fees in Hawaii?

8% of the amount of rent due (HRS 521-21(f)). Hawaii uses a hard cap instead of a reasonableness test. HRS 521-21(f) limits the late charge to eight per cent of the amount of rent due wherever the rental agreement provides for one.

Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in Hawaii?

Yes — in Hawaii a late fee must be stated in the lease.

Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in Hawaii?

No statute addresses daily late fees one way or the other. Any late-charge structure, daily or flat, is bounded by the 8% cap on the late charge for rent not paid when due, and by the unconscionability backstop (HRS 521-75).

What late fees can a landlord charge in Hawaii?

Verified July 11, 2026 All Hawaii topics →

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)).

Cited to HRS § 521-21 (f) and 3 more Hawaii statutes · Verified July 11, 2026

The cap was added by Act 179 of 2017, took effect November 1, 2017, and applies to every rental agreement entered into or renewed on or after that date — so only a pre-November-2017 lease that has never been renewed sits outside it. Hawaii mandates no grace period: rent is payable at the time and place the parties agreed, and a lease-based late charge can attach the day after rent is due. The statute measures the cap against 'the amount of rent due' rather than the unpaid balance; a bill that would have limited fees to 5% of only the unpaid amount (SB 347) died when the 2026 legislature adjourned without acting on it.

Hawaii late fees at a glance

Statutory cap	8% of the amount of rent due (HRS 521-21(f))
Mandatory grace period	None mandated statewide
Must be in the lease	Yes
Daily fees	No statute addresses daily late fees one way or the other. Any late-charge structure, daily or flat, is bounded by the 8% cap on the late charge for rent not paid when due, and by the unconscionability backstop (HRS 521-75).
Reasonableness standard	Hawaii uses a hard cap instead of a reasonableness test. HRS 521-21(f) limits the late charge to eight per cent of the amount of rent due wherever the rental agreement provides for one. HRS 521-75 separately lets a court refuse to enforce an unconscionable rental-agreement provision.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Hawaii Late Fee Laws (verified July 11, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/late-fees/hawaii/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the Hawaii statute in the citations section below.

Check a late fee against the Hawaii rules — free, no signup, built on the same verified Hawaii rules as this page.

Notes and caveats

Applicability trap: never-renewed pre-November-2017 leases escape the cap — Act 179 (S.B. 119, approved July 11, 2017) took effect November 1, 2017 and by its § 3 applies to rental agreements entered into — and renewals entered into — on or after that date; a pre-November-2017 agreement that has never been renewed sits outside the 8% cap.
The base is the full rent due, not the unpaid balance — the statute says 8% 'of the amount of rent due,' not of the unpaid amount. The Legislature's own description of (dead) SB 347 — which would have limited fees to 5% of only the unpaid amount — treats current law as permitting 8% of the full rent due even after partial payment. SB 347 was never heard, was carried over December 8, 2025, and died at sine die May 8, 2026: the cap remains 8%.
No fee unless the rental agreement provides one — oral agreements count — the cap clause operates only '[w]here the rental agreement provides for a late charge,' and 521-8 defines rental agreement to include oral agreements.
The '5-day grace period' some calculators list does not exist — chapter 521 mandates no grace period. 521-21(b) makes rent payable at the time and place the parties agreed, and the only due-date accommodation is that subsection's public-assistance due-date-shift mechanism.
Three official sources carry the same 8% cap — the official 521-21 page, the SLH 2017 Act 179 slip law setting out the amended section in full, and the official DCCA 2024 handbook all state the same 8% cap and the same applicability rule.

Common questions: Hawaii late fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

Is there a legal limit on late fees in Hawaii?: 8% of the amount of rent due (HRS 521-21(f)). Hawaii uses a hard cap instead of a reasonableness test. HRS 521-21(f) limits the late charge to eight per cent of the amount of rent due wherever the rental agreement provides for one.
Is there a grace period before rent is late in Hawaii?: None mandated statewide.
Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in Hawaii?: Yes — in Hawaii a late fee must be stated in the lease.
Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in Hawaii?: No statute addresses daily late fees one way or the other. Any late-charge structure, daily or flat, is bounded by the 8% cap on the late charge for rent not paid when due, and by the unconscionability backstop (HRS 521-75).

Statute citations

HRS § 521-21 (f) (verified 2026) Official source
Act 179, Session Laws of Hawaii 2017 (S.B. 119) (slip law) §§ 1, 3 (verified 2026) Official source
HRS § 521-75 (verified 2026) Official source
DCCA Office of Consumer Protection, Landlord-Tenant Handbook (2024) (verified 2026) Official source

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.