Hawaii eviction law

Any time after rent is due, you may give the tenant a written notice that the rental agreement will end unless the rent is paid within the time the notice states, which must be at least 10 calendar days after the tenant receives it. You must also give a copy of the notice to a state-funded mediation center that offers free landlord-tenant mediation.

HRS § 521-68(a), (c)

• A posted notice is received on the date it is posted in a conspicuous place on the unit. A notice mailed by the Postal Service, properly addressed and stamped, is received two business days after the postmark unless it comes back undeliverable. HRS § 521-68(a)
• The notice must give your name and contact information, the unit's address, each tenant's name and contact information, and the rent due after applying all payments from all sources. It must say that a copy is going to a mediation center, that you may file for possession if the rent is not paid and mediation is not scheduled within the 10 days, and that you will mediate if mediation is scheduled. HRS § 521-68(b)(1) to (6), (8)
• It must also carry, in bold type, a warning in substantially the statute's own words about when you may file. The statute directs the Judiciary to prepare a notice form landlords may use and post it on its website; this page did not locate or read that form. HRS § 521-68(b)(7)
• If mediation is scheduled within the 10 days and the tenant takes part, you may file for possession only after 20 calendar days from the tenant's receipt of the notice, unless the tenant fails to appear or cancels. If the tenant schedules mediation, you must take part. Mediation is to happen within 30 days after the center reaches both of you. HRS § 521-68(c)
• Your complaint for possession must include proof that you gave the notice to the mediation center, and the mediation date if one is scheduled. A court may let you cure an unintentional or immaterial defect in the notice without dismissing the case. HRS § 521-68(d), (e)
• Each side pays its own mediation costs, but if the tenant defaults on a mediated agreement or misses a scheduled mediation you may ask for your costs, including reasonable attorney's fees. HRS § 521-68(h)
• The mediation provisions of this section are set to be repealed and reenacted on February 4, 2028. The 10-day notice period itself is exempt from that and stays. HRS § 521-68
• You may sue for rent alone at any time after demanding the past-due rent and telling the tenant you intend to sue. HRS § 521-68(j)
• If the tenancy was covered by the governor's wildfire emergency proclamations that suspended evictions for nonpayment, a different section applies while it is in effect: the written notice must give at least 15 calendar days after receipt, with its own list of contents and bold warning, a copy goes to a mediation center, and if mediation is scheduled within the 15 days you must wait 30 calendar days after receipt to file. It also sets a minimum amount of unpaid rent, stepping down over time, before you may use it. The section is repealed by December 31, 2026 at the latest. HRS § 521-84

If the tenant materially fails to keep up the unit as the tenant's duties require, give written notice of the problem and at least 10 days after the tenant receives it to fix it. If it is not fixed, you may end the agreement and sue for possession when the failure is a breach of building or housing laws affecting health and safety, or you may fix it yourself and bill the tenant, with the bill treated as rent due on the next rent day.

HRS § 521-69(a)

• No time to fix is required when the tenant's failure causes or threatens to cause irremediable damage to any person or property. If the tenant cannot be served, the notice may be posted in a conspicuous place on the unit. HRS § 521-69(a)
• For a breach of a house rule, the written notice must give at least 10 days to stop and follow the form the statute sets out. If the breach continues or recurs after that date, you may sue for possession within 30 days. HRS § 521-72(a), (b)
• No time to stop is needed when the rule breach causes or threatens damage to any person, or is a building code violation or wilful damage to the premises. HRS § 521-72(a)
• A rule binds the tenant only if the tenant knew of it at signing, or later learned of it and, where it substantially changes the deal, agreed in writing. It must serve the tenants' convenience, safety or welfare, protect the property or share services fairly, be reasonably related to that purpose, apply fairly to all tenants and be clear. HRS § 521-52
• A lease term allowing eviction of a tenant with a valid medical cannabis certificate is void unless the lease also allows eviction for smoking tobacco and the cannabis is smoked. This does not apply where condominium or planned community documents prohibit medical cannabis. HRS § 521-39

Only a court can remove a tenant. After the required notice, file a summary possession case in the district court of the circuit where the property is. If you win, the court issues a writ of possession directing a sheriff, deputy sheriff, police officer or listed civil process server to remove the occupants. The court rules for summary possession cases were not read for this page.

HRS § 666-6 HRS § 666-11

• In a nonpayment case, the writ is stayed if, before it issues, the tenant pays the rent due with interest at 8 percent a year and all costs, charges and your expenses, including a reasonable attorney's fee. HRS § 666-14
• Accepting rent during the case does not recognize the tenancy or waive your rights; if you win, the rent counts as damages. HRS § 666-5
• Either side may ask the court to have the tenant pay disputed rent into court as it comes due. A tenant who cannot make the deposit faces judgment for possession. HRS § 521-78(a), (b)
• Self-help such as a lockout or a utility shutoff is unlawful. HRS § 521-63(c) HRS § 521-74.5 See Lockouts and utility shutoffs on the Hawaii page

You may not remove or shut out a tenant overnight without cause or a court order. If you do, the tenant may recover possession or end the lease and, either way, recover two months' rent or two months of free occupancy, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

HRS § 521-63(c)

• You may not take back the unit by wilfully cutting or reducing running water, hot water, electricity, gas or another essential service, except after abandonment or surrender. Doing so is an unfair and deceptive practice, with minimum damages of three times the monthly rent or $1,000, whichever is greater. HRS § 521-74.5

When a tenant has wrongfully quit, or has left after a notice to quit or the end of the term, and left belongings you in good faith judge to have value, you may sell them in a commercially reasonable way, store them at the tenant's expense, or donate them to charity. Before selling or donating, mail notice to the tenant's forwarding or designated address, or the last known address, and wait 15 days after mailing.

HRS § 521-56(a)

• A sale must first be advertised in a daily newspaper of general circulation in the circuit for at least three consecutive days. HRS § 521-56(a)
• Sale proceeds, after accrued rent and storage, advertising and sale costs, are held in trust for the tenant for 30 days and then belong to you. HRS § 521-56(b)
• Belongings you judge to have no value may be disposed of at your discretion without liability. HRS § 521-56(c)
• A tenant absent 20 days or more without written notice, with no rent received for that period, is treated as having wrongfully quit. HRS § 521-44(d)

While the tenant continues to tender the usual rent or receipts for rent lawfully withheld, you may not evict, force the tenant out, raise the rent or cut services after the tenant complains in good faith to a government agency (or to you) about a health law or chapter 521 violation, after an agency files a violation notice, or after the tenant requests repairs in good faith.

HRS § 521-74(a)

• You may still recover possession in listed cases, including when the tenant is committing waste or a nuisance or using the unit illegally, when you in good faith need it for your own or your immediate family's home or to substantially remodel or demolish, when the tenant caused the condition, or when a notice ending a periodic tenancy was given before the complaint. HRS § 521-74(b)
• You may raise rent despite a complaint in five listed cases: the department of health certifies the unit complied when the complaint was filed; the complaint concerns only a condition caused by the lack of due care of the tenant, the household or guests; a substantial increase in property taxes or other maintenance or operating costs at least four months before the demand, excluding costs of complying with the complaint or request and limited to the prorated net increase; a completed capital improvement, up to its straight-line depreciation prorated among the units benefited; or competent evidence establishing that the proposed rent is no higher than for similar units in your building or, for a single-family home or where there is no similar unit, the market rental value. HRS § 521-74(d)
• A tenant dispossessed in violation of this rule may recover damages, costs and reasonable attorney's fees. HRS § 521-74(c)