Hawaii security deposit law

You may require a security deposit of up to one month's rent. If the lease allows a pet to live in the home, you may also agree on a pet deposit of up to one more month's rent. At the start of the tenancy you may not require or accept any money other than the first month's rent and the security deposit.

HRS § 521-44(b)

• A pet deposit may not be charged to a tenant who has no pet living in the home, or for an assistance animal that is a reasonable accommodation for a tenant with a disability. HRS § 521-44(b)(1)
• The deposit may cover only: damage from the tenant's failure to keep up the unit, unpaid rent, and unreturned keys, key fobs, parking cards, garage door openers and mailbox keys; cleaning back to the condition at move-in; damages when a tenant wrongfully quits; pet damage; and unpaid landlord-provided utilities not included in the rent. HRS § 521-44(a)
• No part of the deposit counts as last month's rent unless you and the tenant agree in writing when the tenant gives 45 days' notice of vacating. Agreeing does not waive your claims for damage the tenant causes. HRS § 521-44(b)
• You may not require postdated checks or other negotiable instruments for rent. HRS § 521-44(e)

Return the deposit, less any amount you keep for a permitted purpose, within 14 days after the rental agreement ends. To keep any part, give the tenant written notice of the particulars and grounds, with written evidence of the costs such as estimates, invoices or receipts (this notice is not required if the tenant wrongfully quit). If you do not send that notice within the 14 days, you must return the entire deposit.

HRS § 521-44(c)

• Mailing the refund or the notice to an address the tenant gave you, with proof of mailing and a postmark before midnight of the 14th day after the agreement ends, is presumed to comply; so is the tenant's acknowledgment of receipt within the 14 days. HRS § 521-44(c)
• A tenant must sue over a retained deposit within one year after the rental agreement ends. HRS § 521-44(c)
• A tenant absent for 20 days or more in a row without written notice to you is treated as having wrongfully quit, and you may keep the whole deposit. A period for which you have received rent does not count as an absence. HRS § 521-44(d)
• If the court finds you wrongfully and wilfully kept deposit money, it may award the tenant three times that amount; if you wrongfully kept it, it must award the amount. Either way the tenant also gets the cost of suit. If you were entitled to keep it, the court awards you the disputed amount and costs. HRS § 521-44(h)
• If you sell or transfer the property, the new owner is bound by these rules. You must give the new owner an accounting of the deposits, and within 20 days the new owner must tell each tenant the amount credited, or the deposit is presumed to be at least one month's rent. HRS § 521-44(f)
• When a tenant ends the lease in the first week of occupancy because the home does not conform to the lease or to your fit-premises duties, because of a serious unrepaired condition or an unlawful lockout, or after fire or casualty damage, return unused prepaid rent and the part of the deposit you may not keep within 14 days after termination. HRS § 521-66 HRS § 521-62 HRS § 521-63

Hawaii does not require a separate account, a particular bank or interest on security deposits; chapter 521, read in full, sets none of these. You hold the deposit for the tenant, and the tenant's claim to it comes ahead of your creditors, including a bankruptcy trustee, even if deposits are commingled.

HRS § 521-44(b)

• If the property changes hands, the deposit obligations pass to the new owner, who must tell each tenant in writing the deposit credited to them within 20 days after the transfer. HRS § 521-44(f)

Before the tenant first moves in, you must inventory the home and make a written record of its condition and of any furnishings or appliances you provide. You and the tenant sign duplicate copies, and each tenant gets one.

HRS § 521-42(a)

• In a dispute, the signed inventory is presumed correct. Without one, the home's condition at the end of the tenancy is presumed to be the same as when the tenant moved in, which makes damage claims against the deposit hard to prove. HRS § 521-42(a)
• For a furnished rental, identify the supplied furniture and appliances room by room, including existing marks and whether each item works. Add dated photos that match the written entries, record any disagreement before signing, and give each tenant the signed inventory copy. Keep later repair and replacement records with it so a move-out comparison distinguishes new damage from the condition already recorded. HRS § 521-42(a)