Kailua-Kona

Operating rules

Primary residence

No

Min stay (nights)

—

Max nights / year

—

Max occupancy

No more than five bedrooms for rent on the building site (definitional limit for an STVR under HCC §25-1-5). No numeric guest cap is imposed on STVRs. Owner-occupied bed-and-breakfast establishments are separately capped at five guest bedrooms and a maximum of ten guests at any one time (HCC §25-4-7(b)(4)-(5)).

Zoning-restricted

Yes

Cap on licenses

No

Grandfathering: yes

Zoning: STVRs are permitted ONLY in: (A) V (resort-hotel), CG (general commercial), and CV (village commercial) districts; (B) residential and commercial zoning districts situated in the General Plan Resort and Resort Node areas; and (C) the RM district for multiple-family dwellings within a condominium property regime under HRS ch. 514A/514B. New STVRs are NOT permitted in ordinary single-family residential (RS) or agricultural zoning outside the General Plan Resort/Resort Node areas. In practice for Kailua-Kona this concentrates lawful new STVRs in the Kona/Keauhou resort and resort-node areas and in commercially zoned parcels; most RS-zoned Kailua-Kona neighborhoods cannot host a new STVR. Private covenants (CC&Rs) prohibiting STVR use are expressly NOT invalidated by the zoning code.

• Kailua-Kona is NOT an incorporated city. It is an unincorporated census-designated place ('Kailua CDP', place GEOID 1523000) in Hawai'i County. There is no city council, no city STR ordinance, and no city-level lodging tax. Every requirement listed here is county or state law. Treat 'us-hi-kailua-kona' as a display/SEO locality that inherits 'us-hi-hawaii' (Hawai'i County) rules in full.
• Hawai'i regulates STRs primarily at the county level; Hawai'i County's regime is materially DIFFERENT from Honolulu's (Ord. 22-7/Bill 41, 90-day minimum) and Maui's (Minatoya list phase-out). Do not cross-apply those rules to Kailua-Kona.
• No minimum-stay rule: an STVR is DEFINED as a rental of 30 consecutive days or less, and a TVR under Ord. 25-50 as less than 180 consecutive days. Neither imposes a minimum nightly stay. Renting 31+ days simply falls outside the STVR definition (and 180+ days outside the TVR definition).
• Grandfathering is CLOSED. NUC applications for STVRs operating outside permitted zoning districts prior to April 1, 2019 were due by September 30, 2019. There is no path to a new NUC today; buyers of a Kailua-Kona property advertised as a 'legal vacation rental' outside a permitted district must verify that a current, renewed NUC actually exists and transfers.
• An NUC is tied to non-owner-occupancy: renewal requires an annual sworn Statement of Compliance that the owner does not reside on the property while rented and does not use it as a primary residence. Residing on the property while it is rented may result in cancellation of the STVR/NUC permit.
• Ordinance 25-50 (Bill 47) is a SECOND, parallel registration layer under HCC Chapter 6 (a tax/finance chapter), administered by the Director of Finance — it does NOT repeal or replace the Chapter 25 zoning limits. Zoning eligibility under §25-4-16 still governs whether an STVR may lawfully exist at all; registering as a TVR confers no land-use right ('Registration and the issuance of a registration number does not grant any right, privilege, immunity, or other allowance to the subject property or owner except as herein provided').
• Ord. 25-50 effective date has slipped three times: original §3 said 'take effect one hundred and eighty days after its approval' = December 20, 2025; Bill 98 (Ord. 25-92, passed Dec. 2025) moved it to July 1, 2026; Bill 166 (first reading June 3, 2026) moves it to September 1, 2026. As of 2026-07-16 the TVR registration portal is not live and TVR registration is NOT yet required. Monitor this date closely — it is the single most volatile fact in this record.
• Pending legislation as of 2026-07-16: Bill 147 (broad TVR rewrite — unanimous favorable recommendation from the Windward Planning Commission July 2, 2026; heard at the Leeward Planning Commission July 16, 2026; then returns to PCPLUED and needs a minimum of two council hearings); Bill 173 (new Bed & Breakfast Homeowner property-tax class preserving the 3% cap, plus a property-tax amnesty period); Bill 175 (would create a four-month registration grace period, making the TVR registration window Sept. 1 – Dec. 31, 2026, and deem pre-effective-date B&B applications registered). Bills 173 and 175 were set for Council Committee on July 22, 2026.
• Operating an STVR also affects Hawai'i County real property tax classification; Ord. 25-50 §6-45(a)(8) requires a signed statement acknowledging that TVR operation may affect the owner's real property tax liability. Property tax class/rates were not researched in this pass.

Enforcement

Active enforcement

yes

Fines

CURRENT REGIME (Chapter 25, in force now): an unregistered STVR is 'an unpermitted use' subject to the Chapter 25 penalties. Administrative enforcement under HCC §25-2-35 allows the Planning Director to order cease-and-desist plus a civil fine not to exceed $500, and a civil fine not to exceed $500 per day for each day the violation persists; orders become final 30 days after receipt unless appealed to the Board of Appeals. Criminal prosecution under HCC §25-2-31 carries a fine not exceeding $500 for a first offense and $500–$1,000 for a subsequent conviction within five years, with each further day of violation a separate offense. Advertising a property as an STVR is prima facie evidence that an STVR is operating, and the burden of proof shifts to the owner (§25-4-16.2). All STVR fees and fines feed a dedicated Short-Term Vacation Rental Enforcement Fund used to pay for enforcement (§25-4-16.3). FORTHCOMING (Ord. 25-50, effective September 1, 2026): operating an unregistered TVR draws a notice of violation and order to cease and desist plus a civil fine of no less than $1,000 and no more than $10,000, and — where the Planning Director deems it necessary — a per-day fine up to two times the highest daily rate at which the TVR was advertised in the preceding twelve months. Owner and host are jointly and severally liable for a hosted TVR. Unpaid fines outstanding one year after final adjudication are filed each September 1 as LIENS on the property with the Bureau of Conveyances. Hosting platforms face $1,000–$10,000 per day for failure to cure, $250 for a §6-52(c) reporting violation, and orders to remove listings within 30 days.

Notes

Enforcement is complaint-driven and self-funding: the Director must receive and track complaints, maintain a public list of all registered/NUC-holding STVRs, and all fees and fines are deposited into the Short-Term Vacation Rental Enforcement Fund dedicated to enforcement. The prima facie advertising rule makes online listings (Airbnb/Vrbo/realtor listings) the primary detection vector, reinforced by the mandatory display of the registration/NUC number in ALL advertising — a listing without a valid number is self-incriminating. Under Ord. 25-50 the county gains far stronger tools: platform reporting of TMK + State TAT ID + listing URL, determination of non-registration from rental advertisements, bookability, or TAT returns, cancellation of registration for delinquent taxes, property liens, and information sharing with any governmental department. Note the enforcement asymmetry today: because the NUC window closed on September 30, 2019 and Ord. 25-50 is not yet live, an unregistered Kailua-Kona STVR outside a permitted zoning district currently has NO route to compliance other than ceasing operation or converting to 31+ day rentals.