Hawaii County, HI Accessory Structures: ADU Rental Restrictions (2026)

Hawaii County Code Chapter 25, Article 6 governs accessory dwelling units on the Big Island, and Section 25-6-38 draws the line for renting one out short-term: no more than one ADU on a building site may be used as a transient accommodation rental, and that single ADU only qualifies if there are no other transient accommodation rentals already operating on the same building site. Read together with Section 25-6-36's density limit (ADUs capped at three per building site, or one per authorized primary dwelling where multiple primary dwellings are allowed), the practical effect is that a landowner cannot stack transient rentals across a main house and multiple ADUs on one parcel; only one unit on the whole site can be rented as a transient accommodation at a time.

Section 25-6-35 layers on the underlying zoning district's front, rear and side yard setbacks for the ADU itself (or the nonconforming-lot yard standard where the parcel doesn't meet the district minimum), and Section 25-6-37 ties ADU parking to the off-street parking table in Section 25-4-51. These provisions were amended by Ordinance 24-70 (effective 2024), which also added Section 25-6-39 barring newly recorded deed restrictions, covenants or association bylaws from limiting or prohibiting ADU construction going forward. None of this waives the separate transient-accommodation-rental permit and registration process Hawaii County runs under other STVR ordinances; Section 25-6-38 only limits how many ADUs on a site can be put toward that use, not the registration itself.

Enforcement runs through the Planning Department's zoning enforcement authority under Chapter 25, Article 2, the same body of law that applies to every zoning violation on the island.