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

Article 28, added by Ordinance No. 1106 in March 2022, responds to Kaua'i's housing shortage by stripping private agreements of the power to block additional housing. Section 22-28.1 defines a long-term rental as a dwelling unit occupied for 181 days or more, and borrows the definitions of Additional Dwelling Unit, Additional Rental Unit and Guest House from Chapter 8, the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance. Section 22-28.2 then voids the restriction itself: covenants, conditions, deed restrictions, condominium property regime declarations, association bylaws, and any other agreement that runs with the land cannot limit or prohibit long-term rentals, Additional Dwelling Units, Additional Rental Units or Guest Houses, except for a deed restriction the Planning Commission itself approved as a subdivision condition of approval.

Section 22-28.3 carves out a handful of exceptions: contracts already in existence when the ordinance took effect, agreements limiting Additional Dwelling Units specifically within Visitor Destination Areas, restrictions an association enforced against a successor-in-interest before the effective date, and agreements formed by the County, the State, or the federal government. Section 22-28.4 gives any affected person an independent right of action for a violation, meaning a homeowner blocked by an offending covenant can sue to enforce the statute directly rather than waiting on county enforcement.