Hawaii County, HI Code Violation Reporting: How to Report (2026)

Section 14-150 already requires every lot owner fronting a public street to keep the property clear of refuse, uncultivated undergrowth, and "unsafe flora" that could pose a fire, health, safety, property-damage, or crime hazard within 100 feet of the road. When a lot isn't cleared, §14-151 gives neighbors a formal complaint path: a majority of adult residents within a 500-foot radius, or the property owner adjacent to or abutting the lot, submits a written request to the mayor asking for the lot to be cleared.

The mayor investigates, and if the hazard is certified, the mayor mails and posts a notice ordering the owner to clear it. Under §14-152, an owner who fails to comply within 30 days of that notice faces County crews clearing the lot at the owner's expense; unpaid costs become a lien on the property, recoverable through a civil lawsuit including tax-lien foreclosure procedures, and the department of public works must keep an itemized expense record before the corporation counsel bills the responsible party. Section 14-153 requires the clearing notice to go out both by mail to the owner's last known address and by posting on the lot itself.

The process has real limits: §14-151(b) exempts registered endangered or protected species and trees already designated "exceptional" under Chapter 14, Article 10, letting an owner submit a treatment plan instead of removal, and §14-151(d) bars a person from filing again about the same lot, under the same ownership, once three of their complaints about it have been found unsubstantiated.