Honolulu County, HI Short-Term Rentals: Extended Home Share (2026)

Honolulu's Land Use Ordinance channels short-term room rentals through an annual registration with the Department of Planning and Permitting, filed on a form the director prescribes. Registration is not a formality. For a bed and breakfast home, the application must include evidence of a real property tax home exemption for the subject property and evidence that the applicant holds a minimum 50 percent ownership interest in it. The home exemption requirement is what makes owner-occupancy enforceable, since that exemption belongs on a property the owner claims as a residence, and the 50 percent ownership floor keeps an investor with a token stake from qualifying to run one.

The same section covers transient vacation units alongside bed and breakfast homes and limits both to the narrow zoning areas near resort districts where the ordinance allows them, so a home's location decides eligibility before any paperwork does. The registration must be renewed annually, and renewal is not automatic: the director can deny renewal or revoke a registration for repeat notices of order, documented neighborhood impacts, or other good cause.