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

Hawaii County Code § 25-4-7 treats an owner-occupied home-share operation as a 'bed and breakfast establishment,' a separate use from the short-term vacation rentals regulated under § 25-4-16. A B&B is permitted outright in the RD, RM, RCX, V, CN, CG, CV and CDH districts. In the RS district, and in the RA, FA and A agricultural districts within the State land use urban district, the operator needs a use permit from the Planning Department for every B&B. Any B&B sited in the State land use rural or agricultural district needs the higher-bar special permit instead.

Section 25-4-7(b) sets the operating standards: the use must stay subordinate to the operator's residence and not change the neighborhood's character, and the operator has to live on the same building site as the B&B, not just own it. The establishment caps out at five guest bedrooms and ten total guests at any one time, and it can only be run out of a single-family dwelling or a guest house permitted under § 25-4-9. Meals are limited to breakfast served to registered guests; selling meals to outsiders, or running the property as a restaurant, is prohibited unless the site separately holds a food-service permit for that zoning district.

Every guest bedroom needs one paved off-street parking stall in addition to the dwelling's own required parking, except in the RS, RA, FA and A districts where an unpaved but erosion-resistant surface is acceptable. Any exterior sign advertising the B&B has to meet the residential signage rules in Chapter 3. Section 25-4-7(c) makes an unpermitted B&B illegal under the zoning chapter, and (d) gave B&Bs already operating when the section took effect a twelve-month grace window to file for the required permits.