Kauai County, HI Short-Term Rentals: Short-Term Rental Permits (2026)

Sec. 8-17.9 of the Kaua'i County Code requires every single-family transient vacation rental to register with the County Director of Finance, using a prescribed form, before it operates. Units already lawfully renting inside a Visitor Destination Area (VDA) as of March 7, 2008 had 180 days from that date to register; any unit established after that date must register before its first rental use. Time-share units under Hawai'i Revised Statutes Chapter 514E are excluded. Registered TVRs remain subject to Title III, Chapter 5A of the County Code.

Outside a Visitor Destination Area, registration alone is not enough: Sec. 8-17.9(b) bars operation without a Nonconforming Use Certificate. Sec. 8-17.10 lays out how an owner obtains one, requiring a sworn affidavit and evidence such as a Hawai'i general excise tax license, transient accommodations tax license, guest deposits and occupancy records showing the rental operated on an ongoing basis before March 7, 2008. For units on State Agricultural District land, the application window ran only 60 days from August 16, 2010, with a $1,500 late-filing fee for anyone who missed it, and the certificate additionally required either construction before June 4, 1976 or a Special Permit under HRS Sec. 205-6. Once issued, a certificate must be renewed annually with proof of currently valid tax licenses and a $750 renewal fee, and the Planning Department may re-inspect the property and withhold renewal until violations are resolved.