Rent Control in Hawaii: No Statewide Cap and No Preemption Statute

Hawaii's Residential Landlord-Tenant Code (Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 521) contains no rent control or rent-stabilization provision and no statutory ceiling on the size of a rent increase. The Code also has no section that expressly preempts or prohibits the counties from enacting their own rent control, so the issue is best described as not addressed by a statewide ban rather than affirmatively forbidden. In practice, no Hawaii county (Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui, or Kauai) has adopted a rent control ordinance. What state law does require is advance notice: under Haw. Rev. Stat. 521-21(d), for a month-to-month tenancy "the amount of rent... shall not be increased" without written notice given 45 consecutive days before the effective date. Tenants therefore get notice of an increase even though the amount itself is uncapped.

Because Hawaii sets no rent cap, exceeding a limit is not an issue. However, a landlord who raises rent on a month-to-month tenant without the 45 days' written notice required by Haw. Rev. Stat. 521-21(d) has not lawfully increased the rent, and the prior rent amount continues to apply.