Hawaii County Landlord Guide: Two Markets Separated by Volcanoes, Bill 47’s Incoming Registration System, and the Unique Hazards of Lava Country
Hawaii County is unlike any other Hawaii county and unlike most counties anywhere in the United States. It comprises a single island that is larger than the other seven main Hawaiian Islands combined, encompasses nearly every climate zone on earth (from alpine tundra atop Mauna Kea to tropical rainforest in Hilo to semi-arid grassland in Waimea to desert in Ka‘u), contains two of the world’s most active volcanoes, and supports two distinct economic centers separated by a 2-hour drive over or around those volcanoes. Any useful discussion of Big Island landlord practice has to start by acknowledging that Hilo-side operators and Kona-side operators are essentially working in different markets under the same county ordinances.
The Hilo Side: Long-Term Rentals, UH Hilo, and Agriculture
Hilo is the county seat, home to the University of Hawaii at Hilo (approximately 3,000 students, with particular strength in Hawaiian language and culture, astronomy, and tropical agriculture), the region’s primary hospital (Hilo Medical Center), the county courthouse (Hale Kaulike), the commercial port, and the east-side transportation hub of Hilo International Airport. The Hilo rental market is driven by: university students and staff (concentrated in Kea‘au, Hilo town, and Waiakea); agricultural workers and small farmers in Puna, Hamakua, and the Hilo-adjacent ag corridor; healthcare and government employees; astronomers and support staff associated with the Mauna Kea observatories; and Native Hawaiian families living on homestead lands throughout the east side. Rents are substantially lower than the Kona side and dramatically lower than Oahu. The economy is less tourism-dependent, and the tenant base skews toward long-term stability. Habitability issues specific to Hilo’s extreme rainfall (around 130 inches annually in town, more in windward valleys) include mold management, tropical pest control, and roofing maintenance — recurring themes in Hilo habitability complaints.
The Kona-Kohala Side: Resort Tourism and the TVR Economy
West Hawaii is a different world. The leeward side of the island — extending from Ka‘u in the south through South Kona, North Kona, and the Kohala coast — receives a fraction of the rainfall, features white-sand beaches and resort infrastructure, and is the center of the Big Island’s tourism economy. Kailua-Kona is the commercial hub, with the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole serving as the county’s primary visitor arrival point. The Kohala coast hosts the island’s major resort developments: the Fairmont Orchid, the Mauna Lani, the Hapuna Beach Resort, the Four Seasons Hualalai, and the Waikoloa Beach Resort complex. Kohala also hosts significant concentrations of wealthy non-resident homeowners. The rental market here skews heavily toward short-term vacation rentals serving the visitor economy, with over 4,700 active STRs tracked in Kailua-Kona alone. Long-term rentals in Kona and Kohala tend to serve resort workers, who often commute in from lower-cost areas like Waikoloa Village, Kealakekua, and further south in Ka‘u. Rents on the Kona side are meaningfully higher than on the Hilo side, reflecting both tourism demand pressure on the housing stock and the general cost of West Hawaii living.
Ordinance 2018-114 (Bill 108): The First STR Framework
Hawaii County first regulated short-term vacation rentals with Bill 108, adopted as Ordinance 2018-114. Bill 108 took a zoning-based approach: unhosted TVRs are lawful only in Resort (V), Resort-Hotel, Resort Node, certain commercial zones, and certain multifamily zones identified in HCC § 25-4-16. Properties located outside those zones can operate as unhosted TVRs only if they hold a Non-Conforming Use certificate issued before the ordinance’s effective date. Hosted TVRs — where the host lives on the property as their principal residence — were largely unregulated. That created a persistent enforcement gap because hosted operations dominated Big Island TVR inventory, particularly in Puna and on Ag-zoned properties. The 2018 framework was narrow by design and left a lot of the market unaddressed.
Ordinance 25-50 (Bill 47): The Coming Registration System
Bill 47, now Ordinance 25-50, was signed into law by Mayor Kimo Alameda on June 23, 2025. It was originally set to take effect December 20, 2025, but was extended to July 1, 2026 because the county’s registration portal is still being built. When it takes effect, Bill 47 will require every Big Island TVR — hosted or unhosted, in any zone — to register annually with the county. Registration fees are $500 for unhosted rentals and $250 for hosted rentals. Hosting platforms (Airbnb, VRBO, and similar) must separately register ($1,000), submit monthly reports listing every Big Island TVR they list with the tax map key and county registration number, and take compliance responsibility for their listings. Fines for operating without registration range from $1,000 to $10,000 per violation per day — a severe penalty structure that was deliberately designed to force compliance. Owners should expect to register as soon as the portal goes live; the cost of non-compliance is structured to quickly exceed the cost of compliance.
For hosted rentals, Bill 47 introduces genuinely novel requirements. The host must reside on the property as their principal residence (not in a nearby unit or a different island), must be reachable by phone within 1 hour by a county official, and must be able to be physically present at the property within 3 hours. This is targeted at closing the “ghost host” loophole where owners claimed hosted status while actually operating from off-island. Bill 47 also explicitly does not address Ag-zoned TVRs — but an economic study commissioned by the Planning Commissions suggests future tightening, potentially eliminating hosted rentals on Ag land and requiring special permits. If you own Ag-zoned property used for TVR, this is a second-order risk to track.
Lava Hazard Zones and Landlord Disclosure Obligations
The Big Island is the only U.S. county where active volcanism is a continuous, not theoretical, part of the landlord-tenant conversation. Kīlauea has been in eruptive phases for most of the past 40 years, and Mauna Loa erupted most recently in late 2022 after decades of quiet. In 2018, Kīlauea’s lower East Rift Zone eruption destroyed approximately 700 homes in lower Puna — including the Leilani Estates, Lanipuna Gardens, and Kapoho communities — and permanently reshaped the coastline. The USGS divides the island into nine Lava Hazard Zones, with Zone 1 being the highest risk (the active rift zones and summits) and Zone 9 being the lowest (the oldest surfaces on Kohala volcano). Zones 1 and 2 cover much of Puna (Pahoa, Leilani, Kapoho) and parts of Ka‘u and southern Kona. Insurance coverage in Zones 1 and 2 is limited, expensive, or unavailable — many lava-zone properties do not qualify for standard homeowner’s insurance and operate under the Hawaii Property Insurance Association (HPIA) state-run pool.
While Hawaii law does not yet impose an explicit statutory lava-zone disclosure requirement on residential landlords, prudent practice on the Big Island is to disclose the lava zone classification in the lease and to confirm the tenant understands the risk. A Puna-area landlord whose property sits in Lava Zone 1 or 2 should document the disclosure and make sure the tenant’s renter’s insurance addresses the exposure — or, at minimum, that the tenant understands that standard policies typically do not cover volcanic eruption damage.
Tsunami and Flooding Risks — Hilo
Hilo has suffered some of the most catastrophic tsunamis in U.S. history, including the 1946 Aleutian-generated tsunami (159 deaths in Hilo) and the 1960 Chilean tsunami (61 deaths). Downtown Hilo was substantially rebuilt after 1960 with tsunami-aware zoning: the low-lying flats along Hilo Bay are primarily commercial and park, with residential concentrated at higher elevations. Landlords of properties within the Tsunami Evacuation Zone (TEZ) — which covers significant portions of coastal Hilo, Kona, and Kohala — should disclose the TEZ designation. Annual tsunami-readiness drills and warning sirens are a normal part of Big Island life; tenants unfamiliar with the islands may not know how the system works.
District Court of the Third Circuit
Hawaii County summary possession actions file in the District Court of the Third Circuit at the location covering the property’s division. The Hilo courthouse (Hale Kaulike, 777 Kīlauea Avenue, Hilo, (808) 961-7440) handles North and South Hilo and Puna divisions — Hilo, Papa‘ikou, Kea‘au, Mountain View, Volcano, Pahoa. The Kona courthouse (Keahuolū Courthouse, 74-5451 Kamaka‘eha Avenue, Kailua-Kona, (808) 322-8700) handles North and South Kona and Ka‘u — Kailua-Kona, Holualoa, Captain Cook, Kealakekua, Na‘alehu. The Waimea courthouse (South Kohala District Court, 67-5187 Kamāmalu Street, Kamuela, (808) 443-2030) handles South Kohala, North Kohala, and Hamakua — Waimea, Waikoloa, Hawi, Kapa‘au, Honoka‘a, Laupahoehoe. File in the division covering the property location. Total timeline for an uncontested Big Island nonpayment eviction from the 5-business-day notice through sheriff execution of a Writ of Possession typically runs 4 to 7 weeks — similar to Kauai and faster than Honolulu.
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