Maui County Landlord Guide: Post-Lahaina Housing Crisis, the Bill 9 Phase-Out, and Hawaii’s Most Active Regulatory Environment
Maui County is, by a significant margin, the most regulatorily active landlord-tenant jurisdiction in Hawaii in 2026. The August 8, 2023 Lahaina wildfires killed more than 100 people, destroyed approximately 2,000 structures, and displaced 12,000 residents into a rental market that was already among the tightest and most expensive in the United States. The policy response to that displacement has rewritten the rules: an emergency eviction moratorium that ran for 18 months; a Maui-specific mandatory mediation statute (Act 202) that took effect the day the moratorium expired; the December 2025 passage of Ordinance No. 5909 (“Bill 9”), which phases out roughly 7,000 apartment-zoned vacation rentals; the statewide Act 278 mediation program succeeding Act 202 in February 2026; and two pending lawsuits challenging Ordinance No. 5909. Investors, operators, and tenants in Maui County are navigating a legal environment that has changed more in two years than in the preceding twenty, and the trajectory remains uncertain.
The Lahaina Fire and the Housing Shock
The Lahaina fire physically destroyed a substantial portion of Lahaina town and West Maui residential inventory. The immediate displacement of approximately 12,000 residents — in a county with a pre-fire population of about 165,000 — created a rental demand shock that the market could not absorb at prevailing price points. Governor Josh Green’s emergency proclamation established an eviction moratorium on Maui Island that ran from late 2023 through February 4, 2025, blocking nonpayment evictions for wildfire-impacted tenants. At its peak, more than 10,000 Maui households were protected. The moratorium ended as scheduled, but it was replaced the next day by Act 202 — a Maui-specific statute requiring mandatory mediation before any nonpayment eviction filing. Act 202 set the operational template that Act 278 has now adopted statewide: serve the notice, notify the mediation center, wait for the tenant’s response window, participate if mediation is scheduled, and only then file in District Court. The practical effect on Maui timelines is roughly a 30-day pre-filing floor where contested cases previously could proceed in under a week.
Ordinance No. 5909 and the Minatoya List
The Lahaina fire refocused public attention on the Minatoya List — approximately 7,000 apartment-zoned condominium units that have operated legally as vacation rentals for decades under a 1989 opinion by then-Deputy Corporation Counsel Richard Minatoya interpreting apartment zoning as permitting transient use. Minatoya units are concentrated in Kihei (South Maui) and on the Kaanapali-Napili-Honokowai corridor (West Maui) and historically have been among the most lucrative STR investments in Hawaii because they enjoyed the operational flexibility of resort-zoned properties at apartment-zone property tax rates. In the post-fire political environment, the Minatoya List became the focal point of community advocacy — led by Lahaina Strong and the ILWU — demanding that these units be returned to long-term residential use for displaced residents.
Mayor Richard Bissen introduced Bill 9 in May 2024; after 18 months of debate, the Maui County Council passed it 5-3 on second and final reading on December 15, 2025, and Mayor Bissen signed it into law the same day. Ordinance No. 5909 amends Title 19 of the Maui County Code to remove transient vacation rentals as a permitted use in A-1 and A-2 apartment districts, closes the nonconforming-use continuation mechanism, and sets amortization deadlines: January 1, 2029 for West Maui (Lahaina, Kaanapali, Napili, Honokowai — the areas most directly affected by the fire) and January 1, 2031 for the rest of Maui County (Kihei, Wailea, Molokai, Lanai). Hotel-zoned and resort-zoned properties are not affected. The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization (UHERO) projected that affected condo values could decline 20–40%. The county loses an estimated $60 million in annual property tax revenue. Lahaina Strong and the ILWU celebrated the passage as a generational victory for local housing.
The H-3/H-4 Rezoning Debate
Alongside Bill 9, the County Council’s Temporary Investigative Group (TIG) recommended Resolution 25-230, which would create new H-3 and H-4 hotel zoning designations allowing up to approximately 4,500 Bill 9-affected condos to continue STR operations by rezoning. In effect, the rezoning proposal is a partial opt-out mechanism for owners in core visitor areas. The Maui Planning Commission rejected the rezoning proposal in February 2026. The Molokai and Lanai Planning Commissions reviewed it in March 2026. As of April 2026, Resolution 25-230 has not been adopted, and the default trajectory remains full Bill 9 phase-out. Two lawsuits challenging Ordinance No. 5909 have been filed by STR owners, relying in part on the same takings-clause and HRS § 46-4(a) arguments that succeeded in blocking Oahu’s 2022 90-day rule in HILSTRA v. City & County of Honolulu. Whether those challenges prevail on Maui is an open question; Bill 9 was drafted with HILSTRA in mind and uses state-authorized amortization rather than immediate prohibition. Monitor this closely if you own apartment-zoned property in Maui County.
What Bill 9 Means for Landlords Right Now
Owners of apartment-zoned Maui condominiums face a decision timeline measured in months, not years. Options include: (1) convert to long-term rental under HRS Chapter 521 before the amortization deadline and lock in strong post-fire rental rates; (2) apply for the county’s long-term rental property tax classification (significantly lower than the STR rate); (3) qualify for the affordable rental exemption under Maui County Code § 3.48.555 by renting to qualified tenants below area median income; (4) wait for rezoning relief under Resolution 25-230 or a successor proposal; (5) wait for the pending litigation to be decided; (6) sell. Each path has distinct tax, operational, and legal implications, and the optimal strategy depends on the property’s zone (West Maui vs. elsewhere), condition, association rules, and the owner’s financial position. What is clear is that continuing to operate as a TVR past the amortization deadline without legal cover is not a sustainable strategy: Ordinance No. 5909 eliminates the nonconforming-use continuation mechanism that would otherwise apply.
Long-Term Rental Market Dynamics
Maui’s long-term rental market — the market governed by HRS Chapter 521 — has absorbed significant demand since the Lahaina fire. Rents for single-family homes and long-term condo leases in Central Maui, Upcountry Maui (Makawao, Pukalani, Kula), and Haiku have appreciated meaningfully. FEMA’s Direct Lease program and the state’s rental-assistance programs have served as a reliable income source for landlords willing to house wildfire survivors under federally backed leases. The new baseline of mandatory mediation (Act 202 → Act 278) and the anticipated Bill 9 conversion of thousands of STRs into long-term units should continue to shape the market through 2031 and beyond. Landlords operating long-term rentals on Maui have a meaningfully different legal calendar than their Oahu counterparts: the continuous mediation requirement from February 2025 has been a Maui-first framework that the rest of the state only now joins in 2026.
Molokai and Lanai
Molokai (population ~7,400) and Lanai (population ~3,200) fall under Maui County jurisdiction but operate as effectively separate rental markets. Molokai has a pronounced anti-tourism political culture, limited commercial lodging inventory, and a housing stock dominated by Hawaiian Home Lands lots and family-held properties. Commercial landlord-tenant cases from Molokai reach the Kaunakakai District Court division. Lanai is approximately 98% owned by Larry Ellison through his company Pulama Lanai, which owns the Four Seasons Lanai, Sensei Lanai, Hotel Lanai, and most commercial and residential inventory on the island. The Lanai rental market is effectively Pulama-controlled and oriented to resort staff and employees of Pulama-affiliated businesses; third-party landlord-tenant disputes there are rare. The Lanai District Court division handles what cases do arise. Both Molokai and Lanai Planning Commissions have roles in reviewing Maui County zoning proposals including the pending H-3/H-4 rezoning under Resolution 25-230.
District Court of the Second Circuit
All Maui County summary possession actions file in the District Court of the Second Circuit. The main courthouse is at 2145 Main Street, Suite 106, Wailuku, (808) 244-2929. Molokai cases may be heard at the Kaunakakai division, and Lanai cases at the Lanai division. Before filing, landlords must comply with Act 278’s (previously Act 202’s) mediation requirements through Maui Mediation Services at 95 Mahalani Street, Suite 25, Wailuku. Expect total timelines of roughly 6–10 weeks from the initial 5-business-day § 521-68 notice through sheriff execution of a Writ of Possession — meaningfully longer than on Kauai or the Big Island because of the mandatory mediation step. Represented-tenant rates in Maui summary possession cases have been elevated since the Lahaina fire because of expanded Legal Aid Society of Hawaii staffing and active advocacy by Lahaina Strong and the ILWU. Procedural precision matters more here than on any other neighbor island.
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