Question: Thanks for trying, but telling people to call DPP to report illegal vacation rentals is a waste of time. I’ve been calling for years. They never do anything. If you doubt me, check for yourself.
Answer: The Aug. 30 Kokua Line column (808ne.ws/kline83017) advised a reader concerned about the proliferation of illegal vacation rentals to report violations to the city’s Department of Planning and Permitting by calling 768-8161. DPP is tasked with enforcing ordinances and regulations governing Oahu land use and development. Other readers also reacted as you did, so we followed up with DPP for details on enforcement.
Tim Hiu, DPP’s deputy director, provided the following responses:
Q: How many complaints has DPP received this year about unpermitted short-term rentals? How many vacation rental owners have been cited?
A: “From Jan. 1, 2017 through Aug. 31, 2017, the Department of Planning and Permitting conducted 937 investigations of residential zoned properties and issued 16 notices of violation (NOV). The DPP also conducted 98 investigations of condo/apartment units and issued 33 NOVs.”
Property owners who receive a violation notice (NOV) have a set time period to correct the infraction before enforcement escalates.
Q: How many vacation rental owners have been prosecuted?
A: “The DPP referred two NOVs to our Code Compliance Branch for enforcement and civil fines.”
Q: Kokua Line heard from many readers who claimed that calling to report a violation to DPP accomplishes nothing because there is no enforcement. So I am following up on the enforcement part of the question.
A: “The DPP is complaint-driven. As you can see from (the previous answers), we investigated nearly 1,000 complaints in the first eight months of the year, so to say there is ‘no enforcement’ would be an inaccurate statement. We issue violation notices when we are able to prove by a preponderance of evidence that a violation has occurred.
“The problem we face is gathering enough evidence to issue an NOV. An internet ad or one placed in a publication is not enough evidence to issue a violation, under current law. We need to prove that someone is renting a unit for less than 30 days. In many of our successful investigations, the tenants admitted to our inspector that they were staying for less than 30 days. We do not cite the renters, only the property owner.
“In 2016, we added five special inspectors just to investigate short-term rental complaints. With this support, we inspected or re-inspected 3,392 complaints of illegal vacation rental units, but this resulted in only 91 NOVs being issued because of the difficulties we faced in proving that a unit was being operated illegally.
“We are exploring other ways to gather evidence and cite illegal vacation rentals. This past legislative session, we supported bills that would have required vacation rental operators to receive county certification that they are permitted to operate. We’ve supported measures that would require all vacation rental advertisements to include a transient accommodation tax (TAT) number or a city non-conforming use certificate (NUC) number so we could identify the legal operators from the illegal ones. Together, this would help us enforce the vacation rental laws.”
Mahalo
Mahalo to the lovely couple who treated my kupuna parents and me to lunch at Wahiawa Zippy’s on Saturday at around noon. They not only paid for our lunch, but our server’s gratuity as well! We always read about this happening in Kokua Line, but it’s the first time it’s happened to us. May the couple have a wonderful stay in Wahiawa and safe travels back to the mainland. — Grateful Wahiawa family
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
