The city Department of Planning and Permitting has not issued any violation notices tied to the new vacation rental ordinance due to a pending lawsuit, a city official said Monday.

That policy is making at least one key City Council member unhappy.

Ordinance 19-18, formerly Bill 89 (2018), which passed earlier this summer, took effect Thursday.

The new law makes it illegal to advertise an unpermitted vacation rental of less than 30 days. The new law also increased the fines for advertising or renting a vacation rental to a maximum of $10,000 a day instead of $1,000 daily.

Estimates on the number of unpermitted vacation rentals on Oahu have ranged from 5,000 to 25,000. The city itself believes there are between 6,000 and 8,000.

While there’s disagreement on the numbers, no one disputes that the rentals have exploded in popularity with the advent of online vacation rental advertising platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. The issue drew throngs of impassioned arguments and dire warnings from both supporters and opponents of vacation rentals as the Council deliberated the legislation in the past months.

The Kokua Coalition, also known as the Hawaii Vacation Rental Owners Association, filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court seeking to stop the city from enforcing the ordinance. The group’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the city is scheduled to be heard by Judge Derrick Watson on Aug. 15.

The group represents operators of so-called “30-day rentals,” where the operator and tenant agree to a 30-day exclusive use agreement even when the renter doesn’t stay all 30 days. DPP signed a consent decree stating they would not cite those with those arrangements, and the group’s lawyer said that practice should continue. DPP, meanwhile, is stating on its website that such arrangements are illegal.

When the Honolulu Star- Advertiser inquired Monday whether the city had issued any notices of violation from the new law, DPP spokesman Curtis Lum said, “We are continuing our investigations under Ordinance 19-18. However, because of the pending litigation, we have not yet issued any notices of violation.”

Asked to clarify, Lum reiterated that investigations are ongoing but that no violation notices have been issued since Thursday because of the pending litigation. He declined to say whether any violation notices would be issued before the Kokua Coalition lawsuit is concluded.

Under DPP rules, notices are issued to those who have been found to be in violation of zoning or building codes. Those cited have seven days to make corrections or halt their violations. If they don’t, they face notices of orders that could result in initial fines and the beginning of the daily fines.

Councilman Ron Menor, chairman of the Zoning, Planning and Housing Committee, said he’s bothered by DPP’s position because he does not think there are legal grounds for operators to challenge the ordinance.

“Opponents of short-term rental ordinances in other municipalities have threatened or filed lawsuits to try to stymie effective enforcement of those laws,” Menor said. “The city administration should try not to cave to these kinds of legal tactics here on Oahu. I think that DPP should continue with the issuance of NOVs where clear violations have been established unless the city is enjoined by the courts from doing so.”

Menor, a lawyer, said he will seek clarification from city attorneys and DPP officials.

Another group of unpermitted vacation rental operators, composed of owners in the Waikiki Banyan condominium complex on the mauka side of Kuhio Avenue, will likely file its own lawsuit challenging the new ordinance later this week, its attorney told the Star-Advertiser on Monday.

In related news, DPP’s Lum said the new ordinance — and roughly 5,000 “courtesy” letters sent to property owners around the island last week warning of the impending law — appears to be having the intended effect of reducing the number of illegal vacation rentals on the market.

On July 19, DPP officials counted 5,044 advertisements for vacation rentals at online vacation rental platforms the department would not identify. On Friday the number of advertisements had dropped to 3,196, he said.

The warning letters triggered, as of Monday, 1,037 phone calls, emails and letters from people, many of them angry, who said they received them even though they don’t own or operate vacation rentals.