Hawaii Tenant Information

Hawaii Tenant Information – Renters Rights

 

Hawaii tenants are legally entitled to rental property that meets basic structural, health, and safety standards and is in good repair. If a landlord fails to take care of important maintenance, such as a leaky roof or a broken heater, you have several important legal rights, including:

• the right to withhold rent until repairs are made, and
• the right to “repair and deduct”—that is, to  hire a repairperson to fix a serious defect that makes a unit unfit (or buy a replacement part or item and do it yourself) and deduct the cost from your rent.

 

Tenants Defending an Eviction Forms

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Tenant Defence Forms

 

 

What Justifies Tenants Paying Less Rent in Hawaii

Before you can withhold rent or use the repair and deduct remedy, make sure that the circumstances justify you paying less rent and that you comply with state legal requirements on things like notice you must provide your landlord. Check Hawaii state law (see resources below) on the following:

• the type of repair and habitability problems that qualify for rent withholding or repair-and-deduct
• the type of notice you must give the landlord and the amount of time the landlord has to fix the problem before you can withhold rent or use the repair and deduct remedy
• the limit on how much rent you may withhold or deduct  and how often you can use a particular remedy
• your protection from landlord retaliation, such as a termination notice or a rent increase, for exercising your legal right to pay less rent because of a habitability problem, and
• any other conditions that apply before you can withhold or deduct rent, such as a requirement that you pay rent into an escrow account

 

 

Hawaii Guide to Tenant Rights

For an overview of Hawaii landlord-tenant law, including your rights to habitability, see  http://cca.hawaii.gov/hfic/files/2013/03/landlord-tenant-handbook.pdf.

 

Hawaii State and Local Law on Rent Withholding, Repair-and-Deduct, and Landlord Retaliation

For state law on rent withholding, see Haw.  Rev. Stat. § 521-78.

For state law on repair and deduct, see Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-64.

For state law prohibiting landlord retaliation, see Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-74.

 

 

 

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