# Phoney Maui Law claim?



## UWSurfer (Nov 15, 2007)

The following was posted in an e-bay ad for Kahanna Falls which I stumbled upon today.  I would have thought we would have seen this on Tug somwhere prior to now.  The link they referenced goes nowhere for me.  

Here's the claim:

"I just read yesterday that Maui is planning to enact a new law that will ban most vacation rental properties including Bed & Breakfasts and private rentals. If it is passed, it is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2008. Apparently this is being pushed through by the hotel industry. Also, many of the locals feel that properties catering to the tourist are driving up the property values for everyone, pricing many residents out of the housing market. If this becomes law, there will be a drastic shortage of vacation rental properties. As a result, this timeshare would be even more valuable than it is now. At this low starting bid, can you afford to pass up the opportunity to own a Gold Crown Resort on Maui? To learn more about this go to: www.frommer.com and click on "blog". Scan down to Nov.2nd posting and read all about it."


----------



## LisaRex (Nov 15, 2007)

From what I gather from reading various sources, it seems that Maui is considering enforcing long ignored zoning codes which prohibit the rental of private homes to anyone except local residents without a permit.  Of the 800+ private homes for rent, only around 70 of 800 have applied for the permit and it looks like the county has imposed a moratorium on granting more permits.   

It seems that the Council is targeting private homeowners, including B&B's, but hotels (and presumably,timeshares) would not be directly affected.  The mayor's position is that buyers are scooping up properties with no intention of occupying them, but rather to rent them out, and are inflating the housing costs for locals to the point where they cannot afford to live on their own island. 

As you can imagine, this has caused quite a bit of controversy.  You have money, xenophobia, and politics all meshed up together.  If, on January 1, 2008, 730 rental homes suddenly go off the market, there's a possibility that our timeshares will, indeed, increase in value.  However, given that there are thousands of places for rent on Maui, I'm not sure how significant the impact would be.  I certainly wouldn't buy a timeshare based on this because even if Council decides to enforce the code, they could most certainly reverse that position at any time. . 

http://www.mauinews.com/letters/2007/8/20/03twen0820.html


----------



## EZ-ED (Nov 15, 2007)

Here's a link to the Frommers area that is referenced. Lisa hit the nail on the head with her explanation. 

I was curious about the Kahana Falls listing but was unable to find it. Could you provide a link to the ebay sale.

I seem to recall that Icarus has run into this issue in Makawao, Maui and there for does not rent the basement apartment of his home but does accept donations.


----------



## DavidnRobin (Nov 15, 2007)

LisaRex said:


> From what I gather from reading various sources, it seems that Maui is considering enforcing long ignored zoning codes which prohibit the rental of private homes to anyone except local residents without a permit.  Of the 800+ private homes for rent, only around 70 of 800 have applied for the permit and it looks like the county has imposed a moratorium on granting more permits.
> 
> It seems that the Council is targeting private homeowners, including B&B's, but hotels (and presumably,timeshares) would not be directly affected.  The mayor's position is that buyers are scooping up properties with no intention of occupying them, but rather to rent them out, and are inflating the housing costs for locals to the point where they cannot afford to live on their own island.
> 
> ...



Politics indeed - how does renting a Timeshare week impact the ability for locals to afford housing?


----------



## rickandcindy23 (Nov 15, 2007)

Well, it will be good for timeshare rentals.  If there are fewer inexpensive choices, people will be looking at timeshare that have never considered it before.  

This decision is going to result in exactly what the mayor doesn't want--more timeshare on the islands.  Maui has been taxing timeshare weeks because we have nothing to say about it, because we cannot vote, but here is a move that will help timeshare.  I would say this was not what Maui government has as a goal.   

What will be the next move to hurt timeshare?  Perhaps they won't let owners rent weeks, either.


----------



## Icarus (Nov 15, 2007)

:rofl:

:rofl:


----------



## LisaRex (Nov 15, 2007)

DavidnRobin said:


> Politics indeed - how does renting a Timeshare week impact the ability for locals to afford housing?



They aren't targeting timeshare owners but rather people who own houses (and condos, I suppose) which they, in turn, rent out.


----------



## UWSurfer (Nov 15, 2007)

It was part of an ad for ebay item # 300171386751


----------



## Icarus (Nov 15, 2007)

EZ-ED said:


> I seem to recall that Icarus has run into this issue in Makawao, Maui and there for does not rent the basement apartment of his home but does accept donations.



The prior owner of my house had a lot of friends in the windsurfing community and he would let his "friends" stay here, and they in turn would offer a donation for his costs.

If you do vacation rentals, you have to collect the state excise tax and also the tax on transient lodgings for any rental less than six months, I believe, and file tax returns with the state, etc.

The big problem that exists with people converting their rental property to vacation rentals is that it creates a tighter housing market for people that have to rent. The county wants to have affordable housing available, but they don't pay for a lot of it, so there's never enough of it available. I believe it's very difficult to legally convert your property to vacation rental. (this is an issue on all the islands, not just Maui.) Property owners want to convert to vacation rental because they can get the same rent for 1 week that they can get for 1 month from a long term rental.

I laughed because somehow I knew some people would turn it into another timeshare issue here.

Most, if not all of the text that the OP quoted from that Ebay ad, (which I assume is from the Frommers blog entry, which I didn't bother to read) is false. The hotel industry doesn't care about this. It's more of a local affordable housing issue, and it's not a new issue here. It's your basic Government versus property owner rights issue. But there's more to it than that. Nobody really wants to live in a neighborhood where every other house is a vacation rental.

-David


----------



## EZ-ED (Nov 15, 2007)

UWSurfer said:


> It was part of an ad for ebay item # 300171386751



Thanks for the item number. I monitor KF pretty close for buys and for some reason never found this one and was not notified by ebay that it was available.




Icarus said:


> The prior owner of my house had a lot of friends in the windsurfing community and he would let his "friends" stay here, and they in turn would offer a donation for his costs.
> -David



David 
Thanks for the clarification.


----------



## rickandcindy23 (Nov 15, 2007)

Icarus said:


> The prior owner of my house had a lot of friends in the windsurfing community and he would let his "friends" stay here, and they in turn would offer a donation for his costs.
> 
> If you do vacation rentals, you have to collect the state excise tax and also the tax on transient lodgings for any rental less than six months, I believe, and file tax returns with the state, etc.
> 
> ...



But David, it will help timeshare rentals because when you want a kitchen, you just need to get them somewhere.  So the timeshare industry will benefit from this, in an offhand way.  

I sure do understand why Maui homeowners would be concerned with all of the rental houses in their neighborhoods.  It definitely is a safety issue, too, because who knows what kind of person is staying in the house next door THIS week.  I sure do get it, but I see an opening here for timeshare rentals, too.


----------



## Icarus (Nov 15, 2007)

rickandcindy23 said:


> But David, it will help timeshare rentals because when you want a kitchen, you just need to get them somewhere.  So the timeshare industry will benefit from this, in an offhand way.



They talk about doing something about it every year, and yet property owners continue to do illegal vacation rentals. I doubt it will ever have much effect on the timeshare industry, even if they did crack down on it.

-David


----------



## tfalk (Nov 18, 2007)

Kauai is seeing a lot of the same... they've recently started enforcing the
zoning laws that only allow vacation rentals in certain areas of the island.
Turns out a lot of the north shore properties, particularly the beach front
ones beyond Hanalei, have something in the deeds that preclude commercial
use.  Lots of homes sitting empty from what I've heard....


----------

