Executive Director
Stephen H. Levins
Executive Director's Message

 

Part IV. Landlord Obligations

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521-41 - Landlord to Supply Possession of Dwelling Unit

521-42 - Landlord to Supply and Maintain Fit Premises

521-43 - Rental Agreement, Disclosure

521-44 - Security Deposits

521-45 - Limitation of Landlord and Management Liability



[§521-41] Landlord to supply possession of dwelling unit.
The landlord shall, at the beginning of the agreed term, deliver possession of the dwelling unit to the tenant in the agreed condition unless otherwise agreed prior to delivery of possession. The landlord may bring an action for possession against any person wrongfully in possession including a holdover tenant. [L 1972, c 132, pt of §1]
§521-42 Landlord to supply and maintain fit premises.
(a) The landlord shall at all times during the tenancy:
(1) Comply with all applicable building and housing laws materially affecting health and safety;
(2) Keep common areas of a multi-dwelling unit premises in a clean and safe condition;
(3) Make all repairs and arrangements necessary to put and keep the premises in a habitable condition;
(4) Maintain all electrical, plumbing, and other facilities and appliances supplied by the landlord in good working order and condition, subject to reasonable wear and tear;
(5) Except in the case of a single family residence, provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences for the removal of normal amounts of rubbish and garbage, and arrange for the frequent removal of such waste materials; and
(6) Except in the case of a single family residence, or where the building is not required by law to be equipped for the purpose, provide for the supplying of running water as reasonably required by the tenant.
Prior to the initial date of initial occupancy, the landlord shall inventory the premises and make a written record detailing the condition of the premises and any furnishings or appliances provided. Duplicate copies of this inventory shall be signed by the landlord and by the tenant and a copy given to each tenant. In an action arising under this section, the executed copy of the inventory shall be presumed to be correct. If the landlord fails to make such an inventory and written record, the condition of the premises and any furnishings or appliances provided, upon the termination of the tenancy shall be rebuttably presumed to be the same as when the tenant first Occupied the premises.
(b) The landlord and tenant may agree that the tenant is to perform specified repairs, maintenance tasks, and minor remodeling only if:
(1) The agreement of the landlord and tenant is entered into in good faith and is not for the purpose of evading the obligations of the landlord;
(2) The work to be performed by the tenant is not necessary to cure noncompliance by the landlord with section 521-42(a)(1); and
(3) The agreement of the landlord and tenant does not diminish the obligations of the landlord to other tenants. [L 1972, c 132, pt of §1; am L 1976, c 90, §1; am L 1981, c 235, §1; gen ch 1985; am L 1989, c 143, §1]
§521-43 Rental agreement, disclosure.  
(a) A landlord or any person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on the landlord's behalf shall disclose to the tenant in writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy the name and address of:
(1) Each person authorized to manage the premises; and
(2) Each person who is an owner of the premises or who is authorized to act for or on behalf of the owner for the purpose of service of process and receiving and receipting for rents, notices, and demands.
The information required to be furnished shall be kept current and shall be enforceable against any successor landlord, owner, or manager.
(b) A person who fails to comply with subsection (a) becomes an agent of each person who is a landlord for:
(1) Service of process and receiving and receipting for rents, notices, and demands; and
(2) Performing the obligations of the landlord under this chapter and under the rental agreement and expending or making available for the purpose all rent collected from the premises.
(c) Any owner or landlord not dealing directly with the tenant shall be responsible for compliance with this section by an owner or landlord dealing directly with the tenant and shall be stopped from any objection to a failure to serve process upon an owner or landlord in any proceeding arising under this chapter when such failure is due to failure to comply with this section. The owner or landlord who deals directly with the tenant and fails to comply with this section shall be deemed an agent of every other landlord under the rental agreement for performing the obligations of the landlord under this chapter and under the rental agreement.
(d) In the case of a written rental agreement, the landlord shall furnish a copy of the lease or rental agreement to the tenant.
(e) The landlord shall furnish to the tenant a written receipt for rents paid at the time of payment. Canceled checks shall also constitute and fulfill the requirement of a written receipt. If rent is paid by check, the landlord shall furnish a receipt therefor, provided a receipt is requested by the tenant.
(f) Any owner or landlord who resides without the State or on another island from where the rental unit is located shall designate on the written rental agreement an agent residing on the same island where the unit is located to act in the owner's or landlord's behalf. In the case of an oral rental agreement, the information shall be supplied to the tenant, on demand, in a written statement.
(g) Subsections (a) and (b) to the contrary notwithstanding, the information required to be disclosed to a tenant, instead of being disclosed in the manner described in subsections (a) and (b), may be disclosed as follows:
(1) In each multi-unit single-owner dwelling structure containing an elevator, a printed or typewritten notice containing the information required by subsections (a) and (b) shall be placed and continuously maintained in every elevator and in one other conspicuous place;
(2) In each multi-unit single-owner dwelling structure not containing an elevator, a printed or typewritten notice containing the information required by subsections (a) and (b) shall be placed and continuously maintained in at least two conspicuous places;
(3) In each multi-unit dwelling structure, a printed or typewritten notice containing the information required by subsections (a) and (b) shall be posted within the unit in a conspicuous place.
(h) Landlords shall provide their general excise tax number to all tenants for the purpose of filing for a low-income tax credit. [L 1972, c 132, pt of §1; am L 1974, c 180, §2; am L 1975,c 33, §1 and c 104, §1; am L 1976, c 90, §2; gen ch 1985; am L 1988, c 307, §3]
§521-44 Security deposits.
(a) As used in this section "security deposit" means money deposited by or for the tenant with the landlord to be held by the landlord to:
(1) Remedy tenant defaults for accidental or intentional damages resulting from failure to comply with section 521-51, for failure to pay rent due, or for failure to return all keys furnished by the landlord at the termination of the rental agreement;
(2) Clean the dwelling unit or have it cleaned at the termination of the rental agreement so as to place the condition of the dwelling unit in as fit a condition as that which the tenant entered into possession of the dwelling unit; and
(3) Compensate for damages caused by a tenant who wrongfully quits the dwelling unit.
(b) The landlord may require as a condition of a rental agreement a security deposit to be paid by or for the tenant for the items in subsection (a) and no others, in an amount not in excess of a sum equal to one month's rent. The landlord may not require or receive from or on behalf of a tenant at the beginning of a rental agreement any money other than the money for the first month's rent and a security deposit as provided in this section. The security deposit shall not be construed as payment of the last month's rent by the tenant, unless mutually agreed upon, in writing, by the landlord and tenant if the tenant gives forty-five days' notice of vacating the premises; in entering such agreement, the landlord shall not be deemed to have waived the right to pursue legal remedies against the tenant for any damages the tenant causes. Any such security deposit shall be held by the landlord for the tenant and the claim of the tenant to the security deposit shall be prior to the claim of any creditor of the landlord, including a trustee in bankruptcy, even if the security deposits are commingled.
(c) At the termination of a rental agreement in which the landlord required and received a security deposit if the landlord proposes to retain any amount of the security deposit for any of the purposes specified in subsection (a), the landlord shall so notify the tenant, in writing, unless the tenant had wrongfully quit the dwelling unit, together with the particulars of and grounds for the retention, including written evidence of the costs of remedying tenant defaults, such as estimates or invoices for material and services or of the costs of cleaning, such as receipts for supplies and equipment or charges for cleaning services. The security deposit, or the portion of the security deposit remaining after the landlord has claimed and retained amounts authorized under this section, if any, shall be returned to the tenant not later than fourteen days after the termination of the rental agreement. If the landlord does not furnish the tenant with the written notice and other information required by this subsection, within fourteen days after the termination of the rental agreement, the landlord shall not be entitled to retain the security deposit or any part of it, and the landlord shall return the entire amount of the security deposit to the tenant. A return of the security deposit or the furnishing of the written notice and other required information in compliance with the requirements of this subsection shall be presumptively proven if mailed to the tenant, at an address supplied to the landlord by the tenant, with acceptable proof of mailing and postmarked before midnight of the fourteenth day after the date of the termination of the rental agreement or if there is an acknowledgment by the tenant of receipt within the fourteen-day limit. All actions for the recovery of a landlord's complete or partial retention of the security deposit shall be instituted not later than one year after termination of the rental agreement.
(d) For the purposes of this section if a tenant is absent from the dwelling unit for a continuous period of twenty days or more without written notice to the landlord the tenant shall be deemed to have wrongfully quit the dwelling unit; provided that the tenant shall not be considered to be absent from the dwelling unit without notice to the landlord during any period for which the landlord has received payment of rent. In addition to any other right or remedy the landlord has with respect to such a tenant the landlord may retain the entire amount of any security deposit the landlord has received from or on behalf of such tenant.
(e) The landlord shall not require the delivery of any postdated check or other negotiable instrument to be used for payment of rent.
(f) If the landlord who required and received a security deposit transfers the landlord's interest in the dwelling unit, whether by sale, assignment, death, appointment of a receiver, or otherwise, the landlord's successor in interest is bound by this section. The original landlord shall provide an accounting of the security deposits received for each dwelling unit to the landlord's successor at or before the time of the transfer of the landlord's interest; within twenty days thereafter the landlord's successor shall give written notice to each tenant of the amount of the security deposit credited to the tenant. In the event the landlord's successor fails to satisfy the requirements of this subsection, it shall be presumed that the tenant has paid a security deposit equal to no less than one month's rent at the rate charged when the tenant originally rented the dwelling unit and the landlord's successor shall be bound by this amount in all further matters relating to the security deposit.
(g) If the landlord and the tenant disagree about the right of the landlord to claim and retain the security deposit or any portion of it, either the landlord or the tenant may commence an action in the small claims division of the district court, as provided in chapter 633 and the rules of court thereunder, to adjudicate the matter.
(h) In any action in the small claims division of the district court pursuant to subsection (g) where the court determines that:
(1) The landlord wrongfully and wilfully retained a security deposit or part of a security deposit, the court may award the tenant damages in an amount equal to three times the amount of the security deposit, or part thereof, wrongfully and wilfully retained and the cost of suit.
(2) The landlord wrongfully retained a security deposit or part of a security deposit, the court shall award the tenant damages in an amount equal to the amount of the security deposit, or part thereof, wrongfully retained and the cost of suit.
(3) The landlord was entitled to retain the security deposit or a part of it, the court shall award the landlord damages in an amount equal to the amount of the security deposit, or part thereof, in dispute and the cost of suit.
(4) In any such action, neither the landlord nor the tenant may be represented by an attorney, including salaried employees of the landlord or tenant. [L 1972, c 132, pt of §1; am L 1974, c 180, §3; am L 1975, c 101, §1; gen ch 1985; am L 1986, c 12, §1; am L 1987, c 170, §1 and c 282, §1; am L 1989, c 169, §1]

Case Notes
Cited: 60 H. 52, 587 P.2d 807.

Hawaii Legal Reporter Citations
If landlord fails to give the 14-day notice, tenant is entitled to the security deposit, but landlord is not precluded, upon proof, from being awarded damages.  77-1 HLR 76-147.
Filing by tenants of claim for return of deposit is not a sufficient reason for landlord to fail to give the required notice of retention of deposit. 77-1 HLR 76-337.
When tenant remained on premises for three extra days, landlord's notification period was also extended. 77-1 HLR 76-343.
A sublessor is required to notify a subtenant of retention of security deposit.  77-1 HLR 77-295.  Landlord's notice of retention of deposit though given four days after the 14-day requirement was in substantial compliance with the statute since landlord acted in good faith.  77-1 HLR 77-421.
"Wrongful" retention and "wilful" retention construed.  77-2 HLR 77-553.
§521-45 Limitation of landlord and management liability.
(a) Unless otherwise agreed, a landlord who conveys premises which include a dwelling unit subject to a rental agreement in a good faith sale to a person not connected with the landlord discloses, in writing, in any form of contract for the sale of such premises is relieved of liability under the rental agreement and under this chapter as to events occurring subsequent to the conveyance.
(b) The new owner who purchases the premises referred to in subsection (a) is liable under the rental agreement and under this chapter.
(c) Unless otherwise agreed, a person who is a manager of premises which include a dwelling unit subject to a rental agreement is relieved of liability under the rental agreement and under this chapter as to events occurring subsequent to the termination of the person's management. [L 1972, c 132, pt of §1; am L 1976, c 90, §3; gen ch 1985]
Page last modified 09-09-2005 03:55 PM
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