An Oʻahu teacher’s futile apartment hunt shows how bad the rental market is

Policymakers are grappling with the harsh reality that, under the current landlord-tenant code, landlords can ask tenants to leave at the end of a lease for any reason, or no reason at all.

For fixed-term leases, of say a year, it’s recommended that landlords give tenants notice that the landlord doesn’t intend to renew at the end of the year. For month-to-month leases like Lau has, landlords must give at least 45 days notice. 

Some lawmakers say that needs to change. 

“We need to move away from a landlord-tenant code that so disproportionately benefits landlords,” says Rep. Amy Perruso.

She was part of a coalition of lawmakers who this past session introduced a bill to change that. For people on month-to-month leases, the bill would have increased the notice requirement to 90 days from the current 45. 

Such a bill would have given a little extra breathing room to someone like Lau. who already has what amounts to 75 days’ notice.

But Perruso and lawmakers in 2023 had introduced an even more ambitious bill. It provided a sort of rent control, limiting increases landlords could impose when renewing a lease. Also, according to the bill, landlords choosing not to renew leases would have had to provide relocation assistance to tenants being forced to move. The measure died without a hearing.

Forcing someone to leave their home at the end of a lease isn’t technically an eviction, said Arjuna Heim, director of housing policy for the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice. But she said it can be just as disruptive, especially with Hawaiʻi’s tight rental market.

“What is this person’s alternative?” she said. “Is it moving to the mainland?”