Hipcamp?

[dobanion]

Considering investing in remote property on island, putting up a compost toilet, some tent platforms, and using Hipcamp to provide some income.

Anyone know the legal ramifications? State/county come down hard like with AirBnbs? There's a surprisingly low selection (currently) on island.

[ChunksterK]

The county had been doing its best even prior to the pandemic to stamp out any alternative accommodation business opportunities for local property owners. Most famously, they banned vacation rentals outside resort zoned areas, but grudgingly grandfathered in most existing ones. Your concept would probably run up against permitting issues of several types. Enforcement, however, is always an open question. Most permit type enforcement is complaint driven, so if your location is remote enough or you have easygoing neighbors, you might get by. I don't know if the county has someone trolling all the alternative accommodation websites looking for unlicensed operations or not. If they do, they are probably not very thorough or particularly competent. (It is the county, after all.) There would always be some risk, though.

[Carey]

During the COVID Emergency Rules times, do not even bother thinking about it.
Not only does the county actively search electronic platforms during normal times (& many previous listed Vacation Rentals that were not able to get their STVR credentials approved were noted by our county & many have been removed from online platforms in the last year), during COVID times, you also have a few quarantine watch groups that are also checking.
Of course, if you want a bunch of people noticing that you are doing this, now is the time to shine a spotlight on your operation!
https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2020/...ii-island/

[dobanion]

Of course, during COVID I have no plans. This is a year out, at least.

I'm very well aware of the stamp down, just wondering if anyone is familiar with the wording of the law enough to state if it would extend to renting campsites. The property in question is well off the beaten path and is not directly visible to any homes or neighbors.

"“Short-term vacation rental” means a dwelling unit of which the owner or operator does not reside on the building site, that has no more than five bedrooms for rent on the building site, and is rented for a period of thirty consecutive days or less. This definition does not include the short-term use of an owner’s primary residence as defined under section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code.”

This rather narrow definition seems to then permit several things that are not regulated by the ordinance:

1. Renting out rooms or dwellings when the owner resides on the building site. Bed and breakfasts.
2. Renting out the entirety of your primary residence. Going to a friends house while people are staying in your primary residence.
3. Renting out a section of property that is not a dwelling unit. In my case, a campsite.

[TeaTree]

I do think that you'll run into camping areas still coming under the heading of dwellings. If I'm right about that, you would have to live on the premises to be able to run short-term rental of the space, or you could rent it month-month without living on the premises. And that's all if you're going through Hipcamp or Airbnb (which also does campsites). You can always just try word-of-mouth advertising.

dobanion "My next step is to try and contact the few people that are currently advertising their places on Hipcamp."
I would be very interested in what you find out if you're successful in contacting these people. I hope you'll post the results here?

[kalakoa]

See HCC 15-39 (camping allowed at specific parks), 15-42 (allowed activities), 15-43, 15-46, 15-47, 15-48 (permit required, must have own permit, cancellation, must display permit), 15-44 (time limits), 15-45 (assigned spaces).

Vacation rental regulations might also apply -- first rule of Hawaii, all investigations are complaint-driven and all the rules are whatever they feel like, enforcement depends on what your bloodline is and who your friends are.

[terracore]

There is a work-around for any regulation.

Selling eggs for human consumption is illegal unless it's an approved facility. If there is a rooster on the farm, you're selling fertile eggs for "hatching". No rooster on the farm? You're selling an egg carton. The eggs inside, not for human consumption, are there to demonstrate how the carton is intended to be used.

Selling raw milk for any type of consumption is illegal. But raw milk makes an excellent compost addition.

Meat from an unlicensed facility? No way, this carcass if for research or cinematography purposes only. It also makes an excellent compost addition.

Renting out camp sites is illegal, but what about a 72-hour AG property farm tour? Although the tent and other facilities are not included in the price, there is no prohibition against using them either.

[kalakoa]

Ag tourism has its own set of requirements, notably that your fully-permitted ag operation must be reachable by public road or a privately-owned road that you own (or have recorded access easement) and which meets all relevant standards.

There is one loophole they haven't closed yet: "short term" means a rental contract for less than 30 days -- nothing requires the tenant to actually stay for the full 30 days.

[terracore]

Could someone write a "long-term" rental contract that is $100 per day for the first 7 (or whatever) days, and then increasing to $1,000 per day thereafter unless the tenant voluntarily breaks the lease?

[dobanion]

Sheesh. You can really see the uniquely Hawaiian governmental avoidance practices poking through on this thread.

I like it.