Facing Eviction in Hawaii: What Can I Do?
This page covers the notices a Hawaii landlord must send before an eviction case, and what happens in court. It also covers when your landlord may not evict you. Check your own notice and dates against these rules.
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Your landlord may demand unpaid rent in a written notice. The notice must give you at least 10 calendar days after you receive it to pay. If you do not pay in that time, the rental agreement will end. If you are still behind, your landlord may bring a court case to take possession of your home.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Your landlord may post the rent notice in a conspicuous (easy to see) place on your home. Then it counts as received on the day it is posted. Your landlord may instead mail it by United States Postal Service. If it is properly addressed and has postage, it counts as received 2 business days after the postmark (the date stamped by the post office). The mail rule does not apply if the letter is returned as undeliverable (could not be delivered).
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Your landlord must send a copy of the rent notice to a state-funded mediation center. It offers free mediation (a meeting with a neutral person who helps you and your landlord reach an agreement). The mediation is for landlord-tenant matters. If you schedule mediation, your landlord must take part.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Say a mediation center schedules mediation (a meeting with a neutral person who helps you and your landlord reach an agreement) within the 10-calendar-day period. If you take part, your landlord can file the eviction case only after 20 calendar days from the day you received the notice. The 20-day wait does not apply if you fail to appear or you cancel.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Your landlord may end your rental agreement for material noncompliance (a failure that matters) with building and housing laws that materially affect health and safety. First, the landlord must notify you in writing. The notice must give you a set time to fix the problem. The time must be at least 10 days after you receive it. No time to fix is needed if the problem causes or threatens irremediable (cannot be fixed) damage to any person or property.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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If you rent month-to-month, your landlord may end your rental agreement by notifying you in writing at least 45 days before the end date. When your landlord gives this notice, you may move out at any time in the last 45 days. You must tell your landlord your move-out date and pay prorated rent (rent for only that period) for that time.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Say your rental agreement ends and you stay without your landlord's consent. Your landlord may bring a court case to recover possession during the first 60 days of holdover (staying after the end date). Suppose there is no rental agreement. If the landlord does not start the case in those 60 days, a month-to-month rental begins. The rent is the old monthly rent.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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If your landlord accepts rent while an eviction case is going on, that does not mean the landlord accepts you as a tenant. If the eviction case succeeds, the rent you paid counts as payment for keeping the home from the landlord.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Your landlord may not remove you or keep you out of your home overnight without cause or a court order. If that happens, you may get your home back or end the rental agreement.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Say your landlord removes you or keeps you out overnight without cause or a court order. You may recover 2 months rent or live there free for that long. You may also recover the cost of suit, including reasonable attorney's fees. With $1,500 rent, 2 months rent is $3,000. You get this money only if you win your case and your landlord pays.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Say you complain in good faith about conditions that break a health law or regulation (a government rule). You can complain to your landlord, the department of health, the building department, or the office of consumer protection. A government agency for landlord-tenant disputes also counts. Then your landlord may not take you to court to get your home back, make you leave, ask for more rent, or cut your services. This holds while you pay the usual rent or show receipts for rent you lawfully held back. One caution: for very bad conditions, an inspector can condemn the home (order it closed). Then everyone must leave.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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After you in good faith ask for repairs, your landlord may not take you to court to get your home back. Your landlord may not make you leave, ask for more rent, or cut your services. A repair request can be a written notice that a condition takes away much of what your rental agreement gave you. It can be a written notice of a broken condition that materially fails the rental agreement. The protection lasts while you pay the usual rent or show receipts for rent you lawfully held back.
Hawaii Revised Statutes HRS § 521-63(a) Hawaii Revised Statutes HRS § 521-74(a) Hawaii Revised Statutes HRS § 521-64(c)✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Your landlord may still recover possession (get your home back) after a complaint, among other reasons. One reason is that the landlord in good faith seeks possession for immediate use. The use must be as the landlord's own home or that of the landlord's immediate family. Another is that the landlord seeks in good faith to substantially alter, remodel, or demolish (tear down) the property.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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Say your landlord breaks the retaliation rule and you lose your home or are forced out against your will. You may recover the losses you suffered and the cost of suit, including reasonable attorney's fees. That is money the landlord must pay you. You get this money only if you win your case and your landlord pays.
✓ Sources checked October 2, 2026
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