If a Kailua-Kona condo is listed as a "legal vacation rental," what exactly does the buyer get at closing? The keys, the furniture and the booking calendar all come with the sale. The thing that makes nightly rentals lawful on many Kona properties is a different matter. It is a set of County filings, and each one has its own deadline. One of them can't be replaced if it lapses.
Hawaiʻi County's countywide transient vacation rental registration system opened in September 2026, and the County posted on Sept. 7 that the online portal was live. That added a new layer on top of the 2018 rules for unhosted rentals. A sale now starts two deadlines, and a third keeps running on its own date through escrow.
The deadline with no second chance
Start with the Nonconforming Use Certificate, or NUC. Under the County's 2018 framework, an unhosted short-term vacation rental outside the permitted zoning districts needs an NUC to keep operating. The County Planning Department's TVR Registration FAQ says plainly that "the 2018 window to obtain an NUC has closed." No new certificates are being issued, so the existing ones are the only ones there will be.
Planning Department Rule 23, Section 23-13, sets the renewal terms:
- An NUC must be renewed every year, on or before the expiration date printed on the certificate.
- The Department accepts renewal applications no earlier than 90 days and no later than 15 days before that date.
- The Department sends no reminder notices.
- A late renewal application isn't accepted. Missing the expiration date counts as "voluntary forfeiture of the Certificate, rendering the Certificate ineligible for renewal."
- The renewal must include proof that the property was used as a short-term vacation rental within the previous 12 months. Without that proof, the application is automatically denied.
The renewal packet also includes a $250 non-refundable fee, a notarized STVR Affidavit of Compliance, a County Real Property Tax Clearance Certificate, and proof that State General Excise and Transient Accommodations taxes are paid in full. The Director may also deny a renewal for things like building, electrical or plumbing permits that were never secured and finalized for the dwelling.
A sale is when this deadline is most likely to slip. The certificate expires on the same date whether or not the property has changed hands. The renewal window is 75 days long and closes 15 days before expiration. Depending on when escrow closes, it can be the seller's job, the buyer's job, or already finished.
Three deadlines, side by side
| Deadline | What starts it | What's due | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | Change in ownership | Written notice to the Planning Director with the conveyance document, a notarized Affidavit of Compliance, reachable-person contact, the STVR registration number and a copy of the NUC if one exists | Rule 23 |
| 90 days | Change in ownership | The new owner must register, or the rental becomes unregistered | Ordinance 25-50, Sec. 6-45(d) |
| Annual NUC window | The certificate's own expiration date | Renewal filed 90 to 15 days before expiration, with proof of rental use in the past 12 months | Rule 23, Sec. 23-13 |
The 30-day notice and the 90-day registration both count from the change in ownership. The NUC window is set by the expiration date on the certificate, so where it falls depends on when escrow happens to close.
How the deadlines collide around a closing
Here are three ways a single timeline can play out.
The NUC expires shortly after closing. Say a certificate expires ten days after recording. Its renewal window closed five days before the buyer owned anything. If the seller didn't file during the window, Rule 23 treats the certificate as forfeited. The buyer can't fix that afterward.
The renewal window opens during escrow. The seller still owns the property and has every reason to file. But the renewal affidavit and the tax clearance carry the owner's name, and the property is about to change owners. The purchase timeline and the renewal timeline have to be worked out together. Leaving it until after closing doesn't work.
Bookings stop while the property is for sale. Sellers sometimes stop taking reservations so they can stage the home, show it, or hand it over empty. Renewal requires proof of short-term rental use within the previous 12 months, and failing that is an automatic denial. A long gap that starts before the listing and continues through a slow sale can run into that rule.
The 90-day registration deadline has its own order of steps. The County FAQ tells owners to register with the State Department of Taxation for General Excise Tax and Transient Accommodations Tax before registering the rental. County registration asks for an active GET license and TAT registration, current County property taxes, and building, electrical and plumbing permit numbers for the rental buildings. A buyer from out of state who waits until after closing to set up state tax accounts is using up the 90 days.
Which Kona properties need an NUC at all
Not every Kona rental depends on a certificate. Rule 23 lists the "Permitted Zoning Districts" where unhosted rentals are allowed outright:
- Resort, or V
- General Commercial, or CG
- Village Commercial, or CV
- Residential and commercial districts within General Plan Resort and Resort Node areas
- Multiple-Family Residential, or RM, for multiple-family dwellings within a condominium property regime
The fifth item matters a lot in Kona. Many condo buildings along Aliʻi Drive sit in multiple-family zoning. Under Rule 23, a unit in an RM-zoned building formed as a condominium property regime is in a permitted district. An RM-zoned property that isn't a CPR doesn't qualify on the same terms. The same street can hold properties on both sides of that line, so zoning and CPR status have to be checked for each property.
The County FAQ also says that someone who rents out a whole home, doesn't live there, and never registered should contact the Planning Department first, because "registration does not legalize an unpermitted use."
What the new registration does, and what it doesn't
Ordinance 25-50 requires every transient vacation rental, hosted or unhosted, to be registered before it operates. A short-term vacation rental registered under the earlier code is "deemed separately registered," so sellers with existing STVR registrations or NUCs didn't have to start over in September. That deemed status belongs to the current owner. Under Section 6-45(d), "Registration expires ninety days after a change in ownership of the property occurs, and any TVR not theretofore registered by the new owner shall be unregistered."
The County FAQ lists the fees for an unhosted rental as $500 to register and $250 a year to renew. It also lists what the law leaves alone. It doesn't change zoning, it doesn't cap the number of rentals, and it is "not a permit."
Enforcement is aimed at booking platforms. Platforms must register with the County, report their Hawaiʻi Island listings every month with TMK and registration numbers, show registration numbers on listings, and remove unregistered listings when ordered. The FAQ treats advertising a property as a vacation rental as evidence that it is operating as one. Operating without registration can bring fines of $1,000 to $10,000 or more, with daily penalties, court action and liens possible for continued violations. In practice, a new owner's listing that goes live on day 91 without a current registration number is exposed.
The rollout has some slack for now. Big Island Now reported in July that Bill 175 would suspend registration-violation fees from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2026, and move administration of the program from Finance to Planning. The County Council record shows Bill 175 adopted 9-0 at second reading on Sept. 2 as Ordinance No. 2026-063. If the waiver works as reported, it ends with the calendar year. It doesn't change the NUC renewal rules, which come from Rule 23.
There's also Bill 147, introduced by Council Member Heather Kimball. It would add islandwide operating standards, update where each type of rental is allowed, and require building permits to be completed for any space that is rented. The County FAQ describes it as "not law yet." It was amended to Draft 2 in a Council committee on Oct. 6, 2026. Anyone pricing a Kona rental for the long term should follow its progress on the County's TVR page.
Paperwork to line up before closing
On a Kona property marketed as an existing vacation rental, these are the documents that tie the deadlines to dates on a calendar:
- The STVR registration number and any NUC, with the expiration date printed on the certificate.
- The seller's most recent NUC renewal filing, or the County's renewal approval if the window already passed this year.
- Booking records covering the past 12 months, since that is the renewal's proof-of-use period.
- The zoning district and, for a condo, confirmation that the building is a condominium property regime.
- Building, electrical and plumbing permit numbers for the rental space, which the registration asks for.
- The buyer's own State GET license and TAT registration, set up early enough to register within 90 days of closing.
Rental income is subject to the State General Excise Tax, the State Transient Accommodations Tax, which is 11% as of Jan. 1, 2026, and the Hawaiʻi County TAT of 3%. Those rates belong in the pro forma along with the County fees.
Quick answers
Does a tenant who stays six months count? No. A TVR is a rental of less than 180 consecutive days. A stay of 180 days or longer is not a TVR and needs no TVR registration.
Will the County remind an owner that the NUC is coming due? No. Rule 23 says the Department won't send reminder notices.
Where do Kona owners take zoning, NUC and registration questions? The Planning Department's West Hawaiʻi office is at 74-5044 Ane Keohokālole Hwy in Kailua-Kona, phone 808-323-4770.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Please confirm how these rules apply to a specific property with the Planning Department, a real estate attorney and your tax professional.
If you're looking at a Kona condo or home that comes with an existing vacation rental, Noelani Spencer can help you put the NUC expiration date, the 30-day notice and the 90-day registration on one calendar before you set a closing date. She brings hands-on vacation rental operations experience and a local vendor network to that conversation. Let's connect, and request your free home valuation if you're on the selling side of one of these properties.
