Honolulu - City Council Bill 85 amd Bill 89 fiasco

[Aunty0]

I wanted to start a conversation with fellow hosts in Honolulu, HI.   How do you feel about the recent bills?

Here's my response to another thread....

"Im not too worried....  Bill 85 and 89 (has anyone read it yet?) have legalese that contradict each other.   While the City approved it... the mayor hasn't signed it into law yet.   He may lean to sign Bill 89.   

Besides, the City doesn't have the manpower to cite homes.   In order to be cited, a huge burden of proof lies on the City... a contract (airbnb payment/receipt) has to be found as evidence among other things.  People going in an out of a house is not grounds for citation.  The City has to have a huge burden of proof to sue.  They can't even get records from Airbnb!  So don't buy into the scare mongering/propaganda.  

So I tell my guests that  if anyone(city inspector) approaches them ... first tell that person to get off my private property and have the conversation on public property (street/sidewalk)

then feign ignorance, not say anything,  and pretent to not know what Airbnb is and at worst say they're just house sitting.

Besides,  an attorney will sue the City based on the contradiction and that'll be tied up in court for a long while.  That lawyer is gonna walk away with a pretty penny on the backs of the Hawaiian taxpayers..

It seems that this is all political theater to have us look away from the failed rail, failed prosector dept,  and 'Save Sherwoods' scandals.  

I'm surprised how ignorant Hawaiian citizens are.... they can write formal letter of complaints to the Hawaii State Bar to get rid of these corrupt judges and lawyers.  Watch dog groups in Boston, Massachusetts and across the country do this on the daily.  Hawaiian politicians are only "getting away" with it because Hawaiian citizens don't seem to know how public office works or hold their own officials accountable."

[Jeremy383]

Has anyone actually contacted the Department of Planning and Permitting for a no BS answer? I think the vast majority of hosts understand that as of Aug 1, advertising is illegal. There is zero mention in the Q&A or bill about future bookings made prior to Aug 1. So the key questions that's burning from everyone's lips is, "can we LEGALLY honor guests that booked prior to Aug 1 that arrive after Aug 1.

I also want to point out that I don't anticipate a straight forward answer from the Department of Planning and Permitting also. If you read the FAQ from the URL below, there is a new highlighted area addressing letters that people have received (I'm one of them).  The DPP suggests these names come from "hits" on the web. I am more inclined to think that Airbnb actually co-operated and handed over information.

http://www.honolulu.gov/rep/site/dpp/str/faqs.pdf

[Kimo2]

Jeremy, The DPP has put out in press conferences and in writing on their website that any rentals less than 30 days (without a nuc or in a resort zone) are illegal.  They don't care how the guests or hosts will be inconvenienced.  In fact the Hawaii Tourism Association is circulating letters to get guests to cancel."Don't worry there are plenty of reasonably priced vacation rentals in Waikiki."

[Lauren615]

Aloha, Jeremy - With regard to existing bookings after 8/1, below is from DPP Q&A document:

I have bookings through the rest of the year. What should I do?

If you are legally operating, you can go about your business as usual. If you are rentingfor less than 30 days, don’t have a NUC, aren’t in a resort area, the decision is yours asto whether to continue the illegal use. But beginning August 1, we will vigorously enforce Ord. 19-18.

As to how the city got the data for the courtesy letters, it's been reported that the main strategy used a tool that converted pins on the Airbnb maps to actual addresses...thus accounting for some of the inaccuracies.  I'm sure Airbnb intends to do everything they can to protect their/our data (although they haven't said much and although they've lost this same battle in other cities.)  But the data that was used to send the letters is readily available and up for grabs.  

[Adam-and-Jessica0]

I contacted Matt Middlebrook (the Hawaii Airbnb representative) a couple weeks ago to see if they were going to issue any statement/info to Hawaii hosts. He said they were working on something, but with tomorrow being the last day before the new Les take effect it seems to me even if they do it’s a bit too little too late.  I don’t know about the rest of you but im pretty disappointed in the way Airbnb has handles the whole fiasco. 

[Ritarsha0]

It’s after 01Aug, what did you all decide to do for those rentals booked before 01Aug, less than 30 days?

[Jonathan886]

So what happened?

[Larry8]

And then there is this:

Airbnb, Inc. has received a subpoena from the Hawaii Department of Taxation to provide certain records associated with your listing(s) in Hawaii. This subpoena was the subject of a legal proceeding in court, and the parties stipulated to limit the production of records in response to the subpoena, which was approved in a court order. Pursuant to Airbnb Policy, we are providing this notice to you as the account holder whose records appear to be the subject of the legal demand.

Airbnb must respond to this demand and provide responsive documents on February 28th. If you have questions for the Department of Taxation about their demand, you should direct them to the Hawaii Department of Taxation at taxpayer.services@hawaii.gov or by phone at (808) 587-4242. A copy of the subpoena (without attachments) and the court-approved stipulation is available here. Records about this Airbnb account will be produced as described in Part 1 of the subpoena, as limited by paragraph 4 of the stipulation.

If you or your representative apply to a Court with a motion to quash the legal demand, to obtain a protective order preventing or imposing conditions on the potential production of records, or seeking any other relief related to this legal demand, please let us know and forward a copy of your application to us by no later than February 27. You should send a copy of your filed legal application to Airbnb both via email to legalnotices-no-reply@airbnb.com and to the following address:

Airbnb, Inc.

Corporation Service Company, CSC-Lawyers Inc.,

2710 Gateway Oaks Drive, Suite 150N

Sacramento, CA, 95833

Otherwise, we will produce records in response to the legal demand on February 28th.

Thank you,

The Airbnb team

‌A‌i‌r‌b‌n‌b‌,‌ ‌I‌n‌c‌.‌,‌ ‌8‌8‌8‌ ‌B‌r‌a‌n‌n‌a‌n‌ ‌S‌t‌,‌ ‌S‌a‌n‌ ‌F‌r‌a‌n‌c‌i‌s‌c‌o‌,‌ ‌C‌A‌ ‌9‌4‌1‌0‌3‌

[Paul1416]

Larry,

how did you receive the above? Are or were you doing business on Oahu?