Hawaii Month-to-Month Lease: 45 Days From Landlords, 28 From You

Short answer: To end a Hawaii month to month lease, your landlord must give you written notice at least 45 days ahead, and you must give at least 28 days, under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-71. A rent increase also needs 45 consecutive days’ written notice under § 521-21(d), and the notice jumps to 120 days if the landlord plans demolition, a condo conversion, or vacation rentals.

Hawaii’s numbers are unusual. Few states use 28 days for tenants or 45 for landlords, and Hawaii counts both from the date of notice to the “anticipated termination,” not to the end of a rent period. That makes the date on your letter matter more than the date your rent is due.

Hawaii Month to Month Lease Rules in One Table

When You Are a Month-to-Month Tenant

Hawaii sets a default. Under § 521-22, a landlord and tenant may agree in writing to any term they like, but without such a written agreement the tenancy is month to month. Boarders are the exception: their default is week to week. So if you rent an ohana unit on a verbal understanding and pay monthly, the 45-day and 28-day rules apply to you.

Rent timing has defaults as well. Unless you agreed otherwise, § 521-21(b) makes the full rent for a term of a month or less payable at the start of the term, and § 521-21(c) makes rent apportionable from day to day. That daily proration is what lets Hawaii tie notice to a date rather than to a rent cycle.

Holding over after a lease, and the 60-day rule

Hawaii also tells you what happens when someone stays past the end of a lease without permission. Under § 521-71(e), a tenant who remains after the termination date without the landlord’s consent may owe up to twice the monthly rent under the old agreement, computed and prorated daily, for each day of holdover.

The same subsection gives the landlord 60 days to file a summary possession case. If the landlord does not start one within the first 60 days of holdover, and there is no rental agreement, a month-to-month tenancy at the old monthly rent takes effect when those 60 days end. That is the statutory route by which an expired lease can become month to month.

Notice Periods and How They Run

Both notice periods in § 521-71 must be in writing and count toward the “anticipated termination,” a date you or the landlord picks. They are not tied to the first of the month. The state’s Landlord-Tenant Handbook adds that neither side needs to give a reason for ending a month-to-month tenancy.

When you give notice, § 521-71(b) makes you responsible for rent through the 28th day. Leaving sooner does not shorten that obligation.

When the landlord gives notice, Hawaii adds a tenant-friendly twist. Under § 521-71(a), you may move out at any time within the 45-day window, as long as you tell the landlord your move-out date and pay prorated rent only for the days you actually stay. You are not stuck paying for the full 45 days if you find a new place quickly. The same flexibility applies inside the 120-day window in § 521-71(c).

The 120-day notice for redevelopment

If the landlord is ending a month-to-month tenancy because of voluntary demolition, conversion to a condominium property regime under chapter 514B, or a change to transient vacation rentals, § 521-71(c) requires at least 120 days’ written notice. If the landlord revokes or amends and reissues that notice, the 120 days restart from the reissue date.

Shorter-than-monthly tenancies

For tenancies of less than a month, such as week to week, § 521-71(d) lets either side end the arrangement with at least 10 days’ notice before the anticipated termination. The handbook notes that this shorter notice may be oral or written, though a written note is easier to prove.

Rent Increases on a Hawaii Month-to-Month

Hawaii has no rent control, as the state handbook puts it, so there is no limit on the size of an increase. What the law does set is notice. Under § 521-21(d), the landlord cannot raise rent on a month-to-month tenancy without written notice given 45 consecutive days before the increase takes effect. For tenancies shorter than month to month, § 521-21(e) requires 15 consecutive days.

A landlord cannot dodge those rules by sending a termination notice instead. Section 521-71(f) declares void any notice of termination meant to evade the rent-increase notice duties in § 521-21(d) or (e).

Retaliation is also barred. Section 521-74 says that as long as you keep paying the usual rent, a landlord may not seek possession, demand a rent increase, or cut services after you complain in good faith to the health department, a building department, the Office of Consumer Protection or the landlord about a code violation, or after you request repairs under §§ 521-63 or 521-64. That protection applies even with no written lease or an expired one. Section 521-74 lists exceptions, such as increases tied to substantial tax or cost increases, capital improvements, or rent that does not exceed comparable units.

Worked Example: A Hilo Cottage

Leilani rents a cottage in Hilo for $2,100 a month with no written lease, so § 521-22 makes her a month-to-month tenant. On March 3, 2027, her landlord gives her written notice ending the tenancy. Counting 45 days, the earliest valid termination date is April 17, 2027.

Leilani finds a new apartment sooner. She tells the landlord in writing that she will be out on April 5. Under § 521-71(a), she owes prorated rent for April 1 through April 5 rather than through April 17. If the landlord prorates over April’s 30 days, that is $70 a day, or $350.

Now flip it. If Leilani had decided on her own to move, and delivered written notice on May 10, § 521-71(b) would make her responsible for rent through the 28th day, June 7, 2027, even if she moved out earlier.

Our notice deadline calculator can count these windows for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why 28 days instead of 30 in Hawaii?

That is the period the legislature chose in § 521-71(b). It runs from your written notice to the termination date you name, and you owe rent through the 28th day.

Can my landlord give me 30 days’ notice to sell or redo the unit?

No. The minimum for a landlord is 45 days under § 521-71(a). If the reason is demolition, a condo conversion, or converting to transient vacation rentals, it is 120 days under § 521-71(c).

My landlord sent a termination notice right after I refused a rent increase. Is that allowed?

A termination notice sent to get around the 45-day rent-increase notice is void under § 521-71(f). If it followed a good-faith code complaint or repair request, § 521-74 may also bar it.

I stayed after my lease ended and the landlord never filed anything. What am I now?

If you stayed without consent, § 521-71(e) exposes you to up to double rent during the holdover. But if the landlord does not file for possession within the first 60 days and there is no rental agreement, a month-to-month tenancy at the old rent begins after day 60.

I rent a room in someone’s house. Do the monthly rules apply?

Possibly not. Section 521-22 makes boarders week to week by default, and § 521-71(d) lets either side end a tenancy shorter than month to month on 10 days’ notice.

Your next step: put the notice date on your calendar, count forward 28 or 45 days, and deliver a written, dated notice that names the termination date. See how Hawaii compares on our month-to-month lease laws by state page, read the Hawaii security deposit law guide before you hand back the keys, and check our overview of how much a landlord can raise rent. This is general information, not legal advice; for help with a specific notice, use LSC’s legal help finder to reach legal aid in Hawaii.

Sources

• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-71, Termination of tenancy; holdover remedies
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-21, Rent
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-22, Term of rental agreement
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-74, Retaliatory evictions and rent increases prohibited
• Hawaii Office of Consumer Protection, Landlord-Tenant Handbook
• Legal Services Corporation, Get Legal Help