Housing · Warranty of habitability

Warranty of Habitability in Hawaii

What a landlord in Hawaii must keep livable, and your remedy when they do not: whether you can withhold or escrow rent, or must use another route. This is the landlord duty behind the repair-and-deduct remedy. Cited to the statute.

Confirmedagainst Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42 · checked against a mirror of the official code (Cornell LII / Justia)Reviewed by Cholilurrohman · July 2026

Warranty of habitability · Hawaii

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42 gives one of the thinnest habitability lists in the country, with no heat duty and only cold running water. After written notice under § 521-63 the landlord gets one week to fix the problem, and § 521-64 supplies an unusually generous repair-and-deduct remedy.

Thin enumerated duty, repair-and-deduct

Withhold rent?Thin enumerated duty, repair-and-deduct

Hawaii notice periodOne week to cure after written notice

StatuteHaw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42

What the warranty of habitability covers in Hawaii

What the landlord must maintain, whether you can withhold or escrow rent, and the limits on the remedy.

What the law says	What it means
An enumerated statutory duty	Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42 requires the landlord to comply with building and housing laws affecting health and safety, keep the common areas of a multi-dwelling premises clean and safe, make all repairs to keep the unit habitable, maintain electrical, plumbing, and other supplied facilities in good working order, provide trash removal except for a single-family residence, and supply running water except for a single-family residence.
The thinnest facilities list in the country	Item four names only electrical, plumbing, and other facilities. It leaves out sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and elevators, all of which sibling states include. The water item covers running water only, with no mention of hot water, and is switched off entirely for single-family homes.
A generous repair-and-deduct	Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-64 gives one of the most generous repair-and-deduct remedies in the country, the greater of $1,000 or one month’s rent, up to three months’ rent per six-month period. It requires two written signed estimates and seven days’ notice. See our repair-and-deduct page for the details.

Where it does not apply	What it means
Written notice and one week	Under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-63 the tenant gives written notice, and if the landlord does not remedy the situation within one week the tenant may terminate the rental agreement. One week is among the shortest cure periods in this research, against the fourteen days that is the common norm.
Single-family carve-outs	The trash-removal and running-water duties do not apply to a single-family residence. So for a stand-alone house the statutory supply duties are even thinner than for a multi-unit building.
Tenant-caused conditions	The duty is about the landlord’s failure to maintain, subject to reasonable wear and tear. It does not cover damage the tenant or a guest caused.

No federal habitability law

There is no national warranty of habitability. Whether a landlord must keep a rental livable, and what a tenant can do about a breach, is decided state by state. Hawaii sets a duty in Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42, but a notably thin one.

No heat, no hot water, no cooling

Heat appears nowhere in § 521-42, which is unremarkable for the climate but means the statute has no heat supply duty. There is no hot water duty either, and no cooling duty. The stronger Hawaii story is the absence of any hot water duty, not the absence of cooling.

A move-in inventory presumption

Section 521-42 also requires a written inventory of the premises before initial occupancy, signed by both parties. Where no inventory was made, the condition is presumed unchanged from move-in when the tenancy ends, a presumption that runs against the landlord on a deposit dispute.

What you can do right now

Concrete, neutral steps when a rental in Hawaii is not being kept livable. This is legal information, not legal advice.

Put the problem in writing
Describe the defect in writing to the landlord, date it, and keep a copy. Written notice under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-63 starts the one-week clock.
Document the condition
Take photos or video, keep any inspection reports, and save your messages with the landlord. Keep your move-in inventory too, since it can matter on a later deposit dispute.
Line up estimates before you repair and deduct
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-64 is generous but has conditions. Get two written signed estimates and give seven days’ notice before you repair and deduct, and stay within the greater of $1,000 or one month’s rent, up to three months’ rent per six-month period.
Get Hawaii tenant help
A local legal-aid office or Legal Aid Society of Hawaii can confirm the current statute text, which rests on a mirror here, and walk you through the notice and repair-and-deduct steps before you act.

Tenant help in Hawaii

Withholding rent the wrong way can risk eviction, so a legal aid office can confirm the exact notice and escrow steps before you stop paying.

→ Legal Aid Society of Hawaii

This is general legal information, not legal advice. The notice, the escrow account, and what counts as uninhabitable all matter, so confirm your situation against the statute before withholding rent.

What renters in Hawaii get wrong about habitability

Hawaii recognizes a landlord’s duty in Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42, but it is the thinnest habitability list in this research. The facilities item names only electrical, plumbing, and other facilities, leaving out sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and elevators that sibling states include. There is no heat duty anywhere in the section, which the climate makes unremarkable, and the supply duty covers running water only, with no hot water and none at all for a single-family residence. So while people notice that Hawaii has no cooling duty, the sharper point is that it has no hot water duty either. What Hawaii gives with one hand it takes seriously on remedy. The cure period under § 521-63 is just one week after written notice, among the shortest in the country, and the repair-and-deduct in § 521-64 is one of the most generous, reaching the greater of $1,000 or one month’s rent and up to three months’ rent per six-month period, subject to two written estimates and seven days’ notice. Section 521-42 also requires a signed move-in inventory, and where none was made the condition is presumed unchanged from move-in, which helps a tenant on a deposit dispute. Because the official state site was closed this session, the wording here rests on the FindLaw mirror and should be confirmed against the official code.

Common questions

Does Hawaii require a landlord to provide heat or hot water?

No. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42 has no heat duty at all, and its water item covers running water only, with no hot water. For a single-family residence the running-water duty does not even apply. This is the thinnest supply duty in our research.

How long does my Hawaii landlord get to fix a problem?

One week. Under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-63 you give written notice, and if the landlord does not remedy the situation within one week you may terminate the rental agreement. That is among the shortest cure periods of any state.

Can I repair and deduct in Hawaii?

Yes, and generously. Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-64 allows repair-and-deduct up to the greater of $1,000 or one month’s rent, and up to three months’ rent per six-month period. It requires two written signed estimates and seven days’ notice. See our repair-and-deduct page for the details.

Why does the move-in inventory matter in Hawaii?

Section 521-42 requires a signed written inventory before you move in. If none was made, the law presumes the condition is unchanged from move-in when you leave, which helps you if the landlord tries to keep your deposit for damage that was there at the start.

Primary source

→ Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42; Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 521-63, 521-64

Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-42 (FindLaw mirror) · codes.findlaw.com

Cholilurrohman
Every figure on this page is checked line-by-line against the current statute. Editorial standards →

Not legal advicePlainStatute provides plain-language summaries of public law for general information only. This is not legal advice. Statutes change; always confirm current requirements with the official source linked above before acting.

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