The January 22, 2019 County of Kauai press release announced that the Kauai Planning Commission approved a decision to fine owners of an illegal Wailua transient vacation rental $130,000. The County of Kauai news release Jan 22, 2019.
Why do we post this?
The County of Kauai has zoned certain areas of Kauai as "VDA", which stands for Visitor Destination Areas. A Transient Vacation Rental aka "TVR" is prohibited in all areas not designated as VDA zoned areas, UNLESS the TVR owner has obtained a permit to operate outside of the VDA zoned area. Throughout the years, some homeowners on Kauai have illegally operated TVR units, because rental income from short term properties provided more income than long term rentals AND because fines for the illegal operation was not enforced OR the fines enforced were not substantial enough to shut down the short term rental operation.
HOWEVER, with the new Kauai County administration, things may be changing. This is the largest fine that we are aware of for this kind of activity. And announcing it as a County of Kauai press release tells us that this administration is serious about cracking down on illegal TVRs. Stay tuned…..
