Vacation Rental Management in Maui

Is my Maui condo affected by Bill 9?

Only if it sits in an A-1 or A-2 apartment district. Bill 9, now Ordinance 5909, removed vacation rental as a permitted use in those two zones. Hotel zones H-1, H-M and H-2 were never in scope, and permitted Short-Term Rental Homes, permitted Bed and Breakfasts, valid timeshares and uses under a variance are all expressly outside it. Some buildings are split-zoned and a few are split between towers that share a name, so the only reliable answer is a Zoning and Flood Confirmation Form on your specific Tax Map Key.

What are the actual deadlines?

West Maui has to stop by December 31, 2028. The rest of Maui County has until December 31, 2030. Early drafts of the bill carried 2025, 2026, 2028 and 2030 dates and those were all dropped before it passed.

What is the Minatoya list?

A 2001 opinion by then deputy corporation counsel Richard Minatoya concluded that certain apartment-zoned condominiums built or approved before 1989 kept the right to be rented to vacationers. That opinion let roughly 7,167 apartment-district units operate as vacation rentals for two decades, about 6,200 of which were actively renting when the County last counted. Ordinance 5909 removed the provision the opinion rested on, which is why the list matters now in a way it did not before.

Can my building be rezoned so it keeps renting?

Possibly. Bill 88 passed in June 2026 and created H-3 and H-4 hotel zones that convert from A-1 and A-2 and permit the vacation rental use that was legal the day before the phase-out. Roughly 104 buildings and 4,500 units are eligible. But Bill 88 rezoned nothing on its own. Each building goes through its own resolution, planning commission review and Council decision, and about 2,554 units are in that queue now. All three planning commissions recommended denial, so nothing is a formality, and owners were told the required studies cost $200,000 to $500,000 per building. That is an association decision, not an individual one. Ask your AOAO board where they stand before you assume anything either way.

Is Bill 9 being challenged in court?

Yes. Two suits were filed in Hawaii Second Circuit Court in December 2025. Malter v. Maui County was brought by Kaanapali Royal owners and Lynam v. County of Maui is a putative class action on behalf of all affected properties. Both argue vested property rights and an unconstitutional taking, and both sought to block enforcement. As far as we can establish no injunction has been granted and no ruling has been reported. The deadlines are live law today, and we would not advise anyone to plan around a litigation outcome. We are not attorneys.

What taxes do I pay on a Maui vacation rental?

Three transaction taxes. State Transient Accommodations Tax at 11.00%, up from 10.25% on January 1, 2026. Maui County TAT at 3.00%, filed on your existing state TAT number. And General Excise Tax at 4.5% on Maui, or 4.7120% when visibly passed to the guest, because GET passed on is itself part of the GET base. Pass the taxes through as separate lines rather than charging one flat all-in price, because if nothing is broken out the whole amount becomes taxable under both. On Perch Luxe we handle the returns.

Why is my Maui property tax so high?

Because Maui has a dedicated short-term rental class and it is the most expensive residential class on the island. TVR-STRH runs $13.00 per $1,000 of net taxable assessed value up to $900,000, $15.00 to $3 million and $17.00 above. That is roughly 4.5 times the long-term rental rate and about 7.9 times the owner-occupied rate, and past $3 million it is a higher rate than a resort hotel pays. It belongs in any Maui pro forma as an explicit line rather than an assumption.

How much does vacation rental management cost on Maui?

Perch Luxe is 20% of what your home earns. Perch Essentials is 10%, by invitation, for hands-on owners who handle their own repairs and filings. No onboarding fee, no supply fee, no restocking fee, no monthly minimum and no vacancy fee on either tier. That is the whole fee, and it is the same number we quote on the first call as the one on your first statement.

How much can I actually make?

It depends on the building, the unit, the view line and how it is run, so we would rather model your specific property than quote you a number cold. What we will do is build you a twelve month model off what comparable units in your own building actually book. For context on any projection you are shown, island-wide vacation rental occupancy was 49.2% in 2025.

What is the slow season, and what do you do about it?

September and October, and they are a real gap rather than a soft patch. Occupancy runs 40.1% in September against 62.3% in February. What we do: load and price the trough early rather than waiting to see what turns up, shift to weekly and monthly pricing with a longer minimum stay because one nine-night booking beats chasing three two-night gaps, work the direct list of guests who already stayed, and use the quiet weeks for the maintenance and reshoots that protect the winter. We will not tell you we can fill October. We will tell you we treat it as a job rather than a season to write off.

Do I need someone on island?

Yes, in a specific way. Hawaii requires a local on-island agent. Beyond the legal requirement there is the practical one: an association dispute, water intrusion at 2am, or a guest locked out at midnight Hawaii time is not something a mainland owner handles from a laptop. That is most of what a management percentage actually buys on Maui.

Can Perch hold my permit for me?

No. Maui permits are held in the name of the person or entity on legal title, with a minimum 50% interest, and an agent may process the application but cannot be the permit holder. What we do on Perch Luxe is prepare and file with you and track every renewal date, and the permission stays yours. Seattle works the same way for the same reason.

Can my AOAO stop me even if my zoning allows it?

Yes. Zoning permission and association permission are independent, and the association wins. A hotel-zoned building whose declaration or bylaws prohibit transient rental cannot be short-term rented regardless of zoning. Bill 88 has made this cut both ways, because the rezoning application that could save your unit is an association decision with a six-figure cost attached. We read the declaration and the house rules during onboarding rather than after.

Who are Perch?

Four owners who each turned a property we owned into a short-term rental, ran it ourselves, and each earned Superhost doing it. Those four homes are still in the portfolio. We are independently owned, we own property in the markets we manage, and you get direct access to leadership rather than a ticket queue. More on that on who we are.

Do you manage outside Maui?

Yes. Greater Seattle is our other core market, along with Whidbey and Camano Islands and the Mount Rainier gateway towns of Ashford and Packwood. The two markets run opposite calendars, Maui peaking December to March and Seattle peaking June to August, which is a real advantage for an owner in both and part of why we built the company across the two.

What happens after I get in touch?

A real person on our team replies within one business day. If your unit looks like a fit we set up a call and build your revenue model. If it is not a fit we will tell you that directly. More answers are on our owner FAQ.