Moving to Maui with two dogs - need an advice (sale, renting)

[MauiPartTimer]

Originally Posted by hothulamaui

seriously there literally are only a "handful" of condo's that allow dogs, I would say less than a dozen. of that, there is a weight limit notably under 15 pounds. many more will allow a cat or bird, but not dogs, the majority are no pets period. I used to have a list of dog friendly condo's but can't find it at present. I will see if I can dig it up.

the best bet for a renter will be with a house.

Is this the one you were looking for? Someone shared it a while back on another thread:
Maui condos that allow pets| Pet friendly condos on Maui| move to Maui with pet

I have if it's accurate, but according to this list, there are 47 condoes that allow pets.

[larisa.murren]

Originally Posted by OpenD

For your protection, this is prohibited by law.

The maximum a landlord can legally collect from you at the beginning of the lease in Hawai'i is 1 month rent, 1 month security deposit, and if you have pets (from November 2013 on) 1 additional month pet deposit.

It is prohibited by the law to demand all rent monthly payments at the beginning of the lease, but if both parties agree upon it and sign the agreement, nothing is illegal. If it is a mutual consent - no problem.

[larisa.murren]

Originally Posted by MauiPartTimer

Is this the one you were looking for? Someone shared it a while back on another thread:
Maui condos that allow pets| Pet friendly condos on Maui| move to Maui with pet

I have if it's accurate, but according to this list, there are 47 condoes that allow pets.

Thank you very much for your help. Condo will be our last choice, only if we can not find the house.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by larisa.murren

It is prohibited by the law to demand all rent monthly payments at the beginning of the lease, but if both parties agree upon it and sign the agreement, nothing is illegal. If it is a mutual consent - no problem.

Uh....no. That is not true.

If your statement on mutual consent was true - you wouldn't need a law increasing the security deposit from 1 month to 2 months, would you?

By your logic - if the landlord/tenant agree to 4 months security deposit that should be ok, right? It isn't.

[hothulamaui]

Originally Posted by MauiPartTimer

Is this the one you were looking for? Someone shared it a while back on another thread:
Maui condos that allow pets| Pet friendly condos on Maui| move to Maui with pet

I have if it's accurate, but according to this list, there are 47 condoes that allow pets.

thanks, yes that is the list. most of these only take cats. only a few will take dogs and then they have to be under the weight limit. which I think brings the number down to about a dozen that will take dogs. it's a bummer for dog owners.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by larisa.murren

It is prohibited by the law to demand all rent monthly payments at the beginning of the lease, but if both parties agree upon it and sign the agreement, nothing is illegal. If it is a mutual consent - no problem.

Sorry, but no, that's not true in Hawai'i. If it were true then landlords who wanted more deposit would only rent to tenants who would sign an agreement that it was mutually agreed upon.

And the reason they don't do that is because if a dispute arises and they go to court over it, the assumption of the court will be that the landlord broke the law, and they will lose.

There are many, many things like this in Hawai'i, ways that life is different here from wherever you might have come from. In my experience it is useless to resist, and useless to complain. The best thing to do is to find out how things are in Hawai'i, and adjust to them. If you can't do that you likely will not have a happy experience.

[trinity1111]

Yup, going to Court. Based on Hawaii Revised Statutes, Residential Landlord-Tenant Codes Chapter 521.44a/b:
"The landlord may require as a condition of a rental agreement a security deposit to be paid by or for the tenant in an amount not in excess of a sum equal to one month's rent.
The landlord may not require or receive from or on behalf of a tenant at the beginning of a rental agreement any money other than the money for the first month’s rent and a security deposit."

I'm now preparing my Lawsuit for Small Claims Court. I'm filing under the 'Security Deposit" Form (instead of 'General'), because I found out that if you file with the 'Security Deposit Form', the Landlord cannot have an attorney represent them in court.
My lease states "an additional 'Last Month's Rent' "(in addition to 1st and Security) is "required by deposit into checking account before lease is completed and signed". So, I have the Paperwork and Bank Deposit Receipts so I'm fairly confident the Judge will rule in my favor.

Also interesting is 521.44h/g1,2 :
h) In any action in the small claims division of the district court pursuant to subsection (g) where the court determines that:

part of a security deposit, the court may award the tenant damages in an amount equal to three times the amount of the security deposit, or part thereof, wrongfully and willfully retained and the cost of suit.
](2) The landlord wrongfully retained a security deposit or part of a security deposit, the court shall award the tenant damages in an amount equal to the amount of the security deposit, or part thereof, wrongfully retained and the cost of suit.

Unfortunately, I'm quite certain the Judge will probably not award me damages of 3x or 2x, but I would like reimbursement for the suit, and the process server fees, on top of my "last Month's Rent" awarded.



Also, I already expect my Landlord will postpone going to court as long as possible, with a bunch of excuses. At some point, she'll face the music. Also, I already expect that, when slapped with a Judgement, she will absolutely refuse to pay me a dime!! But there too, eventually, it will turn into a Warrant for Arrest, for when she returns to Maui.


What's ironic is, it very possible, this money won't come back into my play, until the lease is almost up in mid 2014, hence "Last Month's Rent"....in the first place!!

It's possible the court will, eventually, put a lien on her business here. That might rile her to action.



This Landlord really knows the game. This woman definitely doesn't "Live Aloha". I'm not going to enable this woman. I have had simply wonderful Landlords in Maui prior to this. Good, fair, legal, hardworking people.

And to think this all got started because she refused take $50 off the rent to fix a Hole in the Floor..or fix the Hole in the Roof...or fix the Holes in the Screens..but that's my second lawsuit, lol.

[whtviper1]

The biggest challenge you may find is getting the landlord properly served - filing the case is pretty easy - getting proper service can be difficult. And, simply not paying the judgment won't result in an arrest warrant.

[trinity1111]

The service part I have lined up, I found out where she lives, (she never disclosed this to me, this is on lawsuit number 2)Its kind of interesting, she has such a big ego she 'Twitters' every 5 minutes where she is and what she is doing..she thinks she's a celebrity.. and I have a Private Investigator lined up to do a stake-out the house. It's pretty easy since it's beachfront Malibu, she go down the steps of the beach at some point, or he makes visual verbal contact identifying her on deck.

The collection part is the hard part. Even though she lives in California, we're checking into if she homestead this house. She'll lie and say it's her primary residence. Not sure of the alternative courses of action to collect. Figure I better get my Judgement first before paying an attorney.

Like I said, I'm expecting no results but I want to at the very least be able to use 'Last Month's Rent" as last months rent. I know when the time comes she'll still be financially overextended and demand rent anyway, and attempt to keep my 'last months rent' plus security deposit for 'damages'. Every tenant I tracked down before me said she intimidates and didn't return any monies and threatened a counter suit if they went to small claims court.

She already attempted to evict me because she was' no longer comfortable " with the arraignment, and she was going to keep the last months and the security deposit as 'damages'! No kidding.

She sends over local 'family' (drug addicts) to intimidate. I 've made all reports and kept records.
I'm not walking away from 6k because she's a bully.

Any advice from 'Legal Eagles' gladly accepted! "how to collect on a Judgement in Hawaii"

[whtviper1]

Sounds like you have a solid plan - go for it and let us know how it goes.