Illegal B&B rentals should get message

THE ISSUE A judge has ordered a Lanikai woman to stop renting her home as a bed-and-breakfast rental or face having to sell it.

A state judge's threat to force a woman to sell her home in Lanikai if she keeps using it as a bed-and-breakfast rooming house should add considerably to an effort to bring the illegal activity to an end. It also should encourage the city to enforce hefty fines and place liens on property to pay for the fines.

Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna issued the order in a civil lawsuit brought against Marlene Roth by her neighbor, Susan Cummings, who said the vacation rental had created "an absolute nightmare." The two homes, which share the same driveway, are subject to condominium rules that prohibit their use as vacation rentals.

Cummings filed the suit two years ago and McKenna quickly ordered a stop to the activity. The judge later discovered that Roth had continued to operate her B&B, even during the trial, admittedly neglecting to pay any income, general excise or transient accommodation taxes.

The city increased its fines in June from $50 to $1,000 a day. Roth had paid $21,000 in fines to the city Department of Planning and Permitting. The city can place liens on such property for delinquent fine amounts.

The city has permitted B&B operations in existence since 1989, when a ban on short-term residential rentals took effect. Only 1,000 homeowners on Oahu are certified to operated as short rentals, but more than 2,000 online advertisements for rentals on the island were found in a state study last year.

The city is able to track down renegade B&Bs through the Internet, where they are advertised. A search last year found 9,000 such vacation units in the state, including 333 in Kailua, although only 70 in Kailua are certified.

Don Bremner, spokesman for Keep It Kailua, an activist organization, said about 90 units in Lanikai are illegal, but 14 are now for sale and others have stopped operating.