Hawaii: Month-to-Month Tenancy Termination Notice Requirements

Requirements one by one

The two notice periods

Hawaii does not use a symmetric clock. Under § 521-71(a), a landlord must
notify the tenant in writing “at least forty-five days in advance of the
anticipated termination.” Under subsection (b), a tenant must notify the
landlord in writing at least 28 days before the anticipated termination and
remains responsible for rent through day 28.

When termination takes effect

The statute measures from the notice to an “anticipated termination” rather
than requiring the tenancy to end on the last day of a monthly rental period.
For example, a tenant who gives notice on August 10 may terminate on September
7, 28 days later; the date need not be August 31 or September 30.

Hawaii also gives a tenant flexibility after receiving a landlord's notice. The
tenant may leave at any time during the final 45 days, but must tell the
landlord the actual vacate date and pay prorated rent for the occupied period.

Form, delivery, and receipt

Both month-to-month notices must be written. Section 521-71 prescribes no
special form or statutory warning. The general notice section instead asks
whether the sender took steps “reasonably required to inform” the other person
in the ordinary course. A notice is received when it comes to the person's
attention or is delivered to the business through which the rental agreement
was made or another place held out for receiving communications (§ 521-9(c)).

What the lease can change

Chapter 521 generally bars advance waiver: § 521-31(a) says a landlord or
tenant may not “waive or agree to forego rights or remedies under this
chapter.” A lease should not be used to cut the landlord's 45 days, the
tenant's 28 days, or the written-notice requirement.

No general just-cause rule, but retaliation is barred

Section 521-71(a) does not require a landlord to state a cause for an ordinary
45-day termination. A separate protection matters, however: § 521-74 generally
bars a landlord from recovering possession after specified good-faith health,
code, or repair complaints while the tenant continues to tender the usual
rent, subject to that section's listed exceptions. A tenant dispossessed in
violation may recover damages, costs, and reasonable attorney's fees.

What trips people up

Forty-five days and 28 days are not interchangeable. The landlord owes the
longer period. A tenant's own written notice uses the shorter 28-day clock.

The termination date does not have to match the rent date. Hawaii's statute
uses a free-floating anticipated termination date and expressly prorates rent
when a tenant leaves during the final 45 days of a landlord notice.

The 120-day rule is narrow. It applies when the landlord contemplates
voluntary demolition, condominium conversion, or changing the building to
transient vacation rentals (§ 521-71(c)), not every ordinary no-cause move-out.

Common questions

Can I leave before the landlord's stated 45-day termination date?

Yes. During the final 45 days, tell the landlord the date you will vacate and
pay prorated rent through that date (§ 521-71(a)).

If I am the tenant and move sooner than 28 days, do I still owe rent?

The statute says the tenant remains responsible for rent through the
twenty-eighth day after giving the termination notice (§ 521-71(b)).

Can a landlord use a 45-day notice right after I request repairs?

Not as retaliation. Section 521-74 can bar recovery of possession after a
covered good-faith complaint or repair request, although the section lists
exceptions, including certain owner-occupancy, remodeling, sale, and tenant-
fault circumstances.

Statutes and sources

• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-71(a)-(c). The landlord's 45-day notice, tenant's
  28-day notice and rent-through-day-28 rule, early-vacate/proration right, and
  the special 120-day demolition/conversion/transient-rental notice — official
  current text
  (accessed July 15, 2026).
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-9(c). General standards for giving and receiving a
  Chapter 521 notice — official current
  text
  (accessed July 15, 2026).
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-31(a). Chapter 521 rights and remedies generally
  may not be waived — official Chapter 521
  text
  (accessed July 15, 2026; history line shows no later amendment).
• Haw. Rev. Stat. § 521-74(a), (c). Retaliatory-possession bar and the
  tenant's damages, costs, and attorney-fee remedy — official current
  text
  (accessed July 15, 2026).