Month-to-Month Tenancy Termination Notice Requirements in Hawaii

At a glance

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).