Provides incentives for landlords to rent property to tenants with pets by allowing landlords to require a larger deposit that covers damage from the pet.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. The legislature finds pet ownership in Hawaii is on the rise with research revealing that 160,000 households on Oahu were homes to pets in 2005. This reflects a sixteen per cent increase in pet ownership on Oahu, from forty per cent in 1944 to fifty-six per cent in 2005. Research also indicates that an overwhelming majority of Oahu residents believe animal companionship is a quality of life issue and that there are important health benefits related to animal companionship.

The purpose of the Act is to provide incentives for landlords to allow tenants to have pets in dwelling units.

SECTION 2. Chapter 521, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§521-   Landlord's incentives to allow pets. (a) As a condition of allowing the tenant to keep an animal other than a service animal as defined in section 515-3(8) in the dwelling unit, the landlord may include a provision in the rental agreement that:

SECTION 3. Section 521-44, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) The landlord may require as a condition of a rental agreement a security deposit to be paid by or for the tenant for the items in subsection (a) and no others, in an amount not in excess of [a sum equal to] one month's rent[.]; provided that as a condition of a rental agreement that permits the tenant to keep an animal other than a service animal as defined in section 515-3(8) in the dwelling unit, the landlord may require a pet deposit, in addition to the regular monthly security deposit, in an amount not in excess of half of one month's rent. This pet deposit shall be assessed only once against a tenant and shall not be multiplied by the number of animals kept as pets in the dwelling unit. 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 except as provided in this section. The security deposit shall not be construed as payment of the last month's rent by the tenant, unless mutually agreed upon, in writing, by the landlord and tenant if the tenant gives forty-five days' notice of vacating the premises; in entering such agreement, the landlord shall not be deemed to have waived the right to pursue legal remedies against the tenant for any damages the tenant causes. Any such security deposit shall be held by the landlord for the tenant and the claim of the tenant to the security deposit shall be prior to the claim of any creditor of the landlord, including a trustee in bankruptcy, even if the security deposits are commingled."

SECTION 4. Section 521-51, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§521-51 Tenant to maintain dwelling unit. Each tenant shall at all times during the tenancy:

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.