How to Fire Your Property Manager in Hawaii

A step-by-step guide for Hawaii landlords switching property managers, covering broker trust accounts, what to collect, moving tenant deposits under the 14-day rule and the disclosure you owe tenants.

Last updated September 23, 2026

Missed repairs, slow replies, a statement that never adds up. Most landlords wait too long to make the call. Hawaii does not give you a fixed handover deadline the way some states do, so the leverage you have comes from the license law, the trust account rules and a clean paper trail.

Here is how to make the switch without losing a deposit, a tenant or a month of rent.

Step 1. Read your management agreement

Your contract decides how you exit. Hawaii requires it to be in writing in the first place. A licensee has to put financial obligations and commitments on real property rental management agreements in writing, set out the exact agreement of the parties with the terms and conditions that matter, and give every party a copy when it is signed (HAR § 16-99-3).

Look for four things.

Notice period. Thirty days' written notice is common.
Termination fee. Some agreements charge one, some do not.
Leasing fee clawbacks. Check what you owe for tenants the manager placed.
Who "owns" the tenant relationship. Some agreements try to charge you for keeping a tenant they found.

If the manager broke the agreement, by ignoring repairs or mishandling money, you may be able to end it sooner. That is a question for a Hawaii attorney.

Step 2. Send written notice

Put it in writing, by email and by whatever method your agreement names. State the end date, ask for a full handover by that date, and list what you expect back (see Step 4).

Keep the tone flat and factual. You want your records, not an argument.

Step 3. Know the trust account rules

Your money has been sitting in a regulated account this whole time, and that is the part of the law with teeth.

Where your money lives. A brokerage firm that does not place entrusted funds straight into a neutral escrow depository has to keep a trust fund account in Hawaii at a federally insured bank or recognized depository, and put all entrusted funds there. Those accounts are open to inspection by the Real Estate Commission (HAR § 16-99-4).

How fast it has to go in. Trust funds received have to be deposited by the next business day after receipt (HAR § 16-99-4).

No mixing. A principal broker or broker-in-charge cannot commingle a client's funds with other money (HAR § 16-99-4, HAR § 16-99-3).

Records run three years. The firm has to keep records of all trust funds it received for at least three years, showing who was involved, the dates, what the funds were and what they were for (HAR § 16-99-4).

The accounting duty. Failing within a reasonable time to account for money belonging to others that is in the licensee's possession or control is grounds for discipline, as is commingling, as is converting other people's money to the licensee's own use (HRS § 467-14).

Hawaii does not set a specific number of days for a departing manager to hand everything over. Put your own deadline in the notice, tie it to the end date in the agreement, and if the money or the records do not show up, file a complaint with the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which takes complaints against licensees through its Regulated Industries Complaints Office.

Step 4. Collect everything

Ask for all of this before the end date.

Security deposits for every tenant, with the amount held for each one
Pet deposit amounts held separately from the security deposit figure
The trust account ledger showing rents collected, fees taken and what is still owed to you
Signed leases, renewals and addenda
The move-in inventory each tenant signed
Tenant contact details and payment history
Open maintenance requests, vendor contacts, invoices and warranties
Keys, fobs, mailbox keys, garage remotes and gate codes
Year-to-date income and expense reports for your taxes, including general excise tax records

Step 5. Move the security deposits

Hawaii caps a residential deposit at one month's rent, plus up to one more month agreed for a pet animal, and an assistance animal does not count as a pet (HRS § 521-44). Reconcile what the manager hands over against those limits and against each lease. If the file shows more than the cap, fix it before you inherit the problem.

State law does not require you, as the landlord, to hold deposits in a separate escrow account. The trust account duty sits with the licensed brokerage (HAR § 16-99-4). Keeping the deposits in their own account anyway is the cheapest bookkeeping insurance you can buy, since the accounting you owe at move-out is exact.

That accounting is the reason to get the numbers right now. You have fourteen days after a rental agreement ends to return the deposit or send written notice of what you kept, with the particulars, the grounds and written evidence of the costs. Miss it and the whole deposit goes back. Retain it wrongfully and willfully and the tenant can recover three times the amount, plus costs (HRS § 521-44).

Step 6. Tell your tenants

This is a legal step in Hawaii, not a courtesy. You have to disclose in writing the name and address of the manager of the premises and of each owner, or of the person authorized to act for the owner for service of process (HRS § 521-43).

If you live off island, you need an agent. An owner living outside the State, or on a different island from the unit, has to designate an agent on the written rental agreement who lives on the same island as the rental (HRS § 521-43).

Skip the disclosure and the person who failed to comply becomes an agent for service of process, for receiving rent, notices and demands, and for performing the landlord's obligations (HRS § 521-43).

Send one clear dated message covering where to pay rent, who to call for repairs, who holds the deposit and the day the change takes effect.

Step 7. Take over the day-to-day

Line up your vendors, set up rent collection, and get a maintenance line that picks up at 2am. Diary the dates that carry penalties, starting with the 14-day deposit clock, the 45-day notice to raise rent on a month-to-month, and the two days' notice before you enter a unit (HRS § 521-44, § 521-21, § 521-53).

This is where most landlords end up back where they started, holding a phone that never stops ringing.

Who can manage for pay in Hawaii

Leasing, renting or managing real estate for someone else, for compensation, puts you in the definition of a real estate broker or salesperson (HRS § 467-1). Doing that without a license is prohibited (HRS § 467-7).

An individual acting as owner of the real estate, or under a power of attorney from the owner, is excepted, so long as the arrangement is not a way around the license law (HRS § 467-2). That is the exemption you rely on once you self-manage. The exception is written for an individual, so an entity with staff doing the managing is worth a call to a Hawaii attorney.

If you hire a replacement rather than self-manage, verify the license first through the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs before you sign anything.

Your switching checklist

Read the agreement for notice, fees and clawbacks
Send written notice with an end date and a handover list
Reconcile the trust account ledger against every lease
Collect deposits, pet deposits, leases, move-in inventories and keys
Confirm every deposit sits inside the one-month cap
Give each tenant the written disclosure, and name an island agent if you live away
Diary the 14-day deposit deadline before your first move-out

Switch to Taz

Taz is an AI property manager built for landlords who have been let down before. It answers tenants day and night, routes repairs to vendors, sends rent reminders and keeps every record in one place, for a flat monthly price per door instead of a cut of your rent. See how Taz works.

Where this guide says a state has no rule on something, that means we found no statute setting one, which is not the same as none existing. Local ordinances and court practice can add requirements. Confirm anything you plan to rely on.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Your management agreement and your specific facts matter. Talk to a Hawaii attorney before ending a contract. Last checked September 2026.