In a case that could have implications across the state, owners of more than a dozen homes used as vacation rentals on Kauai’s North Shore have filed suit against the state for allegedly violating homeowners’ rights in a conservation district.

The suit, filed Monday in Circuit Court, claims that a provision in the homeowners’ Conservation District Use Permits that bars them from renting their homes is illegal and unenforceable, their lawyer said yesterday.

If they win, it would apply to all homeowners in conservation districts across the state.

“We tried to work it out (with the Department of Land and Natural Resources). We tried to come to a mitigated resolution,” said the homeowners’ lawyer, Big Island attorney Randy Vitousek.

“Now with the litigation, it may have (far-reaching) consequences,” he added.

The roughly 35 plaintiffs own 14 homes in the conservation district in Haena, the northernmost community on Kauai. None of them lives in their home full time, and only one family, the Fayes of Koloa, currently lives on Kauai full time.

All use their homes as vacation rentals.

Read more …

(Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin)