Haw. Rev. Stat. § 368F § 368F-3
Exemptions.
Operative Text
Section 368F-2 shall not apply to: (1) Landlords who are determining in a commercially reasonable manner the ability of a potential tenant to pay rent by: (A) Verifying the source and amount of income of the potential tenant; or (B) Evaluating the stability, security, and creditworthiness of the potential tenant or any source of income of the potential tenant; (2) Landlords with ownership of not more than four dwelling units in the State at the time of the alleged discriminatory rental transaction; provided that this paragraph shall not apply if an owner, whether individually or through a business entity, owns more than a ten per cent interest in more than four dwelling units in the State at the time of the alleged discriminatory rental transaction; (3) Landlords in a case where a source of income is not approved within twenty-one days of a person's submission of a good faith request for tenancy approval, which shall include the inspection of a unit; (4) The rental of any housing accommodation in a building that contains housing accommodations for not more than two families living independently of each other if the owner or lessor resides in one of the housing accommodations; (5) The rental of a room or up to four rooms in a housing accommodation by an owner or lessor if the owner or lessor resides in the housing accommodation; and (6) The rental of an affordable housing project subsidized by public funds or lands. [L 2022, c 310, pt of §2]
Hawaii Revised Statutes § 368F-3 carves out specific situations where the source-of-income anti-discrimination rule in § 368F-2 does not apply. These exemptions cover small landlords (those owning four or fewer units in the state), owner-occupied duplexes, owner-occupied room rentals, publicly subsidized affordable housing projects, cases where an income source is not approved within 21 days of a good-faith tenancy request, and landlords who are conducting commercially reasonable assessments of a prospective tenant's ability to pay rent. Each exemption has its own conditions, so whether a particular rental situation falls outside § 368F-2's protections depends on the specific facts of that arrangement.
Plain English — not legal advice.
Under § 368F-3, property owners who meet one of the listed exemption criteria are not bound by the source-of-income protections of § 368F-2 for those specific rental situations. Operators who conduct commercially reasonable income verification—such as confirming the amount and stability of a prospective tenant's income—generally fall within the first exemption, as do small landlords owning four or fewer units, provided no individual or business entity holds more than a ten percent interest in more than four units statewide. Owners of owner-occupied duplexes or those renting rooms within their own residence should also review § 368F-3 carefully to understand whether their property qualifies for an exemption.
General guidance for property managers — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult an attorney for advice on your case.
Section § 368F-3 defines the boundaries of the source-of-income protections established in § 368F-2, meaning that in certain rental situations—such as small owner-occupied properties or publicly subsidized affordable housing—those protections may not apply to a prospective tenant's situation. If a tenant believes a landlord is improperly claiming an exemption under § 368F-3, they may have grounds to raise that issue as a defense or pursue a complaint through Hawaii's civil rights enforcement channels, including the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. Tenant-rights organizations can help individuals understand whether a landlord's claimed exemption is consistent with the conditions set out in § 368F-3.
General guidance for tenants — not legal advice for your specific situation. Consult a tenant-rights organization or attorney for advice on your case.
Generated October 23, 2026 — auto-generated, not yet human-reviewed. See /transparency for methodology.
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Rules and statutes that cite this regulation