If you’re considering buying a property in Kauai, with the intention of using it as a vacation rental, you may want to get a move on. According to Tom Finnegan, a bill has spent two years making its way through the Council Planning Committee, and is very close to getting passed.

Bill 2204 would eliminate all new transient vacation rental properties and bed-and-breakfast operations outside designated areas across the Garden Isle.

No, don’t panic, if you already rent out your house or condo to Kauai vacationers, you’ll be grandfathered in.

Owners of current vacation rentals and bed-and-breakfast properties who have paid their general excise taxes and the Transient Accommodation Tax for a year will be allowed under the current version of the bill. But they will be required to get nonconforming use permits every two years, and will not be able to transmit their permits to new buyers if they sell their property.

Thanks to CoastRentals for the link.