Hawaii Eviction Notice
Hawaii eviction notice: the 10-day pay-or-quit rule with mediation required under HRS 521-68. Free template, statute cites. Attorney review available.
Introduction
An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord serves on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing a summary possession lawsuit in District Court. This page is the actual notice document: a compact, fillable template for the notice itself, not a broader guide to how Hawaii eviction law works. In Hawaii, nonpayment of rent gets a 10-calendar-day pay-or-quit notice, and the landlord must also send a copy of that notice to a state-funded mediation center; a lease or rule violation that can be fixed gets a 10-day cure-or-quit notice; and a violation that threatens irremediable damage to a person or property, such as waste or unlawful use of the unit, gets an unconditional notice to quit with no cure period at all. Hawaii is in the middle of a two-year pilot program under Act 278: effective February 5, 2026 through February 4, 2028, the nonpayment notice period grew from 5 business days to 10 calendar days, and the landlord must now send a copy of every nonpayment notice to a state-funded mediation center. If the tenant schedules mediation within that 10-day window, the landlord cannot file for possession until 20 calendar days after the tenant received the notice. Hawaii's Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 521, governs the entire notice and summary possession process. There's no single mandatory form for every notice type, but the statute prescribes exact wording for a rule-violation notice and specific required content for the nonpayment notice. Serve the wrong notice, the wrong day count, or skip the mediation-center copy, and the case can be dismissed or delayed before it starts.
Key Things to Know
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An eviction notice is a written notice a landlord must serve on a tenant to begin ending a tenancy for cause, before filing a summary possession lawsuit in District Court.
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Under a two-year pilot program (Act 278, effective February 5, 2026 through February 4, 2028), nonpayment of rent gets a 10-calendar-day pay-or-quit notice and the landlord must send a copy to a state-funded mediation center; if the tenant schedules mediation within the 10-day window and takes part, the landlord cannot file for possession until 20 calendar days after the tenant received the notice. (Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 521-68(a)-(c))
- 3
A curable violation of the tenant's maintenance obligations, such as damaging the unit beyond normal wear, gets a 10-day cure-or-quit notice. The tenant can fix the problem within those 10 days and keep the lease. (Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 521-69(a))
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If the violation causes or threatens irremediable damage to a person or property, such as waste or an unlawful use of the unit, no cure period is required at all: the landlord can move straight to an unconditional notice to quit. (Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 521-69(a))
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The governing law is Hawaii's Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 521, which sets the notice rules and the summary possession court process that follows if the tenant doesn't comply.
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The pay-or-quit notice may be served by posting it on the dwelling unit (received on the posting date) or by U.S. mail (received 2 business days after the postmark). A separate maintenance-violation notice under Section 521-69 may be posted on the unit only if the tenant genuinely cannot be served another way first. (Hawaii Revised Statutes Sections 521-68(a), 521-69(a))
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There's no single government form covering every notice type, but the statute itself prescribes exact required wording for a landlord-rule violation notice, and specific required content, including a bold-typeface warning, for the nonpayment notice. (Hawaii Revised Statutes Sections 521-72(a), 521-68(b))
Key decisions before you file
Before you file a Eviction Notice in Hawaii, a few decisions shape the document: which option to choose and what each one means. The Eviction Notice guide walks through them.
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Hawaii Requirements for Eviction Notice
Distinct from the for-cause notices above: ending a month-to-month tenancy without cause requires 45 days' notice from the landlord or 28 days' notice from the tenant, and a tenancy that is less than month-to-month, such as week-to-week, requires 10 days' notice from either party.
For a nonpayment notice, posting on the dwelling unit (received on the date of posting) or U.S. mail (received 2 business days after the postmark) is permitted directly. For a maintenance-violation notice under Section 521-69, posting on the unit is permitted only as a fallback if the tenant cannot otherwise be served with the required notice.
10-calendar-day pay-or-quit notice, effective February 5, 2026. The notice must state the current amount due after applying all rent paid from all sources, and a copy must also be provided to a state-funded mediation center. If the tenant schedules mediation within the 10-calendar-day window and participates, the landlord may not file for summary possession until 20 calendar days after the tenant's receipt of the notice.
The statutory basis for every notice type on this page and the summary possession court process that follows if the tenant does not comply: Hawaii Revised Statutes Chapter 521, the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, Part VI, Remedies and Penalties.
No cure period is required when the tenant's noncompliance, such as waste or unlawful use of the premises, causes or threatens to cause irremediable damage to any person or property. The statute does not set a fixed day count for this notice; it simply removes the cure requirement entirely.
No single government form covers every notice type, but the statute prescribes exact required wording for a landlord-rule violation notice under Section 521-72(a), and specific required content, including a bold-typeface warning and a mediation-center notice, for the nonpayment notice under Section 521-68(b).
10-day cure-or-quit notice for material noncompliance with the tenant's maintenance obligations under Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 521-51. The landlord must allow the tenant a specified time, not less than ten days after receipt of the notice, to remedy the noncompliance before terminating the rental agreement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Hawaii requires 10 calendar days' notice for nonpayment of rent, with a copy sent to a state-funded mediation center, and at least 10 days' notice for a curable violation of the tenant's maintenance obligations or a landlord rule. A violation that threatens irremediable damage to a person or property gets no cure period at all.
No. Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 521-68 requires written notice before filing for nonpayment of rent, and Sections 521-69 and 521-72 require written notice before filing for a lease or rule violation. Skipping the notice, serving it incorrectly, or skipping the mediation-center copy on a nonpayment notice can delay or derail the case.
Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 521-68(b) requires the nonpayment notice to include specific content: the current amount of rent due after applying all rent paid from all sources, the cure period, contact information for the state-funded mediation center that received a copy of the notice, and a warning printed in bold typeface. Leaving out any of these pieces can leave the notice open to challenge.
Count 10 calendar days from the tenant's receipt of the notice, not the date you sign or mail it. For the nonpayment notice, receipt is the date of posting if you post it on the unit, or 2 business days after the postmark if you mail it. The same 10-day floor applies to a curable violation, measured from receipt. Write the actual deadline date on the notice so there's no ambiguity about when the cure-or-vacate period ends.
No single government form covers every notice type. For a rule-violation notice under Section 521-72(a), the statute prescribes the exact wording the notice must use. For the nonpayment notice under Section 521-68(b), the statute doesn't supply a fill-in form, but it does require specific content items and a bold-typeface warning. A curable-violation notice under Section 521-69 has no prescribed wording, only the written-notice and 10-day requirements. Build the notice to include everything the applicable section requires.
A curable violation, such as failing to keep the unit in the condition required by Section 521-51 or breaking a landlord rule under Section 521-52, gets the 10-day cure-or-quit option. A violation that causes or threatens irremediable damage to a person or property, such as waste or an unlawful use of the unit, gets the unconditional notice to quit option instead, with no cure period offered. Describe the violation specifically on the notice so the classification is clear.
Fill in the date of notice at the top, and have the landlord or the landlord's agent sign and date the notice at the bottom before it's served. Record who served the notice, the date it was served, and the method used (delivery, posting, or mail) in the service section. Keep a signed copy since you may need to show the court when and how the notice was served if the case proceeds to a summary possession filing.
If the deadline passes without payment, cure, or move-out, the notice itself doesn't need to be redone or extended. For a nonpayment notice, check mediation status first: if the tenant scheduled mediation within the 10-day window, the landlord must wait out the 20-calendar-day filing window before proceeding. Otherwise, the next step is outside this notice document: filing a summary possession action in the District Court for the circuit where the property is located.