An 83-year-old widow in Honolulu will be able to stay in her longtime home after settling a dispute with city officials over nearly $600,000 in fines tied to what she maintains was a mistaken online rental listing.
Sandra May, a retired resident living on a fixed income, rents out an attached apartment on her property to help cover expenses. But after the unit was inadvertently shown online as available for short-term bookings, Honolulu officials began issuing penalties of $10,000 per day for almost two months.
May said she was hospitalized after a serious car accident and did not immediately receive the city’s notices, causing the penalties to climb to $590,000. Honolulu law bars residential properties outside approved resort areas from being rented — or even advertised — for stays shorter than 30 days.
Lawyers with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented May, said the apartment was never actually offered for short-term rental and that the problem originated with a glitch on the rental platform. Even as May tried to address the matter, the city put a lien on her home, prevented her from renewing her driver’s license and vehicle registration, and advised her to “get an attorney.”
May responded by filing a federal lawsuit against Honolulu. The case has now ended in a settlement that cuts her total fine by 95%, clearing the way for her to remain in the house she has called home for 56 years.
“Winning this case is an enormous relief because it resolves all of the city’s violation charges and excessive fines,” May told Fox News Digital. “While the case ended in a settlement, I don’t personally feel guilty of doing anything wrong.”
May explained that her listing showed a daily rate while also requiring a minimum 30-day stay, saying the daily figure was intended only to make it simpler to calculate charges if a tenant extended a rental beyond one month.
“To me, that was simply common sense,” she added. “The city viewed it differently, but I never believed I was violating the law.”
May added that she was grateful to God and her legal team at the Pacific Legal Foundation for stepping in at “the lowest point in [her] life.”
Loren Seehase, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, said the settlement resolves all of May’s outstanding charges, including three additional violations the city issued after the organization became involved in her defense.
“Under the Eighth Amendment, fines must be proportionate to the alleged offense, not whatever the government thinks it can get away with demanding,” she said in a statement. “This outcome reaffirms that principle and ensures Sandra can keep her home, which the City’s initial demands would have forced her to sell.”
Scott Humber, communications director for the City and County of Honolulu, confirmed that May agreed to a reduced penalty of $30,000. Under the terms, the city will record a $30,000 civil fine lien against her home, but will not initiate foreclosure during her lifetime. The fine will be paid through escrow if she sells the property, or through foreclosure following her death.
Humber noted that the settlement factors in May’s age, her medical hardships, her decades residing at the home and her “limited personal involvement in creating her advertisement.”
As part of the agreement, May dismissed her federal lawsuit and agreed to withdraw her administrative appeals.
“The Department of Planning and Permitting takes short-term rental violations seriously and imposes significant fines for such violations,” Humber said in a statement. “Fines for advertising a property as an unpermitted short-term rental on Oahu are typically $10,000.00 per day.”
“However, the Department may not have all of the relevant facts at the time of determining the daily fine rate for a particular violation and may adjust the total daily based on factors that become known to the Department after a fine has been assessed,” the statement continued. “After performing this review and learning of Ms. May’s unique circumstances, the Department was able to reach an agreement with Ms. May on the appropriate penalty for her conduct.”
May’s attorneys said her case highlights a broader issue on Oahu, where the city has issued more than $90 million in fines for similar rental advertising violations.
Seehase told Fox News Digital the settlement “sends a clear message to Honolulu and municipalities across the country” that “governments cannot impose crushing financial penalties without constitutional limits.”
“No homeowner should face losing their home over penalties that are grossly disproportionate to the alleged violation,” she said.
