Office of Consumer Protection

Most rental agreements state that payments must be made on the first of the month, unless otherwise agreed to by the landlord and tenant.  There may be a problem, however, for tenants receiving public assistance, such as a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8), in which it can it can take up to three days after a public assistance check is mailed to be received by a landlord. In instances such as this, Hawaii law requires a landlord to honor a tenant’s request to establish a new due date for the payment of rent so long as the tenant makes a one-time payment covering the period between the original date and the newly established one (§521-21(b), Hawaii Revised Statutes).

Here are some examples of establishing the new due date and calculating the one-time payment covering the days between the original due date and new due date:

Example 1: Third Day Lands on a Week Day

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	1 RENT DUE Public Assistance Check Mailed	2	3	4 NEW RENT DUE DATE	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13

Example 1: Rent is $1,000 a month.  The newly established rent due date is the 4^th of the month.  The one-time payment needed to establish the new rent due date is calculated by dividing $1,000 by 30 and multiplying the result by 3 days – $1,000/30 = $33.33 daily rate x 3 days = $99.99 due to Landlord.

  NEW RENT DUE DATE IS ESTABLISHED ON THE 4^TH DAY OF THE MONTH.

Example 2: Third Day Lands on a Weekend and Monday is a Holiday.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
				1 RENT DUE Public Assistance Check Mailed	2	3
4	5 HOLIDAY	6	7 NEW RENT DUE DATE	8	9	10

Example 2: Rent is $1,000 a month.  The newly established rent due date is the 7^th of the month because Saturday, Sunday, and the Monday holiday are not counted towards the three days.  The one-time payment needed to establish the new rent due date is calculated by dividing $1,000 by 30 and multiplying the result by 6 days (3 days + Saturday, Sunday, and Holiday) – $1,000/30 = $33.33 daily rate x 6 days = $199.98 due to Landlord.

NEW RENT DUE DATE IS ESTABLISHED ON THE 7^TH DAY OF THE MONTH.