LONG post. Is this legal?
landlord tenant attorney Hawaii Jul 29, 2026
Location: Oahu, Hawaii In April, my landlord (never met her) decided she would start renovating the property. She employed her brother and another guy. Both of these people do not speak English very well. One day, they were renovating the downstairs apartment right underneath mine. They noticed our toilet was leaking a bit, and asked to come in and fix it. We let them in, and Instead of fixing it, the landlords brother takes a look at our bathroom window, and says in broken English that he was going to cut out our window and make a door. He never even looked at the toilet he supposedly came there to fix. We pushed back and asked why he wanted to do that, and that we didn’t want that. He said he was going to make a balcony. In the end, we didn’t know if we had any way to avoid this happening, and didn’t want trouble with the property owner. They put in the door, and it didn’t open because they installed it the wrong way, so it was blocked by the toilet and it was unusable. They then put in a new door, and never put a deadbolt on it, and it has stayed that way ever since. Over the next couple of weeks, they worked on the balcony, and would often leave it unsecured. They built the balcony right over the rotting roof and shingles. I don’t think it is supposed to bear this much weight. Eventually they put flooring in. After they made a frame for railings and put some flooring in, they left it like that for months. You can see in one of the pictures that there was nothing between the floor and the top railing, and it was a safety issue. It is still that way to this day. Fast forward to today! Jul 28th. They knocked on my door this morning, and said they were going to turn the water off. Then they went up on the back balcony, and knocked on the bathroom door saying they needed to come in and check the plumbing in the bathroom. Instead he walked right into the hall outside the bathroom, and told us to let him into the bedroom. I told him that I have cats, and cannot let him into the bedroom right now because of that, and that I was not yet awake. I also said that per law in our state, I am supposed to have 48 hours written notice from the landlord before anyone comes into my home. He looked at me like that was a very bizarre statement, and left. Now, they have brought up the idea of bringing our washer up and placing it on the new balcony (I don’t think that’s is safe and I don’t think it will hold) I have told them this before, but I told the landlords brother again today that I would much prefer it on our front balcony, because I don’t think it’ll fit through the doors, and that if I were to end the lease, I would need to be able to take it with me because it is my property. He didn’t care much for that statement. Yesterday, they decided to pressure wash the outside of the house, and did not even knock on the door to let me know. they sprayed me through my window, and got water all over. They sprayed my plants on the balcony, and broke some of them. After I told the guy to be careful with the plants and furniture out there, he told me to close my windows. It’s the complete lack of care that has started to get to me. Today when I stepped outside to go do laundry, I discovered that without my consent that they dismantled our washing machine, and left pieces of it strewn about on the floor to get lost, and not in a safe place. I have no idea if the washing machine is now broken, or if it’ll work again once put back together. We paid for the machine to be hooked up by the appliance store we got it from. I am at a loss for words at this point. I have no idea when I will be able to do laundry now. They also drilled through the bedroom wall today, twice! And had left the screws sticking nearly an inch out of the wall. I had to tell them and show them a picture, and all the guy said was “oops, mistake” and then he took the screws out, leaving big holes in the wall. They want to come in tomorrow to do something with one of our outlets. I am very worried about the outcome of this. I’m pretty sure they don’t have permits or whatever is needed to build that balcony, and that it is not safe whatsoever. Based on the fact that neither of them really speak English, or seem to know what they’re doing at any point, I don’t think they’re licensed to be doing this. What can be done that doesn’t result in us getting thrown out? Lease also states that landlord is not liable for a broken washer and will not replace Images/vids https://imgur.com/a/IDG5i99
