Beginning today, renters unable to pay rent will have more resources to avoid eviction.
The state Judiciary launched on Thursday a two-year pilot program that requires landlords to offer mediation to tenants who have not paid rent before filing eviction cases.
The program, called the Pre-Eviction Mediation Filing Program (PEMP), was established last year via statute, but follows up on a pair of eviction mediation programs from the past several years: the first established in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the second following the Lahaina wildfire.
The law establishing PEMP, Act 278, opens with a preamble stating that the Covid-era program was “widely successful in substantially increasing the number of disputes that were settled in mediation without any eviction cases being filed.” Mediation Centers of Hawaiʻi, an umbrella organization for the state’s five mediation centers, claims that the Covid-era program kept 90% of tenants who participated in the program housed.
Tracy Wiltgen, executive director for the Mediation Center of the Pacific — the sole mediation center on O‘ahu — told Aloha State Daily that the program benefits both landlords and tenants.
“The quicker landlords can start negotiating and talking with tenants, the better,” Wiltgen said, adding that eviction proceedings in court are typically going to put cash-strapped tenants “in a deeper hole,” with landlords less likely to receive their due rent.
And as for tenants, Wiltgen said the previous programs’ high rate of agreement suggests they will be more likely to remain living where they are.
However, the program does require landlords to follow specific procedures. If a tenant is in default, the landlord must submit written notice to the tenant at least 10 calendar days before beginning an eviction lawsuit, rather than the previous five days.
The written notice must inform the tenant of their right to mediation, along with contact information for the mediation center most convenient for the area. Pre-made notice forms tailored for each island are available on the state Judiciary website.
Upon receiving that notice, the tenant has 10 days to schedule mediation. If they do, the landlord must wait an additional 10 days before filing the eviction lawsuit.
Wiltgen said she is not expecting a substantial upswing in mediation cases beyond the centers’ typical annual caseload; she said statewide, the mediation centers see about 100-150 cases per month. Even when these mediation programs were not in effect, eviction courts would often send cases to mediation anyway.
“There wasn’t really a huge flood of cases [after the state’s moratorium on rent-related evictions expired in 2021],” Wiltgen said. “These are cases that would have gone to court anyway; we’re just getting them sooner.”
That said, Wiltgen said some landlords expect more tenants will choose mediation when provided the option. She said landlords have warned that tenants who otherwise would have simply paid rent late might instead choose mediation to further postpone payments.
In any event, mediation is free for landlords and tenants under the program, with the 2025 law allocating a total of $2.5 million to the judiciary for the program’s two years. The state Civil Rights Commission pegs a typical mediation fee at about $50 per party or session, which theoretically would allow the program to support 50,000 mediation cases over the two years.
The program expires Feb. 4, 2028.
For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.
