An 83-year-old widow claims she is at risk of losing her idyllic Hawaii home of more than five decades after a 'trivial error' resulted in a massive $600,000 civic fine, according to a lawsuit.
Sandra May, of Honolulu, alleged she was fined $10,000 a day for two months after the mistake meant that officials thought she had put her home on the market for an illegal short-term let, the filing viewed by the Daily Mail states.
According to city ordinances, residential properties, other than some designated resort–zoned and apartment–zoned areas, cannot be rented for less than 30 days.
May claims her $1.7 million home was only available for long-term renters but that a 'trivial error' while filling out the online form made it seem otherwise, the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for Hawaii on May 28 states.
The widow alleged in the complaint that she attempted to fix the mistake and was also told that it was an 'internal error and that they were working it.'
She claimed she didn't see the city's violation notices because she was recovering from a serious car accident. She argued that the fine was excessive and threatened her Eighth Amendment constitutional rights, per the suit.
May claimed that she would either be forced to sell her home or file for bankruptcy as a result of the fine imposed on her by Honolulu's authorities, per the suit.
'It feels to me like they're just trying to take my house, put me on the street with the rest of the homeless people and it's very depressing, very upsetting,' she told Fox News Digital.
Sandra May, 83, filed a lawsuit against Honolulu authorities after being fined $600,000 for what she claimed was a 'trivial error' when putting her home up for rent
May has lived in her $1.7 million home on the 4500 block of Sierra Drive since the late 1970s, according to a federal lawsuit filed in the US District Court for Hawaii on May 28
The filing blasted the six-figure amount as 'unconscionable [and] ruinous,' while supposedly having 'no relation' to May's alleged offense.
May said in her filing that the car accident on March 27, 2024, left her hospitalized until March 31 of that year.
She was in and out of rehab for the next months and required vascular surgery, as well as urgent care visits and follow-up appointments.
May claimed her medical treatment combined with the fact that she lived alone with nobody else to check her mail meant she was unaware of the violation notice.
'When I found out about this, it just sent me reeling,' May told Fox News Digital.
She said that she called authorities right away, but claimed she was effectively told to "get a lawyer."'
The senior described her home as a 'little piece of paradise on earth' and appeared to get emotional as she discussed its future.
'The thought of losing it. I can't imagine,' May said. 'It's really frightening. I don't want to be a burden on my son.'
Loren Seehase, one of May's lawyers, told the Daily Mail that 'enforcement should be about fixing problems' rather than 'waiting for the bill to become financially devastating'
May, who has lived in the home for 56 years, insisted that she needed the rental to make ends meet.
She currently lives on a fixed income from Social Security, according to the lawsuit.
One of May’s attorneys, Loren Seehase with the Pacific Legal Foundation, told the Daily Mail on Saturday that 'government should not profit from a person’s misfortune.'
'Enforcement should be about fixing problems – not waiting for the bill to become financially devastating,' Seehase said.
May, a former realtor, bought her Wilhelmina Rise home in the late 1970s and raised her only child there.
A small one-bedroom apartment unit was added underneath the property years before she bought it, the filing said.
When May bought the unit, a long-term tenant was already living in the small downstairs unit, per the suit.
That changed over the years, the legal filing claimed, though some tenants stayed for a year, some for several years and one stayed for 20 years.
Under Honolulu ordinances, most residential properties cannot be rented for less than 30 days. May insisted that she was offering her home out for long term lets only, but that her mistake made it seem otherwise
After May retired in the early 2000s and her husband died in 2019, she 'found herself widowed, living alone, retired, and needing to find a tenant to supplement her Social Security income,' the lawsuit said.
May was allegedly struggling to find a new long-term tenant, which first took her online in early 2019.
However, using the Internet was also hard for May because she was 'technologically illiterate,' per the complaint.
May insisted that the online platform 'verbally informed' her that the source of the fine was an 'internal error,’ the lawsuit said.
Records allegedly confirmed that the settings were last updated on December 16, 2023, to only allow bookings of 30 days or more.
However, May claimed that Honolulu authorities only notified her last April 25 that her violation had taken 59 days to be addressed.
In turn, that meant that the $10,000 per day had grown to about $600,000, which she claimed threatened to ruin her future.
The lawsuit was filed against Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting and its director, Dawn Takeuchi Apuna, in her official capacity.
May's federal lawsuit was named Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting and its director, Dawn Takeuchi Apuna (pictured)
May also alleged that Honolulu had placed a lien on her home and prohibited her from accessing any city services, including driver’s license renewal and vehicle registration.
Her lawyers have argued that she has 'minimal culpability because she set her advertisement settings to be a 30-day rental minimum since 2019.'
She is seeking a judgment that declares her fines to be excessive, as well as an injunction releasing the $600,000 lien, per the complaint.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the City and County of Honolulu's Department of Planning and Permitting and Apuna for comment.
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