What Indianapolis Airbnb Hosts Need to Know About the Short-Term Rental Ordinance Right Now
The post-2024 ordinance framework changed specific requirements. Here is what current city code requires, step by step.
The post-2024 ordinance framework changed specific requirements. Here is what current city code requires, step by step.
If you set your Indianapolis listing to “available” this summer without revisiting your permit paperwork in the last year, there’s a reasonable chance you’re out of compliance. You probably wouldn’t know it from a Google search. The guides ranking at the top of results still describe the pre-2024 framework — some of them read like they haven’t been touched since 2021. Indianapolis-Marion County Code Chapter 621 governs short-term rental licensing, and the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services has enforcement authority.
Summer is when this matters most. STR occupancy peaks June through August, driven by convention traffic downtown and Broad Ripple foot traffic. Neighbors who tolerated weekend noise through a quiet spring start picking up the phone in July. DPW inspectors respond. RequestIndy tickets get opened. Hosts who can’t produce a current, valid license with a passed inspection on file are looking at fines whose specific amounts CityDesk has been unable to independently verify — BNS hadn’t responded to our records request before publication. Call them directly for current penalty schedules. The number is at the end of this article.
This piece walks through what Chapter 621 requires, sourced from the code itself, BNS, and DPW — not Airbnb’s help center, which has no obligation to track local ordinance amendments and frequently doesn’t. The ordinance has been actively amended. Verify fee amounts, radius requirements, and inspection checklist items directly with BNS and DPW before relying on any guide, including this one.
Step 1: Determine What Category of Host You Are
Before you touch the permit application, you need to know which tier of operator you are.
Chapter 621 distinguishes between owner-occupied and non-owner-occupied properties. Owner-occupied means the host maintains the property as their primary residence. These properties have faced a more permissive regulatory path — broader zoning eligibility, a different licensing tier. Non-owner-occupied properties are investment rentals operated by an absentee owner, and they’ve faced stricter zoning limitations, including exclusion from certain residential districts. If you don’t live there, you’re in this category. How often you visit doesn’t change it.
This matters because BNS requires you to attest to your status on the application. Claiming owner-occupied status on a property you’re renting as an absentee investor is a misrepresentation. License revocation plus fines. The system cross-checks, and neighbors filing complaints routinely include property ownership information. Don’t treat this as a formality.
One geographic note that catches people off guard: if your property sits along Georgetown Road, Crawfordsville Road, or in the residential blocks immediately surrounding the IMS campus, you may be in the Town of Speedway — not Indianapolis-Marion County. Speedway is a separately incorporated municipality within Marion County and runs its own licensing and land-use rules entirely. Hosts have made the mistake of obtaining a BNS license while actually operating in Speedway jurisdiction and discovered the error only when a Speedway enforcement complaint arrived.
Before you apply for anything, pull your property record from the Marion County Assessor and check whether “Town of Speedway” appears as your municipality. If it does, contact Speedway Town Hall at speedwayin.gov and stop there. A BNS application doesn’t apply to you.
Step 2: Secure Your Short-Term Rental License from BNS
The primary operating permit is the Short-Term Residential Rental License issued by the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services under Chapter 621. Registering on Airbnb doesn’t substitute for it.
The application requires:
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Proof of zoning compliance. Your property must be in a district where short-term rentals are a permitted use for your license category. If your district conditionally permits STRs, you may need a variance or use determination from the Metropolitan Development Commission before BNS can proceed.
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Certificate of Occupancy. The property needs a valid C of O for its current use. If you’ve converted a basement or attic into sleeping space for guests and that conversion wasn’t permitted, you don’t have a valid C of O for that use. This is one of the most common ways hosts fail the process — a C of O for a two-bedroom home, an Airbnb listing advertising three. During DPW inspection, that discrepancy is immediately visible. The permitting issues that come up here overlap with what our home & property coverage tracks more broadly, including how Indianapolis homeowners navigate unpermitted improvements before listing or renting.
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Completed application with maximum occupancy declaration. That occupancy figure must be posted inside the unit. It’s not a casual estimate. State four occupants, and DPW observes six checking in during inspection — that gets noted.
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Application fee. Confirm the current amount directly with BNS before you apply. Figures in older guides reflect prior fee schedules.
Verify the renewal cycle — annual or biennial — with BNS when you call. A license issued under a prior framework doesn’t automatically carry forward into current requirements. If your listing has been running continuously since before the 2024 amendments and you renewed without a BNS review of updated standards, confirm that your license reflects what’s currently required.
Contact BNS at (317) 327-5137 or indy.gov/activity/apply-for-a-business-license. Verify that number is the current direct line for STR licensing when you call.
Step 3: Notify Your Neighbors Before You Submit
This is the step absent from virtually every competing guide. It’s also the one most likely to surprise hosts who think they’ve done everything right.
Under Chapter 621’s notification requirements, before you submit your license application, you must provide written notice to owners of record within a specified radius of your STR. Not just the people next door. Ownership is determined from Marion County Assessor records — if a rental property is owned by an LLC in another state, that LLC’s address on file with the Assessor is where the notice goes.
The radius, delivery method, required timing, and required notice content are procedural details BNS administers directly. Get these specifics from BNS before preparing anything. Don’t reconstruct the requirements from what a neighbor says they received.
BNS will ask for documentation that notification occurred. One host processed a license without knowing about the neighbor notification requirement and didn’t discover the oversight until BNS requested proof of notice during application review — the application was suspended while they went back and completed the step. That’s the kind of delay that costs a full summer season.
Neighbors can file a formal objection, which triggers a response process. A neighbor’s personal preference that they not live next to a short-term rental isn’t grounds for denial if you’re otherwise compliant. Documented evidence of prior ordinance violations is different — that can strengthen an objection materially.
After your license is issued, the same RequestIndy portal neighbors used during the application process is how they file ongoing complaints: noise, overcrowding, parking. Those complaints feed directly into BNS and DPW’s enforcement queue. In Broad Ripple and SoBro, where RequestIndy has become a routine tool for residents, your compliance has to be real, not just documented on paper.
Step 4: Pass the DPW Inspection
The Department of Public Works conducts the physical inspection as part of licensing. Inspectors work from a checklist. Fail any item and you get a correction notice and a re-inspection before the license can be issued or renewed.
CityDesk submitted a public records request to BNS for the actual DPW inspection form. Request it directly from DPW — it’s the authoritative list. What follows reflects what BNS and DPW described as the scope of STR inspections. Use it to prepare, then confirm specifics with DPW before your walkthrough.
Smoke and CO detectors. Smoke detectors are required on every level and inside every room designated as a sleeping space. A detector in the hallway outside a bedroom may not satisfy the sleeping-room standard — confirm placement requirements with DPW. Carbon monoxide detectors are required when the property has gas appliances or an attached garage.
Fire extinguisher. A mounted, rated extinguisher must be accessible. Confirm the required rating and service documentation standard with DPW before your inspection.
Egress windows. This is a common failure point, and if you have one of those older homes in Fountain Square or Old Northside, pay attention here. Any room designated as a sleeping space must have an egress window meeting minimum opening dimensions. Basement bedrooms in pre-war housing stock frequently don’t. If you’re advertising a basement bedroom, have a contractor look at the egress situation before your DPW walkthrough. Finding out during inspection is expensive. Hosts dealing with deck or fence permits in Indianapolis go through a related DPW process and encounter the same correction-notice-and-re-inspection cycle — the timeline pressures are comparable.
Stairways and electrical. Handrails are required on stairways, lighting must be functional. GFCI protection is required in bathrooms, the kitchen, and exterior outlet locations. If your home was built or last rewired before GFCI requirements were standard, you likely have outlets that need replacement.
Water heater and plumbing. The water heater gets checked for proper venting and a functioning pressure-relief valve. Inspectors look for active leaks under sinks, at toilet bases, and at visible supply connections.
Posted occupancy and contact information. The maximum occupancy figure from your license application must be physically posted inside the unit in a visible location. A digital posting in your Airbnb listing doesn’t satisfy this. The host’s emergency contact must be posted inside as well.
Schedule through BNS at (317) 327-5137. If you fail an item, you receive a written correction notice with a remediation timeframe and must schedule a re-inspection. Operating while that re-inspection is pending is a violation.
Step 5: Register for the Marion County Innkeeper’s Tax
This obligation lives entirely outside the BNS permit process, and hosts who use Airbnb exclusively are often unaware there’s a separate registration requirement.
Airbnb collects and remits innkeeper’s tax for bookings made through its platform in Indiana. That leads some hosts to assume the tax obligation is fully handled — worth scrutinizing. Contact the Marion County Treasurer’s office directly to confirm whether independent innkeeper registration is required regardless of which platform processes your bookings.
The current rate should be confirmed with the Treasurer before you rely on it for anything. It has historically run around 10 percent of accommodation charges, but verify that figure directly.
If you accept bookings through VRBO, a direct booking site, or any channel outside Airbnb, confirm with the Treasurer whether those transactions require independent collection and remittance. Platform remittance practices vary. A host using multiple booking channels may be covered on one and exposed on another.
Innkeeper’s tax enforcement is a separate legal exposure from your BNS permit status. The Marion County Treasurer enforces it independently. A valid STR license doesn’t protect you from Treasurer’s office enforcement for non-registration. Contact the Treasurer directly at treasurer.indy.gov.
Which Indianapolis Neighborhoods Have Additional Restrictions
Broad Ripple Village. The commercial corridor along Broad Ripple Avenue operates under different zoning than the adjacent residential blocks. Zoning classifications shift within a short walking distance here — an address in the Village corridor and an address two blocks into the residential neighborhood can have meaningfully different STR eligibility. Verify your specific parcel with MDC. The Broad Ripple Village Association has context on local enforcement history and is worth a call.
SoBro. South Broad Ripple sits predominantly in higher-density residential zoning, where non-owner-occupied STRs face tighter eligibility. Get a written zoning determination from MDC for your specific parcel before applying. A neighbor’s experience down the street isn’t a reliable guide — their parcel classification may differ from yours.
Indiana Avenue, Old Northside, and Lockerbie Square historic districts. Any property in an IHPC district where compliance requires structural or exterior modification may trigger Historic Preservation Commission review. That process is separate from BNS and DPW and runs on its own timeline — which is to say, slower. If DPW flags a deficiency in a contributing structure and the fix involves exterior modification, assume you’ll need IHPC sign-off before any work proceeds. Contact the commission at (317) 327-4742 before assuming otherwise.
Fountain Square. The neighborhood association has been active on STR issues. More practically: some properties in the district carry recorded MDC conditions from prior rezoning or variance approvals that restrict short-term rental use. If your property went through any rezoning or MDC approval process, pull those records and read them. Understanding what is actually selling in Fountain Square and who is getting there first gives hosts useful context on how active buyer and investor activity in the district intersects with the MDC conditions that can affect STR eligibility. A condition recorded against your parcel is enforceable regardless of what base zoning allows — and it won’t show up in a standard zoning check.
Mass Ave and Near Eastside corridor. Density-cap proposals have circulated here. Whether any formal per-block or per-district cap has been enacted requires a direct check with BNS and a review of current city-county council ordinance filings. Monitor MDC agenda items and council filings if you operate in this corridor.
IMS-area hosts. If you’re in the Town of Speedway, this guide doesn’t apply to your licensing. Contact Speedway Town Hall at speedwayin.gov.
What Violations Look Like and What the Fines Are
Enforcement in Indianapolis is primarily complaint-driven. BNS and DPW respond to RequestIndy complaints with measurable consistency in high-activity neighborhoods, and summer is when volume spikes. Anyone who’s been in Broad Ripple on a Saturday night in July knows exactly why.
The fine structure under Chapter 621 is administered by BNS. CityDesk submitted a public records request for enforcement case records, including specific penalty amounts and outcomes. BNS hadn’t provided responsive records before publication. Call BNS directly at (317) 327-5137 and ask for the current civil penalty schedule. The specific dollar amounts for operating without a license, operating on an expired license, and failing to correct inspection deficiencies within the notice period aren’t reliably published anywhere publicly available. That’s a real gap in public information — hosts are expected to comply with a fine structure they can’t easily look up.
What Chapter 621’s structure does make clear: repeat violations and failure to correct within notice periods escalate to license revocation. A revoked license creates a disclosure requirement if the property is later sold.
The city has capacity to cross-reference active Airbnb and VRBO listings against the licensed host registry. The current scope and frequency of that practice isn’t publicly documented in detail — confirm directly with BNS.
The State Preemption Question Every Indianapolis Host Should Know About
Indiana has seen legislative movement toward limiting municipalities’ authority to regulate short-term rentals. Arizona, Tennessee, and Florida have enacted preemption statutes that rendered local STR ordinances partially or fully unenforceable. During recent Indiana General Assembly sessions, similar proposals have surfaced in the context of housing and property rights legislation.
Whether any such bill passed or remains pending must be checked directly against the General Assembly’s current session record — this is a live question that CityDesk was unable to confirm through public sources before publication. Check the Indiana General Assembly’s session records for current bill status and any enacted preemption language.
Here’s what preemption would mean practically: provisions like neighbor notification requirements, categorical licensing tiers, and district-level restrictions could be invalidated if the state declares them outside local authority. It wouldn’t eliminate all local regulation, but it would reshape it.
None of that helps you today. The current ordinance is the current law. Preemption isn’t a protection you can invoke until a statute is enacted and its scope is settled — and in states where preemption has passed, that process has taken years of litigation to work out. Operate in compliance with what Indianapolis requires now. If a preemption bill advances, this article will be updated.
Your Renewal Calendar and What To Do If You’re Already Out of Compliance
Confirm directly with BNS whether your license operates on an annual or biennial cycle. Ask for your current expiration date when you call. If you don’t have your license document, BNS can tell you your status.
If you’re operating without a current, valid license right now — whether because it lapsed or because you never obtained one — the instinct to keep taking bookings and hope for the best creates compounding exposure. Every day you operate unlicensed is a potential violation day if a complaint is filed. In neighborhoods where RequestIndy is a reflex, that’s not a remote risk.
Stop accepting new reservations until you’ve confirmed your license status. You can pause your Airbnb listing without canceling existing reservations. Call BNS before a neighbor complaint forces the conversation. Hosts who self-report and initiate the compliance process voluntarily are in a meaningfully better position in any enforcement proceeding than hosts who get found through a complaint.
Schedule your DPW inspection as soon as you can. Inspection scheduling has lead times, and summer is busy. The sooner you’re in the queue, the sooner you’re clear. Ask BNS directly whether you may honor existing bookings while completing the compliance process — don’t assume either way.
Direct Contacts
- BNS Short-Term Rental Licensing: (317) 327-5137 — verify this is the current direct line for STR matters | indy.gov/activity/apply-for-a-business-license | City-County Building, 200 E. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204
- DPW Inspections: Schedule through BNS at the number above
- Marion County Treasurer (Innkeeper’s Tax): treasurer.indy.gov
- Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission: (317) 327-4742 — verify current number before calling
- RequestIndy: requestindy.com | (317) 327-4622
- Town of Speedway: speedwayin.gov
- Broad Ripple Village Association: broadripplevillage.com
CityDesk will update this article if the Indiana General Assembly acts on STR preemption legislation and as any pending ordinance amendments at the city-county council are resolved. We have an open public records request with BNS for STR enforcement case records from 2023 through the present. If BNS provides responsive records with specific fine amounts and case outcomes, this article will be updated with that data. If you’ve received a BNS enforcement notice, a RequestIndy complaint, or have direct experience with the post-2024 inspection process, contact CityDesk at the editorial address below. Specific case experience from hosts — amounts, timelines, outcomes — makes this coverage more accurate for everyone operating in this city.
