Is short-term rental legal in Indianapolis, IN?
Indianapolis adopted STR registration in 2025 (permit + platform duties) — and then Indiana's HEA 1210 (July 2026) preempted much of local STR power statewide. The live reading is both layers together: register with the city, under a state ceiling that now limits what the city could ever add.
Rules checked October 2026
Run the Indianapolis verdict on your facts
| What counts as a short-term rental | Indianapolis adopted STR registration in 2025 (permit + platform duties) — and then Indiana's HEA 1210 (July 2026) preempted much of local STR power statewide. The live reading is both layers together: register with the city, under a state ceiling that now limits what the city could ever add. |
|---|---|
| Permit / license | STR Registration (city) — inside the HEA 1210 state ceiling — issued by City of Indianapolis (Business & Neighborhood Services) |
| Fee | Registration about $150 (city schedule) |
| Renewal | Annual renewal |
| Primary-residence rule | None the city may now impose beyond the state ceiling. |
| Whole-home rental | Whole-home and hosted rentals register on the same terms. |
| Night cap | — |
| Guests / occupancy | Standard codes |
| Minimum stay | None the city may impose under the state ceiling |
| Zoning | State preemption now frames the zoning question: registration and safety yes, prohibition effectively no. |
| Density / scarcity | No density cap found in the current rules |
| Fines | Unregistered operation draws city fines; caps or bans beyond the state ceiling are preempted (HEA 1210, eff. July 2026) |
| Taxes | State sales tax + Marion County innkeeper's tax registration. |
| Platform duties | The 2025 ordinance put verification duties on platforms; the state law frames their limits. |
| State layer | HEA 1210 (effective July 2026) substantially preempts local STR bans and caps statewide; cities keep narrow registration and safety powers. Indianapolis adopted its own registration in 2025 — read both layers together. |
What trips hosts in Indianapolis
- Indianapolis is the freshest two-layer case in the dataset: a 2025 city regime read through a 2026 state preemption. Guides citing either alone are half wrong.
The private layer still applies
These are the city's rules. Your HOA, condo board, lease or mortgage can say no on top of them — that layer is printed as a warning in the checker, never merged into the city's verdict.
Sources: Indianapolis Rev. Code (STR registration, 2025) · Ind. HEA 1210 (2026) — state STR preemption. Rules checked October 2026.