Council to vote on permit system for short-term rentals
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Homeowners who live near short-term rental properties told News 8 a planned permitting system will be a good start for dealing with problem properties.
The Indianapolis City-County Council is scheduled to vote Monday evening on an ordinance that would require owners or managers of all short-term rental properties, such as those offered through Airbnb and Vrbo, to register with the city and pay a one-time, $150 permit fee. The move follows months of complaints by neighbors and shootings at short-term rental properties, including a June shooting that left one man dead and put two more in the hospital.
Dakota Pawlicki, president of the Coalition to Address Short-Term Rentals, said he once had a shooting in an alley behind his home in Fountain Square connected to a short-term rental property. Less extreme issues include parking and extra HVAC units taking up space. Pawlicki said he began collecting complaints about short-term rental properties in Nov. 2022. As of July, he said he had collected 145 complaints about 71 properties. Twenty-eight of those properties accounted for 100 of those reports, or 70%.
“A lot of these short-term rental owners and operators that are negligent don’t even live in the city,” Pawlicki said. “Many don’t even live within the state. And so there needs to be a more serious conversation, both at the local level and at the state level, about what are we doing on behalf of Hoosiers, on behalf of Hoosiers that are good, honest operators of short-term rentals, how do we adapt and make our policies a little bit more complementary to what they’re going to do while at the same time balancing the need for community safety and vitality.”
Councilor Kristin Jones said it’s difficult for officials to track down out-of-state owners and managers in an emergency. She said having a permit on file will make it easier to find them.
“We’re not trying to hurt the good actors, it’s trying to enforce a structure for the bad actors,” Jones said. “We’re just trying to find out who the folks are who own and operate these short-term rentals. We’re not trying to enforce the owner-occupied rentals.”
Jones said the permitting system will be voluntary until Jan. 1, after which it will become mandatory. Pawlicki said once it’s in place, he plans to talk to leaders in other cities and towns about what changes they think are needed at the state level.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Airbnb said the company supports the proposal:
“Home sharing has been an integral part of the fabric of Indianapolis for years, allowing the city to welcome visitors whose spending supports local businesses and creates economic opportunities for residents. We are supportive of the proposed ordinance, which protects responsible home sharing and enables Indianapolis to benefit from the growing opportunities around tourism.”
Airbnb spokesperson