Short-Term Rentals Bill Fails On House Floor

Legislation preventing local governments from banning short-term rentals such as Airbnb failed to garner enough votes to pass on the House floor.

Some communities around Indiana have sought to ban people from renting out their homes, like through the website Airbnb. But Rep. Matt Lehman’s (R-Berne) bill would prevent communities from doing that.

He says the state needs to adjust to the new sharing economy.

“There needs to be changes and I think there needs to be uniformity across the state,” Lehman says.

Lehman’s bill does provide guidelines: for instance, people can’t rent out their homes for more than 30 days consecutively and 180 days total in a year.

But Rep. Jerry Torr (R-Carmel) says short-term rentals should be a local decision.

“We should trust our local officials to decide because every community’s different, has different constituencies, has different demographics,” Torr says.

House lawmakers voted 49 to 44 in favor of the bill, but legislation must receive 51 votes to pass. The bill could be brought back on the floor again this session.