What are your rights as a tenant in Indiana?

Landlords filed almost 70,000 evictions in Indiana over the past year, according to the Eviction Lab, a research team at Princeton University that studies data on evictions. 

Tenants live in more than 800,000 housing units in Indiana — nearly 30% of all housing units — according to 2023 American Community Survey census data. Some renters live alone while others share costs with roommates.

WFYI spoke with Fran Quigley, a professor at Indiana University Indianapolis McKinney School of Law who leads the Housing, Health and Human Rights Clinic, about some of the rights that cover tenants under Indiana law.
 

What are the most important things people should know about their tenant rights in Indiana?

The fundamental rights are: a landlord does not have the right to force a tenant out of their home without a court order and tenants must have a safe and secure environment to live in, known as the "warranty of habitability."

A landlord must give the tenant a 10-day notice that they will file for an eviction for nonpayment of rent. If the landlord does not have a court order, they cannot enforce an eviction. Without that court order, a landlord can not change the locks or remove the renter's possessions, Quigley said.

For a month-to-month lease, landlords must give a 30 day notice if they do not want to renew your lease. A standard 12-month lease may automatically renew or have requirements for termination by either tenants or landlords. But landlords must comply with local housing codes to ensure a property is safe.

"It has to have safe and operating electrical systems, plumbing systems, hot and cold water, sanitary systems, heat… [it] has to be a safe place to live and a healthy place to live, and every landlord has the obligation to provide that to tenants in Indiana," Quigley said.

This also includes ventilating systems, air conditioning, appliances already in the unit, and elevators, if provided. It also includes pest infestations, such as cockroaches and rodents.

If you are evicted, state law allows for many eviction records to be sealed.

These rights apply to all tenants and landlords across the state, including those with written and oral leases, said Quigley.
 

Indiana doesn't have a rent escrow law

While some states allow renters to withhold rent if a landlord will not make repairs, Indiana law does not provide that protection. 

Landlords have the ability to sue tenants for non-payment of rent. If a landlord is not fulfilling their legal obligations, a tenant can request intervention from a court.
 

What are some common ways that landlords abuse tenant rights?

Quigley said a lot of tenants don't know that a landlord needs a court order to enforce an eviction.

"Unfortunately, the reason for that is that a lot of landlords might want to make tenants think that they have the right to just put them out at any time," he said. "That's not true."

The flip side is that the state's eviction system moves quickly. 

"There's a real injustice in terms of the speed in which these cases proceed," Quigley said. "Evictions are a real outlier in our legal system." 

When someone faces an eviction, they can be brought to court within days and ordered out of their home.
 

How can a tenant assert these rights? What's the process?

Often landlords have financial resources where tenants may not, creating an imbalance in legal representation in court, Quigley said.

It's important in any case to collect documentation, including any communication, good pictures of any issues, and dates and times. These can be useful to a lawyer or a judge when determining the facts of a given violation.

Quigley said that in Marion County, the Marion County Public Health Department has a robust inspection program, which helps enforce housing and health code violations and works to protect public health. 
 

What resources can tenants without resources access if they need help?
 

• ​Indiana University’s Housing, Health and Human Rights Clinic offers a 12-point summary of Indiana tenant rights available here.

• The City of Indianapolis’s Tenant Advocacy Project offers  tenants with attorneys and tenant navigators. Attorneys can give limited, free legal advice to tenants facing an eviction while tenant navigators explain how tenants can navigate complicated court requirements and processes.

• The Neighborhood Christian Legal Clinic offers legal services related to housing issues, including eviction, security deposits, repairs, and accessibility issues.

• The Indianapolis Legal Aid Society supports elderly people and people with mental and physical disabilities remain in their homes.

• Indiana Legal Services provides services for landlord-tenant housing issues.

Contact WFYI Data Journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org