INDIANAPOLIS — There's a new ordinance in place to hold short-term rental owners accountable in your Indianapolis neighborhood.
A three-year effort to hold bad actors within the short-term rental community accountable paid off for some people in the Fountain Square neighborhood.
"It's been a long process, but sometimes that's what it takes," said Dakota Pawlicki, president of the Fountain Square Neighborhood Association.
Pawlicki was at Monday's Indianapolis City-County Council meeting to hear the board vote. Councilors approved an ordinance to register short-term rental owners. Owners would be responsible for a $150 permit for each unit they rent out.
"We feel great," Pawlicki said. "This is a major win for communities in Indianapolis. It wasn't just us. We have a whole coalition of neighborhoods around the county that see this as an issue."
For Fountain Square resident Jenny McNeal, the ordinance came right on time for her growing family.
"I think it's a good thing that there's a registry for the homes. Hopefully, it will keep our neighborhoods safer," McNeal said.
Pawlicki said he's found through his research many short-term rental owners live out of state, making it difficult for neighbors and law enforcement to reach them when there are issues.
"There's a lot of incidents of safety, things like shootings we hear on the news. There are also incidents where a neighbor, where someone put an HVAC unit on his property line. He couldn't get ahold of the owner. He didn't know who the owner was, couldn't figure it out. He had to spend thousands of dollars out of pocket to hire an attorney just to get an HVAC unit off of his property line," Pawlicki said.
Pawlicki hopes this ordinance will be helpful for neighbors and good short-term rental hosts.
"The vast majority of people who are running short-term rentals in the city are good, honest Hoosiers who just want to make this a great place to live. But the problem is we don't have the right tools in place to go after the bad actors that spoil it for everybody. This ordinance helps us do that," Pawlicki said.
The ordinance will go into effect next year.