Indiana landlord responsibilities are set out mainly in Title 32, Article 31 of the Indiana Code, and they boil down to a handful of duties: deliver a safe and habitable unit, maintain the systems you provided, return security deposits within 45 days with an itemized accounting, give reasonable notice before entering, follow fair housing rules, and use the courts for every eviction. Miss one of these and you open yourself to statutory damages, attorney’s fees, and lost rent. What follows walks through each duty in the detail you need to stay compliant.
Deliver and Maintain a Habitable Property
You must provide every rental unit in a safe, clean, and habitable condition that meets the lease and complies with applicable health and housing codes. That duty runs the entire tenancy, not just move-in day.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-8-5 – Landlord Obligations
The statute names the systems you have to keep in good and safe working condition, but only if they were provided when the lease began:
- Electrical wiring and fixtures.
- Plumbing that supplies a reasonable amount of hot and cold running water at all times.
- Sanitary and sewage systems.
- Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, with heat sufficient at all times.
- Elevators, where the building has them.
- Any appliance offered as an inducement to the lease.
If the unit did not come with air conditioning and the lease does not promise it, you are not required to install it. If a window AC unit came with the rental and quits working, the repair is yours. Common areas fall under the same duty: hallways, stairwells, laundry rooms, and parking areas all need to be kept clean and in proper condition through reasonable efforts.1Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-8-5 – Landlord Obligations
The implied warranty of habitability is statutory, and a tenant cannot waive it. A lease clause purporting to hand every repair duty to the tenant is unenforceable for the items the statute assigns to you. Mold is not addressed by a specific Indiana statute, but persistent mold can still violate the general habitability requirement or local health codes, so treat it as a repair issue rather than waiting for a complaint to escalate.
Security Deposits: 45 Days and an Itemized Notice
Indiana does not cap security deposits. What it regulates tightly is what happens after you collect the money.
You have 45 days after termination of the lease and delivery of possession to return the deposit, minus allowable deductions, along with an itemized written notice.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-3-12 – Return of Deposits, Deductions, Liability The clock starts only once the tenant gives you a written mailing address. If they never provide one, your obligation under this chapter has not yet been triggered.
You may deduct only for three things: accrued unpaid rent; damage from the tenant’s violation of law or the lease (not ordinary wear and tear); and unpaid utility or sewer charges the tenant owed under the lease. Unless you and the tenant agree otherwise, the tenant has no right to apply the deposit to the last month’s rent.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-3-12 – Return of Deposits, Deductions, Liability
When you claim deductions, the itemized list must give the estimated repair cost for each damaged item and the amount you intend to charge, and you must include a check or money order for the balance owed.3Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-3-14 – Notice of Damages, Refund of Remaining Deposits
Miss the 45-day deadline or skip the itemized notice and the exposure is real. A tenant who does not receive the required notice and refund can recover the full deposit plus reasonable attorney’s fees.2Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-3-12 – Return of Deposits, Deductions, Liability A separate provision makes you liable for the withheld portion, plus attorney’s fees and court costs, when the damage-notice requirements are not met.4Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-3-16 – Liability for Withheld Deposits Document each deduction with photos and receipts; landlords who cannot back up their numbers usually lose.
Give Notice Before Entering
You must give the tenant reasonable written or oral notice before entering and may enter only at reasonable times. The statute does not attach a specific hour count to “reasonable,” so many landlords write a 24-hour standard into the lease as a safe practice.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 32 Property 32-31-5-6
What the statute does say plainly: you cannot abuse the right of entry or use it to harass a tenant.5Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code Title 32 Property 32-31-5-6 Repeated unannounced visits, entries without a legitimate purpose, or odd-hour arrivals invite trouble. Emergencies threatening safety or the property itself are the recognized exception where you can enter without notice. When you do enter, state the reason in your notice — a scheduled repair, an inspection, a showing — even though the statute does not require it. The paper trail protects you if the tenant later claims harassment.
Follow Fair Housing Rules
Federal law and Indiana law both prohibit discrimination in rental housing. The Indiana Civil Rights Commission enforces the state rules and bars decisions based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability. Prohibited conduct includes refusing to rent, falsely claiming a unit is unavailable, imposing different lease terms, and refusing to allow reasonable modifications for a disability.6Indiana Civil Rights Commission. Indiana Civil Rights Commission Housing
Assistance Animals
Assistance animals are the fair housing question that trips landlords up most often. Under HUD guidance, an assistance animal is not a pet; the category includes trained service animals and emotional support animals that alleviate the effects of a disability. When a tenant requests an accommodation, you must allow the animal unless you can show it would pose a direct threat to safety, cause significant property damage, or impose an undue burden on your operations.7U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals
When the disability and need are not obvious, you may ask for reliable disability-related information. You may not demand specific medical records, require a particular form, or charge a pet deposit or pet rent for an approved assistance animal.7U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals
Lease Terms, Notice, and Eviction
A written lease covering rent, due date, term, maintenance responsibilities, and rules about pets, guests, and modifications is the practical baseline. Indiana does not require a written lease in every tenancy, but working without one puts both sides in a swearing contest if a dispute arises. Any provision that contradicts Indiana’s landlord-tenant statutes is unenforceable, so a lease template that has not been reviewed against current law is worth checking.
Nonpayment of Rent
If a tenant does not pay rent when due, you can terminate the lease by giving at least 10 days’ written notice. The tenant may stop the termination by paying the full rent owed before the 10 days expire.8Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-1-6 – Rent, Refusal or Neglect to Pay The lease can set a different notice period, so check what your agreement says before serving notice.
Indiana does not impose a statutory cap on late fees for residential leases. Your lease should spell out the amount, when it starts, and any grace period. Courts can refuse to enforce a fee that is clearly disproportionate to actual losses, so keeping late fees reasonable is the safe approach.
Court Process Is Mandatory
Every eviction has to go through the courts. Changing the locks, shutting off utilities, removing doors or windows, or threatening the tenant to force them out are self-help evictions and they are illegal. A tenant subjected to those tactics can recover actual damages — the cost of temporary housing, spoiled food, substitute heating — and courts may add penalty damages of several months’ rent. The exposure almost always costs more than doing it the right way.
Emergency Possessory Orders
Indiana does offer a faster court track for serious situations. You can petition for an emergency possessory order when the tenant is committing or threatening waste to the unit, when the tenant or a guest has committed a crime affecting the health and safety of others, or when the tenant used materially false information to induce you into the lease.9Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-6-3 – Eligibility to File Petition The petition still runs through a court; it just moves faster than a standard eviction.
Handle Abandoned Property by the Book
After an eviction, tenants sometimes leave belongings behind. Indiana law does not let you throw them out. You must obtain a court order for removal of the tenant’s personal property and personally serve the tenant at their last known address with that order, together with the identity and location of the storage facility where the items will be held.
If the tenant does not claim the property within 90 days of receiving notice, the storage facility may sell it. Certain items are exempt from storage fees and must be released to the tenant immediately:
- Medically necessary items.
- Items used for a trade or business.
- A week’s supply of seasonally appropriate clothing, blankets, or items necessary for the care and schooling of a minor child.
Skip these steps and you can be held liable for the value of the tenant’s property. The process feels slow when you want the unit turned around, but cutting corners here is one of the more expensive mistakes a landlord can make.
Do Not Retaliate
Indiana prohibits landlords from retaliating against tenants who exercise their legal rights. If a tenant reports a code violation, files a complaint, or takes other protected action, you cannot respond by raising rent punitively, cutting services, or filing an eviction as payback.10Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-8.5-5 – Retaliatory Acts by Landlord Prohibited
The rule has limits. You may still:
- Decline to renew a lease at the end of its term.
- Raise rent to market rate, whether at renewal or during the term if the lease allows it.
- Reduce services equally across all tenants, subject to other applicable law.
- Evict for cause where the tenant is behind on rent, has violated the lease in a way affecting health or safety, or is holding over after the lease expires.
Motive is what a court examines. An eviction filed in good faith before the tenant engaged in a protected activity is lawful. The same eviction filed the day after a tenant calls the health department looks retaliatory, and the timing will be scrutinized.11Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-8.5-5 – Retaliatory Acts by Landlord Prohibited>
Disclose Lead Paint in Pre-1978 Housing
If your rental was built before 1978, federal law requires you to disclose known lead-based paint or lead-based paint hazards before the tenant signs the lease. You must provide the EPA lead hazard information pamphlet, share any lead inspection reports you have, and allow the tenant a 10-day window to conduct their own inspection unless both parties agree to a different timeframe.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead
The penalties are steep. A knowing violation can trigger civil fines and makes you liable for triple the tenant’s actual damages.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead If you use a property manager or leasing agent, they must ensure compliance on your behalf. Easy to handle upfront, devastating to forget.
Respond to Repair Requests in Writing
Understanding what tenants can do when you fall short explains why documentation matters. A tenant who believes you have violated your maintenance duties can sue, but only after clearing a procedural bar: they must first give you written notice of the problem and then allow a reasonable amount of time to fix it. If you fail or refuse after that notice, they can proceed to court.13Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-8-6 – Tenants Cause of Action to Enforce Landlord Obligations
A tenant who wins can recover actual and consequential damages, attorney’s fees, court costs, and injunctive relief ordering the repair. Your liability begins when you had notice or actual knowledge of the problem and either refused to fix it or let an unreasonable amount of time pass.13Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 32-31-8-6 – Tenants Cause of Action to Enforce Landlord Obligations Respond in writing, act quickly, and keep dated records of what was done. That record is often the difference between winning and losing a habitability suit.