Neighbors want to crack down on absentee rental property owners
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Neighbors want to crack down on absentee rental property owners.
A group of concerned residents called the Coalition to Address Short Term Rentals (CASTR) released a list of proposals to address deadbeat Airbnb owners.
People living around these rentals have complained about loud music, parties, and lack of parking. They blame the owners of these homes for those problems.
The proposals include requiring the property owners to register with the city and get a business permit from the state of Indiana. It would also require renters to be 21-years-of-age or older, and would ban large parties and food trucks from these rental homes.
“Most of those ideas are coming from other cities that have done this, we have looked to Nashville, to Chicago, and other places that have found ways to put in some common sense resolutions,” said CASTR member Dakota Pawlicki.
Indianapolis City-Council member Kristin Jones said it could be several weeks before an ordinance is drafted in a committee based on these suggestions.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Captain Christopher Boomershine said officers scoured social media and found messages advertising parties around town. Investigators believe some of those parties are being held at short term rentals.
“What we see in the data so far, the limited data that we collected, it’s not all the short term properties. It’s typically the same ones that are causing challenges in the neighborhood,” said Pawlicki.
WISH-TV tried to speak with the owner of an Airbnb who had concerns about the proposed ordinance, but he did not want to go on camera.