Indianapolis, IN Rental Inspections: Tenant Complaint Process (2026)

Chapter 582 of the Revised Code of the Consolidated City and County protects Indianapolis tenants who exercise their rights under Sec. 582-105. A landlord may not retaliate against a tenant for using the tenant information hotline created under Sec. 582-104, for seeking legal or non-legal assistance under Indiana Code 32-31-7 or 32-31-8, for reporting a landlord's failure to give the notice of rights required by Sec. 582-103 to the department of business and neighborhood services, for requesting an inspection of the rental unit's conditions (or having an attorney request one) with the Marion County Public Health Department, or for contacting the department about the Indianapolis Landlord Registry under Chapter 851.

Sec. 582-105(b) defines an 'adverse action' broadly: filing or threatening an eviction case, filing or threatening an emergency possessory order, raising or threatening to raise the rent, worsening the tenant's living conditions, or treating the tenant materially worse than similarly situated tenants. Under subsection (c), a tenant does not have to prove the protected activity was the only cause of the landlord's action, only that a causal link exists. Subsection (d) creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if the adverse action happens within 60 days of the protected activity, or if nothing else material changed in the landlord-tenant relationship in between.

Landlords registered under Chapter 851 must also keep the tenant's signed rights notice on file for at least 60 days after tenancy ends and must produce it on demand from the department of business and neighborhood services.