Tippecanoe County, IN Short-Term Rentals: Primary-Residence-Only Rule (2026)

Tippecanoe County only allows accessory dwelling units in the unincorporated county's rural zones, and § 4-12(g) already requires the property owner to live on the premises, either in the principal dwelling or the ADU, as their primary residence. Section 4-12(k) builds a short-term-rental restriction directly on top of that owner-occupancy rule. First, it bans a transient guest house, defined at § 4-11-13 as a dwelling rented short-term where none of the units must be owner-occupied, inside an ADU under any circumstance. Second, if the owner chooses to make the ADU their own primary residence, the principal dwelling unit on that same lot loses the ability to operate as a transient guest house as well.

In practice, that means a property with an ADU can never turn the accessory unit into short-term lodging, and if the owner is living in the ADU, the bigger house cannot be flipped into whole-house rental hosting either. Home occupations and rural home occupations are still allowed inside an ADU, but only when they stay accessory to someone actually living there. The rule sits inside § 4-12, the same section that requires a deed restriction confirming the principal dwelling and the ADU stay in the same ownership and that the lot remains owner-occupied, recorded with the County Recorder before the Administrative Officer will issue an improvement location permit for the ADU.