How Do One-Size-Fits-All Landlord-Tenant Laws Affect Small Landlords?

Housing advocacy in Indiana, particularly renter’s rights and empowerment, is tough! One of the author’s of our Preserving Habitability report told me, “I didn’t think it COULD be this bad.” He also noted that while they didn’t review all other states, it’s pretty safe to say Indiana is one of, if not the, worst state for tenants.

Making it more difficult, legislators don’t understand that most advocates are not anti-landlord. Many landlords are good stewards of their properties and understand the importance of treating tenants fairly. And these landlords deserve to get the rent paid on time. The problem landlords are, by and large, out-of-state private equity firms who are buying up properties in Indiana at an alarming rate. As of this writing, Indianapolis is tied for fifth place for the highest number of institutionally owned rental properties. Those are the landlords we’re targeting.

A recent article from the Urban Institute entitled, How Do One-Size-Fits-All Landlord-Tenant Laws Affect Small Landlords? addresses the very comment made by the Notre Dame student. Other states have tenant laws that are hard for mom-and-pop landlords to navigate. We should be so lucky! This graphic tells the story.

The farther one scrolls down, the less mom-and-pop landlords are burdened by state laws, and those are the states with the least tenant’s rights. It’s no coincidence that these same states have high eviction rates. And most telling, Indiana doesn’t even make the list.

We often hear Indiana lawmakers lament that they know someone who is a landlord that had a horrible experience with a tenant. It’s often their own story as a landlord. These experiences are unfortunate, but they are merely that - their experience of one or perhaps a few incidents. The scale of the issue with institutionally owned properties pales in comparison. As the report states, “… Not all landlords are the same. Mom-and-pop landlords, who own and manage 10 or fewer rental properties, own more than a third of all US rental housing. They have unique experiences and needs and face very different challenges than larger landlords.” We understand, and it’s the other two-thirds of landlords that cause the most problems.

“After a lull, the eviction crisis is escalating: in some states, eviction filings are 50 percent higher than they were prepandemic. Rising rents and an affordable housing shortage, coupled with the end of pandemic rent relief, stagnant wages, and higher costs of basic necessities, are fueling the trend.

In response, many cities and state policymakers are passing legislation to protect tenants, such as prohibiting harmful screening requirements, enforcing habitability standards, updating eviction requirements and processes, and regulating fines, fees, and security deposits.”

Indiana’s response, so far, is to do nothing to address the evictions crisis. While the national narrative is adopting housing as one of the most pressing issues, Indiana is just barely starting a conversation. And it’s not a very robust conversation. Landlords who own 10 properties or less need protections from burdensome legislation. We can easily exempt them from the laws we pass, but let’s stop using them as the excuse to do nothing.