Indiana eviction law

If a tenant refuses or neglects to pay rent when due, you may end the lease with at least 10 days' notice, unless you and the tenant agreed otherwise. The lease does not end if the tenant pays the rent in full before the notice period expires.

Ind. Code § 32-31-1-6

• The statute gives a form of notice to vacate within 10 days unless the rent is paid within 10 days. Ind. Code § 32-31-1-7
• Serve the notice on the tenant. If the tenant cannot be found, you may serve a person residing at the premises and must explain the notice to them; if no one is found, you may post it on a conspicuous part of the premises. Ind. Code § 32-31-1-9
• No notice is required when the lease expressly requires rent in advance and the tenant refuses or neglects to pay it in advance. Ind. Code § 32-31-1-8(5)

Indiana sets no notice or cure period for ending a lease over a breach other than unpaid rent, so the lease terms control. Before you sue a tenant to enforce the tenant duties in the statute, such as keeping the unit reasonably clean and not damaging it, you must give notice of the problem and a reasonable time to fix it.

Ind. Code § 32-31-7-7(b)

• If the tenant's breach caused physical damage that you repaired, your notice must specify the repairs and document their cost. Ind. Code § 32-31-7-7(c)
• No notice is needed to sue once the tenant's occupancy has ended. Ind. Code § 32-31-7-7(d)
• If you win, you may recover actual damages, attorney's fees and court costs, an injunction or another appropriate remedy. Ind. Code § 32-31-7-7(f)
• For waste, a crime by the tenant or a guest that affects others' health and safety, or materially false information given to get the lease, you may ask the court for an emergency possessory order. Ind. Code § 32-31-6-3 See Eviction process on the Indiana page

Only a court can remove a tenant. You may file an action for possession, including on a small claims docket when the rent due at filing is $10,000 or less. If you file an affidavit for possession before judgment, the hearing on the order to show cause may be held no earlier than five business days after the tenant is served, and the officer may remove occupants no earlier than 48 hours after the order of possession is served. The court rules for small claims and eviction cases were not read for this page.

Ind. Code § 32-30-3-1 Ind. Code § 32-30-3-2 Ind. Code § 32-30-3-10 Ind. Code § 33-29-2-4

• You may petition for an emergency possessory order if the tenant commits or threatens waste, the tenant or a guest commits a crime affecting the health and safety of another tenant, you or your agent, or the tenant gave materially false information to get the lease. The court must set a hearing no later than three business days after the petition is filed, and on a crime or false information finding orders the tenant out within seven days of the hearing. Ind. Code § 32-31-6-3 Ind. Code § 32-31-6-5 Ind. Code § 32-31-6-7.1
• If the case settles before final judgment, you must move to dismiss it unless you are still seeking damages. Ind. Code § 32-31-10-3
• Taking part in an eviction diversion program or settlement conference is voluntary. Ind. Code § 32-31-10-5
• The court must seal an eviction case's records on its own motion when the case is dismissed, ends in a judgment for the tenant, or a judgment against the tenant is overturned on appeal. A tenant with a judgment against them may move to seal it once any money judgment is satisfied or, if there was none, seven years after the judgment. Ind. Code § 32-31-11-3(a), (b)
• A separate affidavit process lets a property owner have law enforcement remove a squatter: someone who has never had a rental agreement, the owner's permission or any other right to occupy. It does not apply to a person whose lease expired or was violated, to anyone who formerly had permission, or to an invitee. A person removed on a knowingly false affidavit may sue the person who signed it. Ind. Code § 32-31-12-2 Ind. Code § 32-31-12-3 Ind. Code § 32-31-12-8

Without a court order you may not deny or interfere with a tenant's access to or possession of the unit, for example by changing the locks, adding a device to keep the tenant out, removing doors, windows, fixtures or appliances, or interrupting, reducing or shutting off electricity, gas, water or other essential services. You may interrupt a service for an emergency, good faith repairs or necessary construction.

Ind. Code § 32-31-5-6(c)

• You do not have to pay for these services unless you agreed to in the lease. Ind. Code § 32-31-5-6(c)(3)
• Except as the deposit and abandoned property chapters allow, you may not take, remove, deny access to or dispose of a tenant's belongings to enforce a lease obligation. A separate writing may let you hold property the tenant voluntarily offers as security in exchange for not filing an eviction. Ind. Code § 32-31-5-5
• A tenant may not shut off a service to the unit if doing so will seriously damage it. Ind. Code § 32-31-5-6(d)
• A tenant who is locked out or has services cut may petition for an emergency possessory order; the court must set a hearing within three business days and can order you to restore possession and stop the violation. Ind. Code § 32-31-6-3 Ind. Code § 32-31-6-5 Ind. Code § 32-31-6-6
• These rules do not apply once the unit is abandoned, meaning the tenants have failed to pay or offer to pay rent and a reasonable person would conclude they have surrendered possession. Ind. Code § 32-31-5-6(a), (b) See Abandoned property on the Indiana page

You are not liable for loss of or damage to belongings the tenant has abandoned, meaning a reasonable person would conclude the tenant has vacated and surrendered possession of them; no lease may define abandonment differently. Otherwise you may remove a tenant's belongings only under a court order after a court awards you possession, and deliver them to a warehouse or a court-approved storage facility.

Ind. Code § 32-31-4-2

• Before delivery, notice of the removal order and of the storage location must be personally served on the tenant at the tenant's last known address. Ind. Code § 32-31-4-3(a)
• Exempt property (medically necessary items, items used in the tenant's trade or business, a week's supply of seasonal clothing, blankets and items needed to care for and school a child) must be released on demand without payment. Ind. Code § 32-31-4-1 Ind. Code § 32-31-4-3(b)
• The storage company holds a lien for its charges on the property that is not exempt; the tenant may reclaim the property until sale by paying those charges, and it may be sold if not claimed within 45 days after the tenant receives the notice. Ind. Code § 32-31-4-4 Ind. Code § 32-31-4-5
• When a sole occupant dies or is believed incapacitated and absent, you must give the tenant's representative access to remove the belongings. Ind. Code § 32-31-1-23 See Death or incapacity of a tenant on the Indiana page

You may not raise rent, cut or interfere with services, or bring or threaten a possession, eviction or early termination action because the tenant complained to a code enforcement agency about a violation that materially affects health or safety, complained to you in writing about a lockout, utility, entry or repair violation, sued you under the emergency possession or repair chapters, organized or joined a tenants' organization, or testified against you.

Ind. Code § 32-31-8.5-2 Ind. Code § 32-31-8.5-4 Ind. Code § 32-31-8.5-5(a)

• You may still decline to renew at the end of the term, raise rent to the level of comparable market rentals, and reduce or end a service for all tenants equally. Ind. Code § 32-31-8.5-5(b)
• You may still bring a possession action if the code violation was caused mainly by the tenant or the tenant's household or guests, the tenant has not cured a rent default in time, code compliance requires work that displaces the tenant, the tenant's breach materially affects health or safety, the tenant holds over after a fixed term, you acted in good faith before the protected activity, or you in good faith want the unit back at the end of the term to live in, to remodel or demolish, or to take it off the rental market for at least six months. Ind. Code § 32-31-8.5-5(c)
• A waiver of the retaliation chapter is void, and cities and counties may not adopt their own retaliation rules. Ind. Code § 32-31-8.5-0.5 Ind. Code § 32-31-8.5-6
• You may not end, refuse to renew or refuse to enter into a lease, or retaliate, solely because a tenant, applicant or household member is a protected victim with a protection or no contact order. Ind. Code § 32-31-9-8