Short term rental ordinance to go into effect next year

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Hosts of short-term rentals can expect some new stipulations thanks to an ordinance passed unanimously twice by the South Bend Common Council.

This ordinance would go into effect at the end of 2026.

Like many issues, local rental hosts see this as a bit of a mixed bag.

Parts of this ordinance can benefit these hosts, but some parts don't exactly thrill them.

Short-term rentals on apps like Airbnb and VRBO can come in clutch during Notre Dame home football weekends.

Now, the city of South Bend will be regulating them.

The common council passed an ordinance requiring rental hosts to get a city permit, which comes with a $150 yearly fee.

"The goal of our passing short term rental regulations, or I'd say common sense guardrails are really to encourage and protect the residential character of neighborhoods, to protect long term rental housing in the city, and to support public safety by reducing nuisance properties in our neighborhoods," said Rachel Tomas Morgan, South Bend Common Council at large.

Hosts who operate without a permit could face a $500 fine.

Those who have repeated incidents at their site could also face fines and are eligible to have their permit revoked.

Council member Rachel Tomas Morgan says the incident at an Airbnb in early April isn't what inspired this ordinance.

"This has been on the docket for a while, since I've been on council, residents have been speaking to me about their concerns with short term rentals in their neighborhoods, that were at one-point, full thriving neighborhoods, and now they're seeing parts of their neighborhood go dark, in some neighborhoods, more than 50% of houses," said Tomas Morgan.

ABC57 spoke to three short term rental hosts, who say for the most part, they're in favor of the ordinance.

"The short-term rental registration part, I am completely fine with, I think everybody's completely fine with the registration part. As an owner, if something comes up with my property, I want them to reach me quickly, so I'm glad they'll be able to," said Lori Hiscock, short term rental host.

"There are a lot of properties that are not in the best condition, maybe not set up with coding in place but basically, we hold ourselves to a high standard, we have a permit, we make sure everything is up to code before we even do anything with short term rentals or renting in general, so with this, I feel like it kind of makes this more strict on people to do better work," said Michael Santos, short term rental host.

Michael Santos and his wife Grace have multiple rental properties in South Bend.

They're curious about some of the language in the ordinance that they feel is vague.

"I'm more concerned about how the execution of it is, because it's one thing to say you've got to go through this process, but then what's the incentive with the fee, what is that going to be used for, is that going to dissuade or defer people from doing it, and then how are they going to enforce it," said Grace Santos, short term rental host.

The ordinance goes into effect January first.

In addition to the fee, hosts will need to list an emergency contact.