Housing Laws

If you are a tenant who is a victim or if one of your household members is a victim, Indiana’s housing laws provide the following protections:

• You have the right to end (terminate) your lease early without having to pay a penalty if you follow the required steps.¹
• It is illegal for a landlord to discriminate against you by ending your lease, not renewing your lease, refusing to rent to you, or retaliate against you because you or your household member is a protected individual.²
• It is illegal for a landlord to retaliate against you or refuse to rent to you because you or a member of your household terminated a prior lease based on the protections that these laws offer.​²
• If you have a court order that restricts the abuser’s contact with you, you have to right to ask the landlord to change your locks. However, you might have to pay for it.³

The protections listed above cannot be given up (waived) by either the landlord or the tenant.⁴ For example, the landlord can’t make you sign a lease that says you cannot end your lease early, even if the landlord offers you lower rent or some other benefit in exchange.

¹ IN ST § 32-31-9-12
² IN ST § 32-31-9-8
³ IN ST §§ 32-31-9-9; 32-31-9-10; 32-31-9-11
⁴ IN ST § 32-31-9-1