Indianapolis-Marion County Landlord Registration Process

Marion County Indiana landlords must participate in a registration of their homes with the City of Indianapolis. Beginning in 2015, landlords must use a new online landlord registration site. Any property owner failing to register their properties could be subject to a fine. There are also annual renewal requirements.

Don’t worry though! The purpose of this post is to walk the investor landlord through the process and make it as simple and painless for you as possible. Before getting started, a few important notes to understand and prepare for the process.

Before You Start:

  • This registration is only for Marion County Indiana properties.
  • When registering, you will need to establish an online account at the Marion County Department of Code Enforcement (DCE) website. After establishing the account you will be required to pay $5 and register all properties owned in Marion County.
  • If you do not reside in Indiana, you must name an Indiana representative for your properties. If you are using a local property manager, they would be your local representative. This step is not the same as creating an account but the option to name a property manager will come up when you register a specific property. So one owner/landlord account can have different local points of contacts for each registered property.
  • After review of the process and its requirements, our company made the decision that this registration should be completed by the owners of Marion County investment properties. With issues regarding contact information and annual renewals, the actual owner should have an account and the responsibility for annual renewals (i.e. updating local contact information). This also allows the owner to submit information to the city exactly as they prefer to have it recorded.
  • The registration site will not work correctly with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Firefox. Don’t even try. Find your Internet Explorer browser and use that web browser or you will waste a lot of time. There is a warning if you access with a different browser and take my word for it, they mean it.
  • Time Saving Point! Have your property parcel numbers ready as that is how the system locates and then auto-populates the property details. You can locate your parcel number at this site.

Registration Process

Here is a direct link to the registration site. The first time you visit the site, look for the link in the upper right part of the page labeled Register for an Account. Click it to get started. After accepting the terms, and creating your login credentials, you can add contact information for your account. Once completed you will be advised your account has been created and to look for a verification email.

After confirming your account through the email, the process gets a little less intuitive. When presented with the lists of services available at the site, select Business Licenses. You are taken back to a page that appears to be the same terms and conditions previously accepted but this time you are going to Create A Registration. Accept the terms and you will find that you are at a page where you can select your Record Type and then select Landlord Application.

Four Step Process

Step 1

This is where you provide the City your primary contact information. You can register a property manager and they will become the primary source of contact to the City. Consider if you wish to be out of the loop that much and then make note if you ever change managers. We suggest using your personal Applicant information and adding a property manager with each actual property listing (see step #2).

Step 2

Property Details are entered using the parcel ID. Also you will be requested to provide affirmations that the property is not currently subject to any un-remediated citation or violations and all property taxes are paid current.

Step 3

Review all properties entered and your contact information.

Step 4

Pay fees – $5.00 via credit card or e-check with a small fee.

You are now registered!

Annual Renewals

The City is now enforcing the renewal provisions of the law. The system is designed so the City will collect $5.00 a year for each property. You should receive an email or a letter to remind you. You might want to create a reminder to yourself to login annually and handle the renewal. This is not a service provided by WILMOTH Group.

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WILMOTH Group is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. We focus on providing creative local solutions for a variety of residential real estate needs including, properties for sale, property management services in Central Indiana.
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