Short-term rental regulation 2026 updates this week: Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Montréal each moved on rules affecting short-term rental operators.
Indiana Prohibits Cities From Capping Rental Properties
- Governor Mike Braun signed House Enrolled Act 1210 on March 12, 2026, prohibiting Indiana cities and counties from capping the number of residential rental properties — effective July 1, 2026.
- The law directly targets rental-cap ordinances in Carmel and Fishers, which had limited rentals to 10% of homes per subdivision; both cities can keep their caps until January 1, 2028, then must remove them.
- Cities can still require rental registration, inspections, and safety standards — as long as those rules don’t effectively function as a cap.
- A separate provision limits HOA votes on rental restrictions to homeowners who live in their own property — cutting out investor-landlords who don’t occupy their homes from those decisions.
Uvika’s Views
- Indiana’s law is one of the more layered preemption frameworks enacted in 2026: it removes the municipal cap, shifts rental governance to HOAs, then restricts who in an HOA can vote. For PMs, the practical outcome is that neighbourhood-level rental policy now sits with resident homeowners, not city hall or investors.
- For PMs with non-owner-occupied rentals in Indiana, audit your HOA membership and voting eligibility before July 1. If your properties sit in HOA-governed subdivisions, investor-owners may no longer have a voice in future rental restriction votes.
- Both Fishers and Carmel have signalled they will keep registration requirements even after the cap sunsets. Confirm your properties are registered now — the 2028 wind-down only covers the cap, not the registry.
- Watch Arizona and Ohio, where near-identical preemption bills are moving through 2026 sessions. Indiana’s near-unanimous passage strengthens the political case for those measures.
Pennsylvania Introduces Its First Statewide Rental Regulatory Framework
- Three Pennsylvania House Democrats introduced House Bill 2303 on March 19, 2026, which would create the state’s first uniform rules for short-term rentals — covering registration, safety, and operator accountability.
- Every property would need to be listed in a countywide registry and have a designated contact reachable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- The bill creates three operator tiers — homestay, vacation rental, and corporate operator — with heavier compliance requirements for larger-scale operators.
- A public hearing was held today, March 25, before the House Tourism Committee. Industry associations and operators testified alongside the bill’s sponsors — the first formal legislative test of the bill’s viability.
Uvika’s Views
- The tiered operator structure is the most significant design choice in this bill. A “corporate operator” category with scaled-up requirements is a direct signal that the sponsors are targeting professional management companies, not just casual hosts — PMs should read the full text.
- The 24/7 contact requirement sounds simple but has real operational weight for remote portfolios. PMs covering multiple Pennsylvania counties would need to confirm whether a single on-call service satisfies the per-property requirement as written.
- Today’s hearing is a first read of how much appetite exists in the Legislature. A Tourism Committee referral is generally more host-sympathetic than a Housing or Judiciary referral would be — worth watching the committee’s response closely.
Montréal’s Seasonal Hosting Window Puts Two Major Events at Risk
- Montréal’s municipal bylaw restricts short-term rentals in residential neighbourhoods to a 92-day summer window (June 10 – September 10) — meaning the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix (May 22–24) and the UCI World Cycling Championships (September 19–27) both fall outside the permitted rental period.
- An independent analysis by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton — commissioned by Airbnb — projects a shortfall of more than 26,000 accommodation nights across the two events, with over $19 million in visitor spending likely to leave the city. Source
- Airbnb is pushing the city to allow principal-residence hosts to operate year-round and switch to a fully online permit system, removing the current requirement for an in-person visit.
- The mayor has acknowledged the bylaw “isn’t working as intended” and expressed openness to change, but no formal amendment has been tabled. With the Grand Prix eight weeks away, the window for a regulatory fix is narrow. Source
Uvika’s Views
- The timing pressure is real: the F1 Grand Prix is on May 22, and any bylaw change would need to pass city council, take effect, and allow hosts time to register and list. That’s a very tight window. If the city doesn’t act by mid-April, the Grand Prix window is effectively closed for short-term rental operators.
- The RCGT finding that strict regulations did not improve vacancy rates or long-term rental prices is the most consequential data point in Airbnb’s report — it directly challenges the core argument used to justify the seasonal ban in the first place.
- For PMs with Montréal properties, the actionable step right now is to ensure CITQ registration is current and the municipal permit is ready so you can list immediately if the window opens. Don’t wait for formal confirmation before completing paperwork.
Entities
CITQ: The “Provincial Permit Body”
The Corporation de l’Industrie Touristique du Québec is the provincial agency that certifies short-term rental properties in Québec; hosts need a valid CITQ number before they can legally list on any platform.
Uvika Wahi is the Editor at RSU by PriceLabs, where she leads news coverage and analysis for professional short-term rental managers. She writes on Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, regulations, and industry trends, helping managers make informed business decisions. Uvika also presents at global industry events such as SCALE, VITUR, and Direct Booking Success Summit.
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