Short-Term Rentals in Orange County, IN: French Lick & New State Law

French Lick and West Baden Springs give Orange County a real, historic tourism base most rural Indiana counties don't have -- and a sweeping new 2026 state law just changed the regulatory ground under every short-term rental in the state, Orange County included.

This page covers what's specific to Orange County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

A genuine tourism destination, not a general rural-charm claim

Most Indiana counties marketing land for short-term rental potential are leaning on general rural appeal -- a lake, some woods, proximity to a small town. Orange County is different: French Lick and West Baden Springs, two adjoining towns roughly a mile apart, are home to a pair of nationally significant historic resort hotels that have drawn visitors for well over a century. The French Lick Springs Hotel dates to 1845, with its current spa wing built in 1901; the West Baden Springs Hotel, built the same year, is a National Historic Landmark known for a roughly 200-foot domed atrium once promoted as the "Eighth Wonder of the World." Together they anchor the French Lick Resort, which also runs a casino, giving this corner of rural south-central Indiana a genuine, sustained tourism draw.

That established visitor base is what makes a short-term rental property in or near French Lick and West Baden Springs meaningfully different from one in a county without a comparable destination: demand here is tied to a specific, durable attraction rather than a general assumption that "people like visiting the country."

A new 2026 state law just changed the rules statewide

Separately from anything specific to Orange County, Indiana as a whole just went through a significant short-term rental policy shift. Indiana House Enrolled Act 1210, signed by Governor Mike Braun on March 12, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, bars cities and counties from capping the total number of short-term rental properties allowed in their jurisdiction. It also voids the kind of grandfather-clause/Board-of-Zoning-Appeals-approval requirement some Indiana municipalities had previously imposed on short-term rentals, treating an owner-occupied short-term rental instead as a permitted residential use that local zoning cannot simply prohibit. On top of that, the law caps what a local government can charge for an STR permit at $150, and requires that STR enforcement match whatever enforcement standard applies to non-rental properties.

For a French Lick or West Baden Springs property owner, this is a real, current change worth understanding directly rather than assuming an older local ordinance (if one existed) still fully controls the situation. If either town had previously capped rental permits, required special zoning approval for an owner-occupied rental, or charged a permit fee above $150, those specific provisions may now be superseded by state law as of the July 1, 2026 effective date.

What this means for buying or operating a short-term rental here

Before relying on this page for a specific purchase, confirm two separate things directly: first, whatever local ordinance French Lick, West Baden Springs, or unincorporated Orange County currently has on the books for short-term rentals, since a local rule that pre-dates HEA 1210 may need to be read alongside (or may now be partially overridden by) the new state law rather than taken entirely at face value; and second, Indiana's innkeeper's tax obligations, which apply to short-term rentals statewide and are collected and remitted separately from any local zoning or permitting process.

This page draws HEA 1210's provisions from tax and hospitality trade-press coverage rather than the enrolled act's own text, so treat the specific details above (the $150 permit-fee cap, the owner-occupied permitted-use treatment, the enforcement-parity requirement) as a starting point to verify against the Indiana General Assembly's own bill text or with a local Orange County official, rather than as a final word on your specific situation.

Short-Term Rentals in Orange County, Indiana

A genuine tourism destination, not a general rural-charm claim

A new 2026 state law just changed the rules statewide

What this means for buying or operating a short-term rental here

Ready to talk to someone who knows land?