At first glance, a detached single-family house in Englewood, New Jersey may not seem like a destination for global tourists. But this summer, it could become an ideal homebase for soccer-mad travelers in town for this year’s once-in-a-generation World Cup.
The home is currently listed on Airbnb for about $1,000 a night for short stays throughout June and July. It boasts a “spacious 3BR retreat just 15 minutes from MetLife Stadium!” — the site of eight World Cup matches, including the tournament final — along with a backyard, a fire pit and a “roomy deck with plenty of seating.”
But there’s one problem: Laws in Englewood and many other New Jersey towns prohibit short-term rentals of less than 30 days. Airbnb is even offering homeowners in dozens of ZIP codes $750 bonuses to use the site to rent out properties for the first time during the international tournament, but officials in several municipalities say they have no intention of relaxing the rules while soccer fans are in town.
”When you have a game played in your backyard, you want to be hospitable,” said Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes in an interview. But, he added, “Those who violate the law will be prosecuted.”
That could pose a risk for visitors counting on a place to stay for the tournament.
Wildes said Englewood would also take legal action against short-term rental platforms “facilitating” any law-breaking through cash incentives.
The town is in one of 53 New Jersey ZIP codes covering 32 municipalities — including major cities like Jersey City and Newark, and smaller towns, like Edgewater and Leonia — where first-time “hosts” can score the bonus payment during the World Cup, when more than 1 million people are expected to converge on the region.
New Jersey’s wide array of varying short-term rental rules could make life complicated for tourists and the property owners trying to profit off them. No single state law governs the industry. A review of local laws for those 32 towns, and other neighboring municipalities crammed into the section of North Jersey just west of the Hudson River, revealed a thicket of individual zoning regulations, permit requirements and outright bans on rentals lasting less than a month.
At least 10 towns covered by the Airbnb ZIP code list, including Englewood, prohibit short-term rentals entirely. So do nearby cities like West New York and Union City, two of the most densely populated places in the nation and located just minutes from both MetLife Stadium and Midtown.
Officials say they mostly want to keep transient visitors out of residential communities and reserve housing for people who actually live in their towns.
We're gonna come down hard on the property owner and, unfortunately, the people that rent it.
At the same time, officials in other North Jersey municipalities have shown some willingness to tweak their rules, or say they are in the works of amending restrictions to allow for short-term rentals ahead of the World Cup.
Walk one block south from Englewood and soccer aficionados will find that the town of Leonia — population 9,000 — has taken a much more welcoming approach. Officials loosened a prohibition on short-term rentals in December to allow property owners to “earn a few bucks” from the World Cup, Mayor William Ziegler said late last year.
“If it works, great,” Ziegler said in a statement at the time. “The World Cup guarantees substantial demand for short-term housing so now seems as good a time to give this a try as any.”
But prohibitions or looser regulations don’t necessarily correspond with the desired result.
On Tuesday, at least 28 properties in Englewood – which bans short-term stays – were available to rent on Airbnb for a three-day period at the start of the World Cup in mid-June, according to a review of listings. Leonia, where short-term rentals are allowed, had none.
Nonetheless, Airbnb has pressed other municipalities to follow Leonia’s lead, arguing that homeowners, and not just the tech giant, should get a chance to cash in.
Company officials point to the example of Kansas City, Missouri, which adjusted its rules to allow for more short-term rentals during “special-event periods.”
“The World Cup will attract hundreds of thousands of tourists to New York and New Jersey and with them, millions of dollars in revenue across the region,” said Airbnb’s North American Policy Director Nathan Rotman in a written statement. “New Jersey homeowners deserve the opportunity to open their homes up to soccer fans from all over the world and make extra income.”
A company spokesperson said it plans to roll out its incentives to other locations in New Jersey beyond the existing 53 ZIP codes, and that hosts are expected to follow local laws. Some visitors may look to a rent a place for more than a month, avoiding any short-term rental restrictions.
The company is also offering the same bonus in dozens of New York City ZIP codes. But that may be a pipe dream because of the city’s own strict regulations.
Locked out of NYC
New York City, which is in the midst of a dire housing crisis, introduced a unique enforcement method in 2023 for cracking down on short-term rentals listed by Airbnb and other online platforms. The law blocks payment to “hosts” who fail to register their properties with the city for stays of less than 30 days.
The measure led to a dramatic and immediate drop in Airbnb listings in the five boroughs where short-term rentals have been blamed for helping to drive up rents and fuel gentrification. The law also spurred a multimillion-dollar lobbying and campaign finance blitz to relax the restrictions. The big spending didn’t work.
Legislation to ease the regulations for smaller homeowners has yet to advance in the City Council, despite multiple attempts, Airbnb’s efforts have faced staunch opposition from the powerful hotel trades union and many affordable housing advocates.
More recently, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Speaker Julie Menin have refused to grant a temporary reprieve to allow some smaller property owners to capitalize on the World Cup, despite pressure from some local homeowners and the influential Partnership for New York City, a group of leading business executives.
Partnership CEO Steve Fulop, a veteran of short-term rental legislation battles as the former mayor of Jersey City, said officials in New York and the Jersey suburbs should lay off this summer.
“If I were the mayor today, I know I would loosen it for the World Cup,” Fulop said of local ordinances. “I view it as a unique opportunity that happens once every 30 years, maybe, and we would be foolish not to let people capitalize on that.”
Union City, New Jersey
New Jersey last hosted World Cup matches in 1994. And leaders in some towns are on the same page as Fulop.
Elizabeth, New Jersey’s fourth-largest city, has eschewed an outright ban and instead allows owners to obtain licenses for short-term rentals in specific zones. It also subjects them to fire safety inspections and insurance rules. The city can issue violators daily fines up to $1,000. Mayor Christian Bollwage said the regulations set “clear expectations” while still giving owners opportunities to earn more money.
“City government isn’t here to control how people use their property, but we do have a responsibility to ensure it’s done safely and within the law,” Bollwage said.
‘Renter beware’
Other local officials say they aren’t backing off their rules — and are, in some cases, tightening them.
The town of Kearny, a 40,000-person working-class suburb that has been dubbed “Soccertown USA” for its rich footballing tradition, is located less than 3 miles from MetLife Stadium. Despite its love for the game, it recently enacted a full ban on short-term rentals.
Councilmember Fred Esteves sponsored the ordinance and said the town had received frequent complaints from residents about their neighbors’ transient lodgings.
“That’s the reason why we became stricter,” he said.
Edgewater, a thin strip of land laden with high-rises and waterfront condo complexes stretches for about 2 miles along the Hudson River, just south of the George Washington Bridge. It also bans short-term rentals.
Edgewater Borough Administrator Gregory Franz said officials want to prevent out-of-towners who care little about the community and may disturb next-door neighbors from flocking to New York City’s “urban bedroom community,” about 4 miles east of MetLife Stadium.
”Hey, it's a business. I get it. They're trying to make money,” Franz said. “However, I think their people need to do a little further research because there are municipalities, and more and more on a regular basis, putting limits and restrictions to these short-term rentals.”
Franz said the town has no intention of relaxing its rules and called Airbnb’s $750 incentives “an unscrupulous tactic” that will only get hosts and their guests in trouble.
“You know the old slogan ‘buyer beware.’ Well, renter beware,” Franz said. “ We're gonna come down hard on the property owner and, unfortunately, the people that rent it.”
Franz said that could leave people who spent thousands of dollars and traveled thousands of miles to attend matches without a place to stay.
“ I feel badly for these people who don't really know or perhaps understand the short-term rental laws that a lot of these towns have been adopting,” he said.
