Hoboken, N.J. cracking down on short-term rentals after SWAT responds to brawl at party

Hoboken is planning on cracking down on short-term rentals following a disturbance over the weekend. 

Police said they were called to the short-term rental at around 8 a.m. after reports of a disturbance at a party in a first-floor apartment on the 500 block of Garden Street.    . 

"There was a dispute that turned into a fight where there was serious bodily injury to several of the victims," Hoboken Public Safety Director Ken Ferrante said. 

Ferrante said four men between the ages of 18 and 20 were arrested on aggravated assault and weapons charges, three of them from out of state. A juvenile was also taken into custody. 

Hoboken Mayor Emily Jabbour said the SWAT team responded because the call at the rent-controlled unit initially came in as a hostage situation.   

Neighbors in the Hoboken community say they were shocked Sunday morning when they woke up to a SWAT team responding.

"You walk outside, and there's guys in tactical gear. You want to go right back in, and thank God, those cops said go back in," Hoboken resident Shai Bialer said. 

Jabbour said the short-term rental is "known to be a bad actor" and "there had been chronically issues that were being reported, anything from sanitation to noise."

Jabbour said officials now plan to introduce an ordinance to regulate short-term rentals. There are no regulations on those currently in her city, she said. 

"It is going to ensure that we cannot use rent control properties for short term rental purposes, and establishes an annual limit of 60 days in terms of a property owner's right to utilize it on short term ordinance marketplace," Jabbour said. 

CBS News New York was unable to reach the building's owner. We have also reached out to the short-term rental company for comment but have not heard back. 

Jabbour said she also contacted the short-term rental site and would like to see the unit shut down. She wants to know more about the registration process of short-term rentals, since three of the suspects are from out of state.