Planning a garage sale in Arlington soon? Residents are now required to obtain a city permit, which is free of charge, and are limited to three sales within a 12-month period.

The Arlington City Council adopted the Garage Sales Ordinance in February after considerable discussion and public input to protect residents from quality of life issues arising in their neighborhoods because of the prevalence of people commercially selling goods from their houses. The ordinance, which aligns with the City Council priority to Champion Great Neighborhoods, places reasonable limits and restrictions on garage sales to protect residential areas from encroachment of these illegal commercial uses.

Click here to apply for a free garage sale permit and see an interactive map of permitted garage sales.

Key Points

• All Garage Sales require a permit.
• No fee is required to obtain a permit
• You may choose to advertise your garage sale, for free, on the City’s interactive Garage Sale map.
• You will receive your permit by email, please retain the email until your garage sale is complete.
• Individual multi-family units are not eligible for a garage sale permit. The property manager may obtain a permit for the entire complex.

Time Frame

• Up to three (3) garage sales per residence, within a 12-month period
• Up to three (3) consecutive days per garage sale
• Garage sales may be conducted from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Signs

• One (1) sign may be placed on the ground at the garage sale residence, this sign may be up to four (4) feet tall and up to eight (8) square feet in area.
• Off-site signs may be placed on the ground on private property with the owner’s permission.
• All signs must be removed at the end of the garage sale.
• Signs are NOT allowed:
  • In the street median
  • Between the sidewalk and curb
  • Within 10 feet of the curb
  • Within 40 feet of an intersection
  • On utility poles or fences

Items for Sale

• A garage sale permit does not allow commercial sales activity. Example of commercial sales activity include more than two identical items, new items, high volume of personal property items and transporting items to a residential property to display them for sale.
• A garage sale permit does not allow the sale of food items which require a mobile food vending or food establishment permit. The garage sale ordinance does not conflict with cottage food production operations in compliance with THSC 437.
• Items on display should be placed behind the sidewalk and approximately 15 feet from the street.

Violations of this ordinance may result in a fine of up to $500 for each violation.

Report a code violation online or by calling the Action Center at 817-459-6777.