Fort Lauderdale, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)
Key Facts
- Precious metal/jewelry hold
- 10 working days
- Other pledged goods hold
- 20 working days
- Firearms
- exempt, governed by state law
- Police hold order
- up to 60 days
- Annual inspection fee
- $250 per year
- Transaction fee
- $1.50 per transaction (secondhand)
Summary
Fort Lauderdale treats pawnbrokers as a category of secondhand dealer and makes them hold pawned gold, silver, platinum, jewelry, gems and other precious stones for 10 working days, and every other pawned item for 20 working days, before sale or disposal, unless the original pledgor redeems it first. Pawnbrokers also pay a $250 annual police inspection fee.
Sec. 15-204(a): Gold, silver, platinum, or other precious metal and jewelry, diamonds, gems and other precious stones shall be held by the secondhand dealer for a period of ten (10) working days prior to sale, exchange, or other disposition thereof. All other property covered by this article, except for firearms and ammunition acquired in the course of a secondhand dealer's business shall be held for a period of twenty (20) working days prior to disposition thereof; provided, however, that the provisions of this subsection shall not be applicable when the person known by the secondhand dealer to be the person who submitted any article desires to redeem, repurchase, or recover such article at any time within the required hold period. ... Sec. 15-207(1): Each pawnbroker and secondhand dealer, except antique dealers ... conducting business within the City of Fort Lauderdale shall pay a yearly fee of two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) for police inspections of pawnshops/secondhand dealers and other related functions by the police department.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 67 Update 1 | Unified Land Development Code: Supplement 58 Update 2).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 15-201 defines 'secondhand dealers' to expressly include pawnbrokers and anyone who makes loans of money on the deposit or pledge of secondhand goods. Sec. 15-204(a) sets the holding periods: gold, silver, platinum or other precious metal, jewelry, diamonds, gems and other precious stones must be held ten working days before sale, exchange or other disposition; all other covered property, apart from firearms and ammunition, must be held twenty working days. 001(9)(c). Sec. 15-204(b) lets a police officer who has probable cause to believe a pawned item is tied to a criminal investigation ask a court to bar its release for up to sixty days, after which the pawnbroker must log how the item was ultimately disposed of.
Sec. 50-per-transaction fee charged to non-antique secondhand dealers. Sec. 15-205 lets any city officer, once authorized by the chief of police, inspect a pawnbroker's records and held property once a day during normal business hours to check for stolen goods.
Violations & Fines
Selling or otherwise disposing of a pledged item before its ten- or twenty-working-day hold period expires violates Sec. 15-204(a), unless the original pledgor is redeeming it. Refusing a police inspection under Sec. 15-205, or failing to keep required transaction records, violates Sec. 15-206(2). If a court finds probable cause that a pawned item is stolen, the pawnbroker cannot release it for up to 60 days while the criminal investigation proceeds.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long must a pawnbroker hold jewelry before selling it?
What about a pawned television or power tool?
Can police stop a pawnbroker from releasing an item they suspect is stolen?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Fort Lauderdale
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