Redlands, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Under Redlands City Code, Title 5 (Business Taxes, Licenses and Regulations), Chapter 5.08, Article VII, section 5.08.445 sets the license rate for pawnbrokers: anyone "conducting, managing or carrying on the business of pawnbroker" in the city must pay a license fee of fifty dollars ($50.00) every six months. The city treats this as a flat-rate occupational tax rather than a gross-receipts schedule, unlike many of the other trades listed in the same chapter (junk collectors, solicitors, wholesalers) that pay according to annual gross business under the general schedule in section 5.08.020.

The adjoining section, 5.08.450, clarifies the scope of that $50.00 rate: it does not cover the separate license needed to sell the pawned goods, wares, or merchandise once they come into the pawnbroker's possession. Any sale of that merchandise for resale requires its own license under section 5.08.020, meaning a pawnbroker operating in Redlands effectively needs two license lines, one for operating as a pawnbroker and one for the retail sale of unredeemed collateral. Both sections were most recently readopted by Ordinance 2980, section 1, in 2025, carrying forward language that traces back to former Redlands Municipal Code section 2265 and 2265.1. Business license administration for all Title 5 categories runs through the city's Finance Department, which issues and renews the semiannual and annual license certificates referenced throughout Chapter 5.08.