Asheville, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 10, Article III of the Asheville City Code regulates junkyards and, within that article, junk dealers. Section 10-57 defines a "junk dealer" as every person in the city engaged in buying or selling junk, old lead, brass, or other metal, or any article usually found in junk shops, and defines "junk" broadly to include scrapped copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, rubber, dismantled or wrecked vehicles, boats, manufactured homes, and old ferrous or nonferrous scrap. Section 10-60 requires every junk dealer to keep a register recording the name and residence of every party from whom junk is purchased or received and to whom it is sold; that register must stay open at all times during business hours for inspection by any police officer, other city officer, or resident.

Section 10-61 bars a junk dealer from knowingly buying or receiving junk from a minor, directly or indirectly, by barter, exchange, or otherwise, unless the dealer obtains the written consent of the minor's parent or guardian and carefully preserves that consent as proof of the right to the transaction. Separately, § 10-62 requires anyone establishing or enlarging a junkyard in the city to first obtain a special permit approved by at least a two-thirds vote of the city council, and § 10-63 requires all gas and oil to be drained from any vehicle stored at a junkyard.

The planning director, acting as zoning administrator, enforces the article under § 10-64, in addition to the general code enforcement provisions of Appendix A § 30-10-8.