Dearborn Heights, MI Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 25, Article II of the City Code governs junk and secondhand dealers operating as junkyards in the City of Dearborn Heights. Sec. 25-46 makes it unlawful to establish or operate a junkyard for purchasing, selling or storing what the code calls junk: rags, paper, iron, brass, copper, tin, zinc, aluminum, scrap or discarded metal, bottles, secondhand automobile parts, wrecked or junk cars, or used and wrecked building material, without first obtaining a city license. Sec. 25-26 layers a curfew on every licensee: no licensee may purchase or receive any of these articles by sale, barter or exchange between 8:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.

To get licensed, Sec. 25-47 requires the applicant to be at least 18 years old, apply under the general business licensing procedures of Chapter 8, and pay the prescribed license fee. Sec. 25-48 gives the city council discretion to refuse a license to any applicant previously convicted of a crime, twice convicted of violating the junkyard article, or for other good cause. Enforcement runs through the city's business licensing process administered with the Building and Engineering Department; because Chapter 25 is a Class D classified chapter under Sec.

1-11(e), operating an unlicensed junkyard or secondhand dealership is a municipal civil infraction fined at $250 for a first offense, $500 for a second offense within a year, and $1,000 for a third or subsequent offense.