La Habra, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Section 5.46.010 of Chapter 5.46 defines a secondhand dealer as any person, copartnership, firm or corporation engaged in buying, selling, trading, taking in pawn, accepting for consignment, or auctioning secondhand tangible property, and separately defines the "tangible personal property" the chapter reaches: used goods bearing a serial number or personalized markings, items on the Attorney General's stolen-property list, and pledged goods, while excluding new merchandise from a bona fide manufacturer and excluding coin and bullion. Section 5.46.020 requires a permit from the police department, approved by the chief of police, before conducting business as a secondhand dealer, and applies even to dealers already licensed under Business and Professions Code Section 21640.

Applications route through the city clerk to the chief of police for a fingerprint-based background investigation (Sections 5.46.030, 5.46.050). Section 5.46.070 requires every dealer to report all purchased, traded or consigned property to the chief of police by twelve noon of the day following acquisition, on forms set by the police department or Department of Justice (5.46.090), with a right-thumb fingerprint of the seller recorded on each transaction (5.46.100). Section 5.46.080 exempts specific categories from that daily report, including bulk-liquidation stock, court-ordered sales, and trade-in merchandise where no cash changes hands.

Reported goods are held thirty days under Section 5.46.130, extendable to ninety days on police notice that an item is suspected stolen. Dealers may not transact with anyone under eighteen without a parent or guardian's written, penalty-of-perjury permission (Section 5.46.140), and Section 5.46.160 treats a dealer who also runs a pawnbroker or auction business as operating separate businesses, each independently subject to the chapter.