Lynchburg, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 23 of the Lynchburg City Code defines "junk" broadly: any secondhand articles, rags, bones, bottles, scrap metals, old lead pipe, automobile parts, old bathroom fixtures, old rubber, old clothes and shoes, and "any other item commonly known as junk" (Sec. 23-1). Every junk dealer and junk collector operating in the city must keep a register listing the seller's name, the date the junk was received or purchased, the seller's residence or place of business, and a full description of the articles acquired (Sec. 23-3).

Any city police officer can examine that register at any time (Sec. 23-4), and if the register alone does not give enough information, the officer can also inspect the actual goods, wares, merchandise or materials in the dealer's possession (Sec. 23-5). Dealers who buy wearing apparel, automobile tires, parts or accessories, or furniture, rugs, curtains, shades or pictures must keep a separate special record of each item, including a brief description, the acquisition date, and the seller's name, race and address, and must produce those records to the police department on request (Sec.

23-6). No junk dealer, agent, employee or collector can buy or receive junk directly or indirectly from a minor without written permission from the minor's parent or legal guardian (Sec. 23-2). Because Chapter 23 sets no separate retention period, the general records rule in Sec. 31-6 controls: business records kept for police inspection must be retained for one year (pawnbrokers alone get two years). Junk dealers also carry the city's general business license under Chapter 36, Article II; failing to file or pay that license tax draws a ten percent late-filing penalty and a further ten percent late-payment penalty under Sec. 9.