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

Chapter 5.44 treats secondhand dealers, junk dealers and junk collectors as separate licensed businesses, each needing its own annual permit under Sections 5.44.050, 5.44.060 and 5.44.070, following the same application, fingerprinting and moral-character screening process the Director applies under Section 5.44.020. Section 5.44.100 applies the pawnbroker curfew across the board: a secondhand dealer, junk dealer, junk collector or their employee may not accept a pledge, loan money, or purchase or receive goods between 7:00 p.m. of any day and 7:00 a.m. the next morning. Section 5.44.110 requires every permittee to mail the Sheriff's Department a completed buy-form at the close of each business day recording everything received, pledged or purchased that day, with the seller's positive identification and fingerprint captured under Sections 5.44.120 and 5.44.130.

Section 5.44.160 bars melting, destroying or reselling any item until 14 days after the buy-form report is filed, and Section 5.44.170 extends that to 21 days for metal a junk dealer or foundry receives that could economically be repaired for its original use; goods must stay on public view and cannot be cleaned, altered or repainted during the hold under Section 5.44.180. The Sheriff can place a 90-day hold on any acquired property under Section 5.44.200, and a permittee cannot export pledged or purchased goods out of the County until the Sheriff inspects and releases them under Section 5.44.210. Section 5.44.080 lets a charitable institution obtain the same permit for a one-dollar fee instead of the standard resolution-set annual fee.