Cathedral City, CA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Chapter 5.35 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code regulates garage sales in Cathedral City, Riverside County. Section 5.35.010 bars anyone from conducting a garage sale without first receiving garage sale permit approval from the fire department. Applications go to the code compliance division of the city fire department on its forms, and Section 5.35.040 requires an application fee in an amount set by the city council.

The frequency rule is in Section 5.35.050. A maximum of four garage sale permits each calendar year can be granted for any one location, and a minimum of ninety days must elapse between the issuance of any two garage sale permits at the same location. The limit follows the address, not the household. Each permit stays active for forty-eight hours, starting at seven a.m. on the date the sale is designated to begin and expiring forty-eight hours thereafter. The permit must be conspicuously posted during all hours of operation so it can be seen from the street.

Section 5.35.020 defines a garage sale to include garage sales, yard sales, patio sales and other similar sales in a residential district, offering household or personal goods of the occupant of the premises. Section 5.35.030 prohibits commercial sales. That includes goods purchased elsewhere with the specific intent to resell them at a garage sale, and items manufactured or food items grown specifically for sale at one. Sellers also stay clear of the peddler chapter: Section 5.48.020(C) exempts persons engaged in garage or yard sales on private property from Chapter 5.48. Signs advertising the sale fall under the fire department's garage sale sign policy through Section 5.35.060.