Cincinnati, OH Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Cincinnati's home-sale ordinance, Municipal Code Section 843-11, sits inside Chapter 843, which otherwise governs junk dealers and second-hand dealers, but it applies city-wide to garage, yard, and moving sales run out of a residence. The rule sets two firm limits: a single sale cannot run more than two consecutive days, and it must be conducted only during daylight hours, no dusk or nighttime hours are permitted. The second limit caps frequency rather than duration: no residential premises may host more than two home sales in any calendar year, regardless of who is running the sale or what is being sold.

The ordinance was adopted by Ordinance No. 239-1986, effective July 25, 1986, and has not been renumbered or amended since. Unlike many of the licensing chapters that surround it, junk dealer licenses, pawn shop hours, second-hand dealer permits, Section 843-11 does not require a permit application, fee, or city sign-off before a resident holds a sale; it is a self-executing limit enforced after the fact. Enforcement and penalties sit in a companion section, 843-99-A, added by the same 1986 ordinance and written specifically to penalize violations of Section 843-11 rather than relying on the chapter's general penalty clause in Section 843-99.

A resident who runs a sale longer than two days, after dark, or for a third time in one year is subject to prosecution under that dedicated penalty section.