Lake Havasu City, AZ Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

In Lake Havasu City, Section 3.03-300(f) of the City Code exempts a 'casual activity or sale' from the licensing requirements that otherwise apply to anyone doing business in the city. The exemption specifically covers private sales activities such as the sale of a personal automobile or a garage sale, and it caps that exemption at no more than three separate occasions during any calendar year. Hold a garage sale a fourth time in the same year and the activity no longer qualifies as casual: the seller becomes a person 'engaging or continuing in business' under Section 3.03-300(a) and must apply to the Tax Collector for a Transaction Privilege and Use Tax License before continuing.

That license carries a nonrefundable $5.00 fee under Section 3.03-320(a), runs only for the calendar year issued, and must be renewed each January 1 with a $0.00 renewal fee, becoming delinquent if not received by the last business day of January. The license requirement sits inside Chapter 3.03, Article III, Licensing and Recordkeeping, of Title 3, Revenue, which governs how the city's Transaction Privilege and Use Tax Code treats occasional private sellers differently from ongoing retailers. Because Chapter 3.03 does not set out its own criminal penalty for operating without a required license, enforcement falls to the citywide general penalty at Section 1.08.010: a violation of any provision of the code is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500, up to six months in jail, or both, with each day a violation continues charged as a separate offense.

A resident holding a fourth or later garage sale in one calendar year without first obtaining the license is exposed to that general penalty until the license is secured through the Tax Collector's office.