Mobile, AL Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Sec. 64-4-10(A)(4) of Mobile's Unified Development Code regulates garage and yard sales as a temporary use under article 4, alongside other short-term activities like temporary construction offices and portable storage units. The rule sets two numeric limits: no single garage or yard sale may run longer than 72 hours, and the same site or location cannot host more than four garage or yard sales in a calendar year. Because the limit attaches to the site rather than to a particular resident, a new owner or tenant at an address that has already hosted four sales that year cannot add a fifth, and a sale that straddles a long holiday weekend still has to fit inside the 72-hour window.

Subsection (b) adds a location restriction: the sale cannot occupy any public property or right-of-way, and it cannot obstruct pedestrians or vehicles on a public sidewalk or street, so tables, signage, and parked customer vehicles connected to the sale have to stay off city property. Subsection (c) then removes the one thing many residents assume applies: 'A permit is not required by this chapter for garage or yard sales,' so there is no zoning application, fee, or city inspection tied to hosting one, only the frequency, duration, and public-property restrictions in subsections (a) and (b).

The provision sits in the same temporary-uses section as rules for portable storage units and real estate model home offices, all administered by the planning and zoning department under Ord. No. 64-017-2022.