Mountain View, CA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- Max garage sales per year
- 4 per property
- Max duration per sale
- 3 days
- Governing section
- City Code Sec. 36.12.55(b)
- Basis of limit
- Per property, not per resident
Summary
Mountain View residents can hold a garage or yard sale up to four times a year per property, capped at three days per sale, under City Code Sec. 36.12.55(b), which treats the sale of miscellaneous household items from a yard or open garage as an allowed residential accessory use.
b.Garage/yard sales. The sale of miscellaneous items by residents from a yard or open garage is permitted up to four (4) times per year per property, for a maximum of three (3) days per sale.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 34 Update 4).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 55(b) sits in Division 9's catalog of "other accessory structures and uses" alongside home occupations, swimming pools and antennas, and it frames garage sales as a use tied to the property rather than to any individual resident: the four-sales-per-year and three-day-per-sale limits run per property, so a change of tenant or owner during the year doesn't reset the count. The rule covers "the sale of miscellaneous items by residents from a yard or open garage," which reaches typical household decluttering sales but doesn't authorize a recurring commercial resale operation out of a residence, since Sec.
40 separately bars accessory uses from altering the residential character of a site. The section doesn't list a permit or advance-notice requirement for a garage sale that stays within the four-times, three-day limits, unlike some of the other accessory uses in the same division, such as home occupations, which cross-reference a separate permitting section. Because the rule is embedded in the residential accessory-use standards rather than the zoning-permit-exemption list in Sec. 50, a resident who wants to confirm sign or display rules for a sale should still check the city's general sign and outdoor-display standards separately.
Violations & Fines
Holding more than four garage sales at one property in a calendar year, or running a sale past the three-day cap, is a violation of Sec. 36.12.55(b) enforceable under the city's general penalty schedule at Sec. 1.7: up to a $100 fine for a first infraction, $200 for a second within a year, and $500 for each additional violation, with a fourth violation of the same rule in one year chargeable as a misdemeanor.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many garage sales can I hold per year in Mountain View?
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Mountain View
California rules heatmap·Compare Mountain View to another location·View the California garage & yard sales overview
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