St. Joseph County, IN Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

071(H) treats garage and yard sales as an exception to the county's general temporary-use rules. A single lot with a dwelling unit gets three garage or yard sales per calendar year, and each one cannot run longer than three consecutive days, so a resident cannot stretch a single sale across a full week or hold sales back-to-back without counting toward the three-per-year cap. Hours are limited to sunrise through sunset only; there is no nighttime or early-morning sale under this section. Anything displayed outdoors has to be brought back inside a building or structure, or hauled off the property entirely, immediately once the sale ends; leaving unsold goods out on the lawn afterward is itself a violation.

071(A) otherwise requires for temporary uses, so residents do not need to apply for a permit before holding one. The rule also lets neighbors combine sales: multiple owners or occupants can run one combined garage sale on a single participating lot, as long as everyone involved still follows the three-sale, three-day, sunrise-to-sunset limits. Personal property displayed can sit in a front, side, or rear yard during the sale itself, but never in the public right-of-way, such as the street or sidewalk.