Oakland County, MI Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency Limits (2026)

Frequency caps exist to keep residential neighborhoods from turning into informal flea markets. The Oak Park ordinance limits each household to two garage sales per calendar year, and counts every household member's sale toward the same cap, so a single address cannot host two separate sales by different occupants. Each sale is capped at five consecutive days of operation. Once-monthly "Free Garage Sale Weekends" March through October waive the permit fee but still count against the annual cap. Hazel Park, Madison Heights, and Berkley use similar two- to four-per-year caps. Bloomfield Township and many of the larger townships do not impose a hard numerical cap but rely on the prohibition on operating a retail use in a residential zone — a sale held more than three or four times a year, or running more than a week at a time, is treated as an unpermitted home occupation. Estate sales held by a licensed estate-sale company are usually treated separately from owner-occupant garage sales and may be exempt from the cap, though they may still require a separate permit. "Block sale" or subdivision-wide events organized by an HOA generally count as one sale per participating household, not one per block.