Putnam County, FL Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Section 45-138 defines a yard sale, also called a garage sale or estate sale, as a sale of household merchandise that was used or stored as part of the residential use of the property where the sale takes place. Because a yard sale meeting that definition is exempt from the county's temporary use permit process, the code draws a bright line: any sale of household merchandise that does not fit the yard sale definition, and does not qualify as a fund raiser under § 45-127, is instead treated as an established retail use, subject to the full zoning, location, dimensional, parking, landscaping and accessibility requirements for retail uses, including a requirement that such sales occur inside an enclosed building.

Within the yard sale exemption itself, § 45-138 imposes three conditions: the sale must take place on the residential property where the items were used or stored, or on a neighboring residential property; no more than two sales are allowed on the same property in any rolling 12-month period; and each sale cannot run longer than 72 hours. These limits apply county-wide in unincorporated Putnam County regardless of the residential zoning district.