Rochester Hills, MI Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Section 301.5 of the Property Maintenance Code, added when the city adopted the 2021 International Property Maintenance Code under Ordinance No. 648 in 2023, sets the rules a Rochester Hills homeowner must follow to hold a garage sale. Subsection (a) limits any residence to four garage sales in a rolling 12-month period, and subsection (b) caps each sale at 72 hours. Subsection (c) restricts what can be sold: items must actually have been used in the normal course of residential living in that home, and merchandise cannot be trucked in from elsewhere for the sale, though the rule allows minor joint sales among family members or nearby neighbors.

Subsection (d) sets hours of operation, from 9:00 a.m. until one-half hour after sunset. Subsections (e) and (f) add two nuisance controls: a sale cannot be positioned so it obstructs traffic, and patrons cannot park in a way that blocks the street, while excessive noise from the sale area is separately prohibited. The City Building Department, designated the code official under Section 103.1 of the Property Maintenance Code, administers and enforces these limits. Because the rule sits inside the Property Maintenance Code rather than a standalone permit chapter, no garage sale permit or fee is required; the four-sale count and 72-hour clock are the operative limits, and any violation carries a $125 administrative processing fee per occurrence under Section 109.6 on top of the underlying civil fine.