Rockdale County, GA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Section 218-2 generally requires a permit for any special event in unincorporated Rockdale County, but clause (l)(4) carves out gatherings and activities on private property that make no use of public property, including streets, other than for lawful parking, and specifically names garage sales, yard sales, and similar sales on private property as exempt from the section's permit process. That exemption means Rockdale County's UDO does not set a numeric limit on how many garage sales a household may hold per year or how many consecutive days one may run; those restrictions exist in some other Georgia cities but are not written into this chapter of the Rockdale County Code.

The exemption is narrow: it applies only to sales on private property that don't spill onto a public street, sidewalk or right-of-way, and it does not exempt other special events held on the same private property, which is capped at two special events per calendar year per location under Section 218-2(g). A garage sale that expands into vending on public property, or that otherwise crosses into a street or county park, falls back under the full special event permit requirement, including the application, fee and insurance steps of Section 218-2.