San Ramon, CA Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

San Ramon Municipal Code Section D6-27(C)(3) exempts garage sales from the city's Temporary Use Permit requirement, but only within firm limits. A garage sale at a residence may occur no more than three times per calendar year, and each sale is capped at a maximum of two consecutive days. The code further restricts timing: garage sales and community garage sales are allowed only on Saturday, Sunday, or a national holiday, so a homeowner cannot run a sale on an ordinary weekday even within the three-per-year, two-day allowance.

A sale that exceeds either the three-times-per-year cap or the two-consecutive-day limit falls outside the exemption and is treated as a temporary land use requiring approval under the standard Temporary Use Permit process in Subsection D of the same section, reviewed by the Zoning Administrator. The code also imposes a separate administrative step even for exempt sales: conduct of a garage sale requires registration with the Planning Services Division before the sale takes place. This registration step is distinct from the frequency and duration limits themselves but is part of the same subsection governing garage sales, so a homeowner who skips registration is not in compliance even if the sale otherwise fits the three-times, two-day, weekend-or-holiday pattern.

San Ramon's structure places garage sales in a chapter (Division D6, Temporary Use Permits) alongside other minor temporary activities such as on-site construction yards, temporary model homes, and temporary real estate offices, all of which are exempted from full permitting because of their limited duration and low land-use impact, provided they stay inside the stated caps.