Southampton Village, NY Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Section 116-9F of the Village of Southampton zoning chapter treats a garage sale as a customary accessory use to a residence, but only where the sale is clearly subordinate to and customarily incidental to the residence. The code defines a garage sale as the casual sale of tangible personal property to the public at a residence by the resident thereof, and the definition reaches sales from the yard or lawn, from a garage or accessory building, and from the residence itself. A sale that is not clearly subordinate to residential use, or that another provision of Chapter 116 prohibits, does not qualify.

Four limits apply. First, a sale offers only used items of personal property owned by the resident of the property where the sale is held, and no new merchandise is offered for sale. Second, a sale cannot commence before 8:00 a.m. and must terminate by 6:00 p.m. Third, a sale cannot extend for more than three consecutive days. Fourth, a resident can conduct no more than two garage sales at a residence in any one calendar year, and a sale that runs for no more than three consecutive days is deemed one garage sale.

Section 116-9F does not print a permit or fee for the sale itself; it sets conduct limits only. Signs are handled in § 116-13I(3): one garage sale sign on the property where the sale is conducted, with a maximum area of four square feet, nonilluminated, displayed only during the sale and removed immediately afterward, for a maximum of three consecutive days. A permit is not required for the garage sale sign (see also § 116-13G(1)(d)), but no garage sale sign can go on the Village right-of-way or on any property other than the one where the sale is conducted.