Wauwatosa, WI Garage & Yard Sales: Frequency, Duration & Permits (2026)

Chapter 15.36, Rummage Sales, adopted by Ordinance O-16-01 on January 19, 2016 and amended by Ordinance O-16-17 on May 4, 2016, is Wauwatosa's dedicated garage-sale ordinance. Section 15.36.020 defines a "Rummage Sale" broadly to include all general sales, open to the public, conducted from or on residential premises, including but not limited to sales titled rummage, lawn, yard, estate, porch, room, backyard, patio or garage sale, so the frequency limit applies no matter what a homeowner calls the event. Only "personal property" may be sold under Section 15.36.030, defined as property owned and used in the normal course of maintaining a residence; merchandise bought for resale or acquired on consignment, and new merchandise, are excluded.

Section 15.36.040 restricts hours of operation to between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., requires the sale to be conducted on the seller's own property, and keeps items for sale at least five feet from the nearest lot line. The frequency cap itself, Section 15.36.050, allows no more than three rummage sales on a residential premises in one calendar year, with each individual sale limited to three consecutive days. A recognized neighborhood association gets a separate allowance: one "neighborhood association" rummage sale per calendar year, also capped at three consecutive days, and that association-wide sale does not count against the three-sale-per-residence annual limit.

Violating any part of Chapter 15.36, including the frequency and duration caps, is enforced under Section 15.36.080 through the code's general penalty provisions, with a citation issued under Section 1.24.010 and Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 800.