Jersey City, NJ Sign Regulations: Garage Sale Signs (2026)

Chapter 81 of the city code, the Jersey City Anti-Litter Ordinance, treats a yard or garage-sale sign the same as any other handbill or sign under Article I. Section 81-5 bars anyone from painting, marking, writing on, posting or affixing a handbill or sign to public property or structures without authorization from the Traffic Engineer, and the section specifically lists traffic signal poles, parking meters, utility poles, telephone poles, trees, mail receptacles, benches, bus shelters, vacant buildings and fences as protected property, the exact places residents commonly tape or zip-tie garage-sale signs.

If a sign goes up on that kind of public or utility property without authorization, § 81-11 lets the Department of Public Works or the utility remove it, and § 81-12 lets the Director of Public Works notify the responsible party and, after 10 days without removal, authorize the city to take it down and bill the cost, covering labor, materials, equipment and departmental overhead. Section 81-13 creates a specific legal presumption for this exact scenario: in any city civil action to recover removal costs, the owner or lessee of the property being sold in the yard or garage sale is presumed to be the person responsible for posting the advertising sign, unless that person rebuts the presumption under oath or penalty of perjury.

Posting on private property carries no such restriction as long as the owner consents, but affixing a sign to vacant private property without the owner's written consent is separately barred under § 81-8.