Austin, Texas: door-to-door solicitor permit

Partly read: the permit answer is sourced, but the fee or the hours could not be read from the city’s own pages. The clerk questions below cover the gap.

• The answer: No permit found. Austin's City Code has no peddler, solicitor or canvasser chapter, and Title 4 (Business Regulation and Permit Requirements) lists no door-to-door license. What the code does have is an hours rule for going to a residence door (9-4-22). Confirm with the city before a blitz.
• Where it comes from: Title 9, Prohibited Activities, Chapter 9-4. It is an offense section enforced like any other city offense, not a licensing program, so no office issues anything.
• Fee: None published. The code names no permit for commercial door-to-door sales, so there is no fee to cite.
• Hours you may knock: The code bars a person who "solicits contributions" from going to the door of a residence between 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. (9-4-22). The section's wording is contributions; the code sets no separate clock for sales calls.
• What the rep carries: Nothing city-issued. The code names no badge or permit for commercial solicitors.
• Code: Austin City Code 9-4-22, Solicitation Between Certain Hours Prohibited; see also 9-4-13, Solicitation. Municode shows the code as codified through Ordinance No. 20260521-050, effective June 1, 2026 (Supp. No. 174).
• Worth knowing: Section 9-4-13 is the aggressive-solicitation rule. It makes it an offense to keep soliciting within five feet of a person after a negative response, and it defines solicit as asking for an immediate donation or transfer of money "regardless of whether consideration is offered".
• Read it yourself: Austin City Code 9-4-22 · Austin City Code 9-4-13 · Austin City Code Title 4, Business Regulation and Permit Requirements · checked 18 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: Does Austin require any permit or registration for for-profit door-to-door sales? Does the city apply the 9:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. residence-door rule in 9-4-22 to sales calls as well as contributions? Is there a city ordinance on No Soliciting signs? Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________