Chattanooga, Tennessee: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: No door-to-door solicitor or peddler permit was found in the Chattanooga City Code. A search of the code for peddler, solicitor, canvass, itinerant, transient vendor, door to door, house to house and vendor turns up only professional fund solicitors working for charities (Chapter 11, Article XI), sidewalk vendors selling food or flowers from a push-cart (11-371, 11-372), and the handbill rules in the Anti-Litter Code (18-151 to 18-155). None of them licenses a rep going house to house taking orders for a service. What still applies: the handbill rules (no flyers or door hangers at a home posted "NO PEDDLERS OR AGENTS" or similar, 18-154), and the city's general business license — the city's Business Licenses page says additional permits may be required and lists a Transient Vendor Permit, which under the state definition does not cover selling from a brochure for future delivery.
• Where it comes from: No office issues a door-to-door permit because the code does not create one. The general business license and the city's Transient Vendor Permit are handled by the Office of the City Treasurer, 101 E 11th Street, per the city's Business Licenses page.
• Fee: None for door-to-door sales, because there is no door-to-door permit. For the general business license the city's page says "Initial business tax registration only $15" and that a Hamilton County business license is needed as well.
• Hours you may knock: Not set. No section of the code sets knocking hours for residential door-to-door sales. Chapter 25 only restricts "soliciting anything whatsoever" inside privately owned business-office buildings after the owner says to leave (25-16).
• Code: Chattanooga City Code, Chapter 11 (Businesses, Trades and Occupations) — Article XI Professional Fund Solicitors and Article XII Sidewalk Vendors (11-371 to 11-376); Chapter 18, Article VIII Anti-Litter Code (18-151 to 18-155, handbills); Chapter 25 (25-16). Municode reads "Codified through Ordinance No. 14374, enacted June 16, 2026. (Supp. No. 40)".
• Worth knowing: Door hangers and flyers are regulated even though knocking is not. A commercial handbill may not be left at a home posted "NO TRESPASSING", "NO PEDDLERS OR AGENTS", "NO ADVERTISEMENT" or similar, or where anyone there asks you not to (18-154); at an unposted home it must be handed over or secured so it cannot blow away (18-155); never on vehicles (18-152) or vacant premises (18-153). Tennessee's own Transient Vendor's License (T.C.A. § 67-4-702), administered by the Hamilton County Clerk, explicitly excludes reps who sell by sample, brochure, or catalog for future delivery, and excludes sales made after the resident invited the seller — the core of a fiber door-to-door pitch — from that state license ("'Transient vendor' does not include any person selling goods by sample, brochure, or sales catalog for future delivery, or to sales resulting from the prior invitation to the seller by the owner or occupant of a residence."). That license is aimed at out-of-state businesses selling merchandise from a temporary storefront, tent, or similar premises, not at door-to-door reps.
• Read it yourself: Chattanooga City Code, Chapter 11: Businesses, Trades and Occupations (master cross-reference) · Chattanooga City Code § 25-16, Soliciting—In business buildings · City of Chattanooga, Permits & Applications (full listing) · Hamilton County Clerk, Transient Vendor's License · Chattanooga City Code Chapter 11, Article XII, Sidewalk Vendors · Chattanooga City Code Chapter 18, Article VIII, Anti-Litter Code (handbills, 18-151 to 18-155) · City of Chattanooga, Business Licenses · Municode search of the Chattanooga code (peddler) · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: Whether the City Treasurer treats a company's door-to-door reps selling a service for future delivery as needing the city's Transient Vendor Permit, or only the general business license; Whether the general business license is per company or has to list each rep; Whether any hours are enforced for residential door-to-door sales by police policy. Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________