Detroit, Michigan: 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 door-to-door license was found. Detroit's Chapter 34, Peddlers, Solicitors, and Vendors, has five articles: foot, stationary and street vendors; ice cream trucks; itinerant vendors; newsstands; and solicitation of fire repair contracts. None of them licenses a rep who knocks on homes to sell a service. A search of the full code for “door-to-door” returned nothing on sales. The city's licensing pages could not be opened, so treat this as unconfirmed until the Business License Center says so.
• Where it comes from: If anything is required it would come from the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department (BSEED) Business License Center, the office that issues every Chapter 34 license.
• Fee: None found. Chapter 34 sets no fee for door-to-door sales because it has no such license.
• Hours you may knock: Not published. Chapter 34 sets no knocking hours for door-to-door sales.
• Code: Detroit City Code Chapter 34 (Articles I to V). Municode shows it codified through Ordinance No. 2024-17, effective March 26, 2024, as well as Ordinance No. 2024-32, effective June 25, 2024; online content updated October 9, 2025.
• Worth knowing: A rep who sells goods carried on their person while walking the sidewalks is a foot vendor under 34-1-1, and that does need a license. Chapter 34 itself points to the state Home Solicitation Sales law (MCL 445.111 et seq.). A separate section bars leaving advertising at a home with a posted notice against handbills (4-2-4).
• Read it yourself: Detroit City Code Chapter 34 · Detroit Code of Ordinances, currency statement · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: Does BSEED require any license for door-to-door sales of a service at homes? Are there set hours for residential solicitation? Does a rep need to register with Detroit Police? Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________