The Doorstep Playbook

Door-to-Door Permit Rules in Florida: 18 Cities Checked

So far 18 cities in Florida have been checked. Each one links to its own card, which cites the ordinance and shows the date it was checked.

Cape Coral

  • Permit: Yes. A peddler permit, per person.
  • Fee: Set in the code by how long the rep wants to work (13-24): $25 per month or portion thereof, $50 per 3 months, $75 per 6 months, $100 per 12 months. Per person. A separate fee "may be imposed" for fingerprinting and the photograph (13-23); no amount is published. A $1,000 surety bond must accompany the application (13-25).
  • Hours you may knock: Peddling is unlawful between 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. the following morning, or at any time on Sundays, except by specific appointment or invitation (13-6). That leaves 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
  • Checked: 18 September 2026

Coral Springs

  • Permit: Yes. Every individual rep is a "solicitor" or "canvasser" under the code and must hold a license from the city's business tax office before going house to house selling goods or services (15½-1, 15½-2).
  • Fee: "The license fee which shall be charged by the city for the license required by this chapter shall be thirty dollars ($30.00) per thirty (30) day period or any part thereof, or two hundred fifty dollars ($250.00) per year" (15½-5) — a per-individual-rep fee. On top of that, "every applicant for a license under this chapter shall file with the city a surety bond, running to the city in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00)" (15½-6), and each applicant separately pays the police department's standard fingerprinting fee (15½-3(13)).
  • Hours you may knock: "Licensed solicitation or canvassing in the city is limited to the hours of 9:00 a.m. to sunset" (15½-8(b)) — a sunset cutoff rather than a fixed clock time, and it runs earlier than most nearby cities.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Fort Lauderdale

  • Permit: Yes. A "solicitor, vendor, itinerant merchant or transient vendor" permit from the city, before anyone goes house to house selling goods, wares, merchandise or services (23-1, 23-41).
  • Fee: "Every application for a permit required by this division shall be accompanied by a registration fee of five dollars ($5.00)" (23-43). The code does not say whether this is per rep or per company; the application itself is filed per person or per organization sponsoring the activity (23-42).
  • Hours you may knock: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. each day is defined in the code as "a reasonable time for uninvited solicitation" (23-26(a)). A posted sign forbidding solicitors, or a verbal refusal, ends the right to be there even inside those hours.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Gainesville

  • Permit: Yes, but only as a business tax receipt, not a separate solicitor permit.
  • Fee: The Local Business Tax fee schedule (25-51) lists "Peddler .....$55.13".
  • Hours you may knock: "Peddlers and canvassers will terminate their activities in residential areas by 7:00 p.m. each day and will not resume their activities in residential areas before 9:00 a.m. the next day" (19-17(a)) — so 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Hialeah

  • Permit: Yes. A city license for "direct sales," which the code defines as house-to-house or door-to-door sales to consumers (18-310).
  • Fee: The business tax schedule lists "Other Direct Selling Establishments. Direct retail house-to-house or party plan" at 150.00, plus 15.00 for each agent, associate, salesperson or canvasser, in dollars (86-43, class 454390). The schedule prints the amounts without a dollar sign. The police background check is paid by the applicant for each person (18-310); no amount is published.
  • Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours. Article VI was read in full and has no time-of-day rule for door-to-door sales.
  • Checked: 18 September 2026

Hollywood

Partly read: the permit answer is sourced, but the fee or the hours could not be read from the city’s own pages.

  • Permit: Partial. Hollywood's Chapter 122, "Peddlers, Solicitors, Panhandlers and Itinerant Merchants," was read in full and has no permit, application or fee section for commercial door-to-door sales — its General Provisions only require a business-ID sign on vehicles used for solicitation (122.01) and ban ambulatory peddling within 300 feet of a school or church (122.03).
  • Fee: Not published. No solicitor- or peddler-specific permit fee appears in Chapter 122. A general Local Business Tax Receipt classification list (151.024) was checked and does not list a "solicitor" or "direct sales" line either.
  • Hours you may knock: Not published. Chapter 122's commercial provisions set no clock-time restriction. (The panhandling division of the same chapter, 122.50–122.54, is unrelated to commercial sales and out of scope.)
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Jacksonville

  • Permit: Yes — and it does not come from City Hall.
  • Fee: No official source stating it was reached.
  • Hours you may knock: No official source stating them was reached.
  • Checked: 4 September 2026

Lakeland

  • Permit: Yes — a permit, required of any "canvasser or solicitor" before "engaging in any buying, selling, or other transfer of goods or services within the city." A canvasser or solicitor is defined as someone "taking, or attempting to take, orders for the sale, lease or purchase of goods, wares or merchandise for future delivery, or for services to be furnished or performed in the future" — this squarely covers a fiber, security or pest control rep ( 78-1, 78-2, 78-4(a) ).
  • Fee: $100.00 per permit (78-4(a)). A company can file one joint application covering several reps, but the $100.00 fee and full information are still required for each individual (78-4(c)).
  • Hours you may knock: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., extended to 8:00 p.m. while daylight saving time is in effect (78-5).
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Miami

  • Permit: No city door-to-door permit is in the code.
  • Fee: The code sets no door-to-door solicitor permit fee because it sets no such permit. The BTR schedule (31-50) has no door-to-door solicitor line; its "peddler" lines are tied to Chapter 39 street vending. Ask the city which BTR category, if any, it applies to your company.
  • Hours you may knock: Not published. The code sets no knocking hours for solicitors.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Miramar

  • Permit: Yes. Every individual rep is a "canvasser or solicitor" (11-101) and needs a permit before going house to house selling goods or services in Miramar (11-103), plus a photo-and-fingerprint badge worn on the person while working (11-116).
  • Fee: "At the time of filing the application, a fee of twenty dollars ($20.00), shall be paid to the city clerk to cover the cost of investigation of the facts stated therein" (11-104(b)) — a per-applicant investigation fee, charged to each individual rep who files.
  • Hours you may knock: "It shall be unlawful to canvass or solicit for commercial or charitable organizations between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. within the corporate limits of the city" (11-107) — so 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. is allowed, tighter than most nearby cities.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Orlando

  • Permit: Yes — and it is per individual, not per company.
  • Fee: Not published by the city.
  • Hours you may knock: No official source stating them was reached.
  • Checked: 5 September 2026

Palm Bay

  • Permit: No city solicitor permit was found.
  • Fee: City: none for knocking; the code names no solicitor permit. County: the Brevard Clerk charges a non-refundable application fee of $100.00 for the state home solicitation permit, due each time a badge is requested; fingerprinting and the state background check are charged separately.
  • Hours you may knock: Not set. No section of the Palm Bay code fixes hours for door-to-door sales.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Pembroke Pines

  • Permit: Yes. Every individual rep is a "canvasser or solicitor" under the code (113.01) and must hold a permit and local business tax receipt before going house to house taking orders for goods or services (113.03).
  • Fee: "At the time of filing the application, a fee of $20 shall be paid to the City Clerk to cover the cost of investigation of the facts stated therein" (113.04(B)) — a per-applicant investigation fee. Section 113.05(C) also requires "payment of the prescribed applicable local business tax receipt fees" before the permit issues, but the code does not print that separate business-tax-receipt dollar amount in this chapter.
  • Hours you may knock: "It shall be unlawful to canvass or solicit for commercial or charitable organizations between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. of the following forenoon" (113.07(A)) — so 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. is allowed.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Port St. Lucie

  • Permit: Yes. Every commercial solicitor needs a permit, which is an identification card issued per person through the Police Department (112.20, 112.24).
  • Fee: $20 per application, non-refundable, per the Police Department's Solicitors Permit page. Cash or money order only. The code itself names no amount; it authorizes the Police Department to set a reasonable fee (112.25).
  • Hours you may knock: 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. is the code's "reasonable time for uninvited solicitation" (112.10). No soliciting within 500 feet of school property on school days between 7:00 A.M. and 4:30 P.M. (112.10).
  • Checked: 18 September 2026

St. Petersburg

  • Permit: Yes. Every solicitor, canvasser or peddler needs a City permit from the Police Department before working, per person, and the police issue a photo identification card with it (17-187, 17-188).
  • Fee: $44.00 per applicant, non-refundable. The city's Solicitor/Peddler/Canvasser application prints "THIS FEE HAS BEEN SET AT $44.00." The form is dated REV 10/16/2020, so confirm it. The code says the fee is "as set forth in chapter 12" (17-188), but Chapter 12's schedule (12-6) has no solicitor line.
  • Hours you may knock: No knocking between 7:00 p.m. or sunset, whichever is earlier, and 8:00 a.m. the following day (17-160(7)). In winter, sunset is your cutoff.
  • Checked: 18 September 2026

Tallahassee

  • Permit: No city door-to-door permit was found.
  • Fee: City: none, because the code sets no city permit and the city business license tax is repealed. State permit: the statute lets the county clerk charge “a reasonable permit fee”; the Leon County Clerk's figure was not found on a primary page.
  • Hours you may knock: Not published. No knocking-hours rule for commercial solicitors was found in the code.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Tampa

  • Permit: No city door-to-door permit is in the code.
  • Fee: City: none published, because the code sets no city permit. State permit through the Hillsborough Clerk: "a non-refundable application fee of $100" per applicant, plus Live Scan fingerprinting that the rep arranges separately (cost not stated on the page).
  • Hours you may knock: Not published. The Tampa code sets no knocking hours for solicitors.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

West Palm Beach

Partly read: the permit answer is sourced, but the fee or the hours could not be read from the city’s own pages.

  • Permit: Probably, but with a real gap: West Palm Beach's "Peddlers" article defines a peddler as anyone traveling "from place to place, from house to house, or from street to street, carrying, conveying or transporting goods, wares, merchandise, food" and other produce, "offering and exposing such articles for sale, or making sales and delivering articles to purchasers," which requires a police-issued identification card ( 22-251, 22-271 ).
  • Fee: Not published in the code — the police department "may charge an administrative fee established by resolution" (22-272(c)), but that resolution's dollar figure could not be found on the city's own site.
  • Hours you may knock: Not published. Article VI has location restrictions (a defined "downtown area," special-event buffers) but no clock-time hours provision for peddling anywhere in the city.
  • Checked: 19 September 2026

Back to the Permit Lookup

City not on this list? The City Clerk Call Sheet has the eight questions to ask any city.