Lafayette, Louisiana: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes. It is unlawful for a peddler or door-to-door vendor to sell, offer for sale, or take orders for goods, merchandise or services without first getting a permit from the Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government (70-61). Going onto private property to sell or take orders is otherwise a declared nuisance (70-2).
• Where it comes from: The Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government issues the permit; the application is filed with LCPG at least ten days before the first planned sale (70-63(a)).
• Fee: $125.00 for the permit (70-62). One permit authorizes one person to work, plus up to two assistants at no extra charge; each additional assistant, associate or employee beyond two adds $25.00 to the fee (70-64).
• Hours you may knock: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, without a specific invitation from the property owner or occupant. Outside those hours, and on Saturday or Sunday at any time, a rep may not go onto private property without a specific invitation, made by phone or letter before the visit (70-3, 70-4).
• What the rep carries: The permit, displayed prominently and conspicuously enough for the public to see it, for as long as any selling is going on (70-65).
• What takes the time: A $5,000.00 bond, executed with a surety satisfactory to the city-parish government, covering damage from wrongful, fraudulent or illegal conduct — valid for the whole permit period plus two years after (70-63(b)(6)). The application also needs corporate charter, Louisiana business-permit or organizing paperwork depending on entity type, and must be filed 10 days ahead of the first sale (70-63(a),(b)).
• Code: Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government Code of Ordinances, Chapter 70, Peddlers, Door-to-Door Vendors, and Mobile Food Establishments, Article II, Peddlers and Door-to-Door Vendors (70-1 through 70-67), current through Ordinance No. JO-067-2024, enacted November 18, 2024.
• Worth knowing: The permit runs no more than six months and requires selling on a door-to-door or fixed basis at least six hours a day, five days a week to stay valid (70-65). It is not transferable between people or locations (70-64). No permit may be issued or used during Festival International inside the Downtown Lafayette Cultural District (70-62). The chapter cites Louisiana's own transient-merchant and itinerant-vendor statutes, R.S. 37:1901 et seq. and R.S. 37:1920 et seq., and the state's local-regulation-of-peddling statute, R.S. 33:4831 et seq., as its state law basis.
• Read it yourself: Lafayette Code of Ordinances, Chapter 70, Article II, Peddlers and Door-to-Door Vendors · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down: How long permit processing takes after the 10-day-ahead application is filed; Whether the $125 fee and bond can be paid/posted once for a multi-rep crew or must be arranged per individual application; Whether the city keeps a No Soliciting sign rule or do-not-knock registry beyond the invitation rule in 70-3/70-4. Clerk’s name ______________   Direct line ______________   Date called ______________