Menifee, California: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a Menifee business license, and door-to-door solicitation is a separate license on top of the one for the commercial activity. Before solicitors may obtain a business license they must comply with the chapter, and a business already licensed for commercial activity that also meets the definition of solicitor "must obtain a license for both the commercial activity and the door-to-door solicitation business" (5.01.080). SOLICITOR is defined as any person, principal or agent, resident or not, who goes from house to house taking orders for goods or for services to be performed in the future; the definition expressly includes "canvasser" and "door-to-door solicitor" and excludes noncommercial activity (5.01.020). Solicitors are also named as a special business type, which triggers a police background investigation (5.01.090(B)(20)).
• Where it comes from: The Finance Department issues the license (5.01.130(C)); the Chief of Police or a designee runs the background investigation for special business types (5.01.090(A)). The city's Special Business Types page says to submit the business license application to Finance first and then go to the Menifee Police Department for the livescan.
• Fee: The city's Citywide User Fee Schedule sets New Business Registration at $83.05 per application and Renewal Business Registration at $62.30 per application, effective 7/1/2026. The Police section sets a Livescan Rolling Fee of $27.30; the FBI, DOJ and CACI processing fees on the same page are listed only as "State Regulated", with no number. So a new solicitor license runs $83.05 + $27.30 plus whatever the state charges for the fingerprint run. The fee schedule publishes no separate door-to-door solicitation fee, even though 5.01.080 lets the City Council set one by resolution, and the code's mandatory state CASp fee is not given an amount on the schedule.
• Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours. Chapter 5.01 is a licensing chapter — it carries no time-of-day limit on solicitation, there is no peddler or solicitor chapter anywhere else in Title 5, and the city's table of adopted Riverside County ordinances lists none either. Confirm with the Finance Department before the team plans an evening shift.
• What the rep carries: The code requires no badge and no photo ID card for solicitors. Every business license must be posted in a conspicuous place where the business is conducted and produced on request from the Finance Department, law enforcement officers and code enforcement officers; mobile operators must keep the license or a copy in their vehicles (5.01.180).
• What takes the time: The police background investigation. Applicants for a special business type license are fingerprinted and photographed, and the Chief of Police weighs any criminal record and the firm's business responsibility, including previous license revocations, denials or citations (5.01.090(A)). The city says it will try to finish any review or investigation within 20 working days of a completed application, and must tell the applicant why if it does not (5.01.130(A)). A license cannot be transferred from one person to another (5.01.190(D)).
• Code: Menifee Municipal Code Chapter 5.01, Business License and Regulation Program (5.01.010 to 5.01.260), enacted by Ord. 2022-343 and amended by Ord. 2025-417. American Legal Publishing shows the Menifee code as current through Ordinance 2026-432, passed 4-15-2026 (2026 S-15 Supplement). Fees are in the 2022 User Fee Schedule with 2026 adjustment, effective 7/1/2026.
• Worth knowing: The code says plainly why solicitors are singled out: certain businesses "require access to private property, particularly residential property, or frequent residential neighborhoods, generating high risks to the safety of persons and property" (5.01.090(C)(5)). A license may be denied on facts from the background investigation that indicate deceit, fraud or other acts of moral turpitude (5.01.140(K)), or where the applicant previously had a license revoked (5.01.140(N)). Honorably discharged veterans selling their own goods are exempt from the business license fee on proof of discharge plus a physician's certificate (5.01.060(C)(4)).
• Read it yourself: Menifee Municipal Code § 5.01.080, Additional license requirements for door-to-door solicitation · Menifee Municipal Code § 5.01.020, Definitions · Menifee Municipal Code § 5.01.090, Additional license requirements for special business types · Menifee Municipal Code § 5.01.130, Issuance, form and content of license · Menifee Municipal Code § 5.01.180, Posting of license · Menifee Municipal Code Chapter 5.01, table of sections · Menifee Municipal Code Title 5, Business Regulations · Menifee, California Code of Ordinances, title page · City of Menifee 2026 Citywide User Fee Schedule · City of Menifee, Special Business Types · Menifee Municipal Code § 5.01.140, Grounds for business license denial · Menifee Municipal Code § 5.01.060, Exemptions; filing claim of exemption · Menifee Municipal Code § 5.01.190, Transfer of business license · checked 20 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• Is the door-to-door solicitation license one per company, or one per rep who knocks?
• Has the City Council set a separate fee by resolution for the door-to-door license under 5.01.080?
• Does every rep have to be livescanned, or only the owner and the managers?
• Are there any hours the city enforces for door-to-door solicitation?

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________