Mountain View, California: 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: The city code has no solicitor, peddler or canvasser permit. What it does have is a business registration and license tax on every business operator (18.16(a)), which reaches out-of-town companies whose employees come into the city to do business on six or more days in a calendar year (18.16(b)). Services an employee renders to an employer are not themselves a business, so the license is the company's, not each rep's (18.2). See the City Clerk Call Sheet.
• Where it comes from: The tax administrator — the finance and administrative services director or designee (18.2).
• Fee: The code's table sets an authorized maximum by employee count: $75 for 1 employee, $75 + $5/employee for each employee over 1 up to 25, and higher tiers above that (18.16(a)). An out-of-town business pays 25% for 6 to 64 days in the city, 50% for 65 to 129 days, and 100% for 130+ days (18.16(b)). The tax may be raised each year for inflation (18.17); the current adjusted amount was not read. Businesses with $5,000 or less in city gross receipts are exempt (18.4(c)).
• Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours.
• What the rep carries: The code names nothing a rep must carry or wear.
• Code: Mountain View City Code, Chapter 18 — Licenses, Article I — Business Licenses (18.1 to 18.28). Municode shows the code codified through Ordinance No. 13.2026, passed June 23, 2026 (Supp. No. 34, Update 4).
• Worth knowing: A separate section bars soliciting anyone getting into or out of a vehicle on a street, driveway or parking lot so as to impede them (21.28).
• Read it yourself: Mountain View City Code, Chapter 18, Article I — Business Licenses · Mountain View City Code, Chapter 21, Article I — Offenses, Miscellaneous (21.28) · Mountain View City Code — landing page · checked 22 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• Whether the police or city require any registration or permit for door-to-door sales reps outside the city code
• The current business license tax after the annual inflation adjustment
• Whether the city applies any knocking hours

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________