Door-to-Door Permit Rules in North Carolina: 8 Cities Checked

Cary

Permit: Yes — a peddler/solicitor's permit, per rep.
Fee: A non-refundable $50.00 Solicitor Permit Fee for each peddler/solicitor, paid to the Town of Cary Finance Department, per the police department's application checklist (Form #610, revised 7/2024). The code section itself names no fee. The rep also pays an online company for his own national criminal background check; the town says those fees vary.
Hours you may knock: 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. during eastern daylight time, and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during eastern standard time (20-3(b)(1)).
Checked: 18 September 2026

Permit: No door-to-door solicitor permit appears in the Charlotte City Code.
Fee: No solicitor fee exists in the code. Chapter 13 still prints a privilege license tax line, "Peddlers cash or money order .....$25.00" (13-76), but the state statute that authorized city privilege license taxes, G.S. 160A-211, reads "Repealed by Session Laws 2014-3, s. 12.3(a), effective July 1, 2015." Ask the city whether anything is still collected.
Hours you may knock: For peddling in residential zones: unlawful "between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m."; while daylight saving time is in effect, "from 9:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m." (6-438). The code sets no separate hours for order-taking solicitors.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: No door-to-door solicitor permit appears in the Durham City Code.
Fee: None. The code creates no door-to-door permit, so there is no fee to publish. The peddler tax amounts still printed in 30-263 are for the privilege license tax the city says was repealed in July 2015, and they were for sellers carrying goods.
Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: Yes — a solicitor permit, per rep.
Fee: $25.00 application fee for a Solicitor Permit, alarm solicitors included, and $5.00 for a three-month renewal made before expiration, per the city's FY26 fee schedule. The permit itself lasts three months (15-16(i)).
Hours you may knock: No soliciting after 9:00 p.m. or before 9:00 a.m., unless arranged beforehand with the consent of the owner, lessee or manager of the property (15-16(n)).
Checked: 18 September 2026

Permit: Yes. Every person who goes place to place taking orders for goods or services to be delivered later "shall obtain a business permit" (13-202(a)).
Fee: No fee. The city's Business Permit page says commercial solicitors "must obtain a business permit at no cost to them" and "There is no cost for the business permit nor are there any assessed penalties." The code sets no permit fee either. The cost is the bond: "five hundred dollars ($500.00)" before a solicitor permit issues, rising in steps of at least $250.00 if undelivered orders through one solicitor pass $500.00 (13-202(c)).
Hours you may knock: Sunrise to sunset only: door-to-door reps "shall only conduct this activity between sunrise and sunset" (13-202(e)). No clock times are given.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: No door-to-door solicitor permit appears in the Raleigh City Code.
Fee: None published for door-to-door sales, because the code creates no permit for it. The street peddler permit fee is "as set forth in the City of Raleigh Fee Schedule" (12-1024(b)(1)); that is a different activity.
Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours.
Checked: 18 September 2026

Permit: Yes — a permit from the chief of police, per person.
Fee: Not published. Section 4-108 sets no fee, and the Police Department chapter of the city's FY27 fee schedule lists no solicitation permit fee. That chapter does list police fingerprinting at “Up to two fingerprint cards: $15”; whether permit applicants pay it is not stated.
Hours you may knock: Not published. Section 4-108 sets no knocking hours, and no other section of the city code sets hours for solicitors.
Checked: 19 September 2026

Permit: Yes — a door-to-door commercial solicitation license, plus a city-issued photo identification badge for every rep working under it (38-34(d)).
Fee: "An application fee of $25.00" goes in with the application (38-34(f)(3)). The code ties the fee to the application, not to each rep. Renewal is $25.00 and a replacement badge is $25.00 (38-34(i)(3), (j)(2)).
Hours you may knock: No door-to-door solicitation "Before 9:00 a.m. or after 7:00 p.m. or sunset, whichever occurs first" (38-34(m)(4)). That limit applies to commercial and noncommercial solicitors alike.
Checked: 18 September 2026

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