Rialto, California: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a peddling or solicitation permit, and the application is personal to the rep. "No person shall engage in peddling or soliciting without first obtaining a permit from the city" (5.28.020). SOLICITING is traveling house to house taking orders for the sale of goods, merchandise or services for future delivery, for non-charitable purposes (5.28.010). The application asks for the applicant's own name, date of birth, government-issued photo ID, home or employment address and telephone number, plus written credentials establishing the applicant's authority to act for the employer or principal (5.28.030(A)). Pure canvassing — polls, surveys, conveying ideas — is exempt from the permit (5.28.050(A)).
• Where it comes from: The director of administrative and community services, or a designee: "All applications shall be submitted to and approved by the director of administrative and community services, or his or her designee" (5.28.020). The processing fee is "payable in like manner as other business license fees of the city" (5.28.030(B)), which points at the Business License office on the city's own fee schedule.
• Fee: The code sets no number — the applicant "shall pay a processing fee as established by resolution of the city council" (5.28.030(B)), and the city's published Business Licensing fee schedule carries no peddler, solicitor or canvasser line at all. What that schedule does publish is the business license itself. It prints its amounts with a space after the dollar sign, so they are given here as plain numbers: the lowest Retail — Non-Food band, $0 - $15,000 of gross receipts, is 79.00; the New Business License Administration fee is 47.30 and a renewal is 32.40; the SB-1186 state fee is 4.00. Call the Business License office for the solicitation permit fee before budgeting a team.
• Hours you may knock: 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. "No person shall enter upon any residential, commercial, or industrial premises, nor ring any doorbell, knock on any door or window, or otherwise disturb the occupants of the premises for the purpose of conducting any canvassing, peddling, or solicitation between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m." (5.28.060). The section binds canvassers too, permit or no permit, and names no days off.
• What the rep carries: Both the permit and a photo ID. "When conducting any act of peddling or solicitation, a person authorized by permit hereunder shall carry his or her permit and a photo identification that shows the person's name and address. Said person shall show his or her permit and photo identification upon request" (5.28.070(A)). Canvassers, who need no permit, still carry the photo ID (5.28.070(B)).
• What takes the time: Not much on paper: the director "shall notify the applicant in writing, via U.S. Mail, of the granting or denial of a permit within ten days after submission of a completed application" (5.28.030(C)). No fingerprinting, no bond and no police investigation are written into the chapter. What can stop an application is a conviction in the last five years for a felony or misdemeanor involving fraud, theft, violence, drugs, crimes of a sexual nature or acts of a trespassing nature — or a finding in the last five years that the company the rep works for engaged in fraudulent business practices (5.28.030(A)(6), (7), (C)(3), (4)). The permit runs one year from issuance (5.28.030(D)).
• Code: Rialto Municipal Code Title 5, Chapter 5.28, Canvassing, Peddling, Sidewalk Vending and Soliciting (5.28.010 to 5.28.100). The chapter was rewritten in its entirety by Ord. No. 1554, adopted December 9, 2014, and renamed by Ord. No. 1625, adopted November 12, 2019. Municode shows the Rialto Municipal Code as codified through Ordinance No. 1713, passed April 28, 2026 (Supp. No. 39). Fees are in the city's City Wide Department Fees schedule.
• Worth knowing: A posted sign is enforceable as a nuisance: knocking at a residence where the owner or occupant "indicate by a plainly visible sign that such practice is not wanted is declared a nuisance," and any violation of the chapter is a misdemeanor (5.28.080). The director can deny, suspend or revoke a permit at any time for a false statement in the application, for conducting the activity unlawfully, or for a qualifying conviction (5.28.040(A)). A denial or revocation is appealed to the city council by letter to the city clerk within ten days, with an appeal fee set by resolution (5.28.100(A)).
• Read it yourself: Rialto Municipal Code Chapter 5.28, Canvassing, Peddling, Sidewalk Vending and Soliciting · City of Rialto City Wide Department Fees, Business Licensing Fees · Rialto Municipal Code, Municode title page · checked 20 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• What the peddling and solicitation permit processing fee is, and which resolution sets it
• Whether one permit can cover a crew or whether every rep files separately
• Whether a business license is needed on top of the solicitation permit for an out-of-town company
• Whether the city keeps a do-not-knock list beyond the posted-sign rule in 5.28.080

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________