Temecula, California: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a solicitation permit, and a Temecula business license on top of it. It is unlawful to solicit door to door in any residential area for a commercial purpose without a valid permit (5.16.020). COMMERCIAL SOLICITATION covers selling, peddling, soliciting, canvassing or taking orders for goods or services, and also conducting a survey or poll (5.16.010). Each rep files separately: "In the event there is more than one person doing the proposed solicitation, then each person shall submit a separate application under this section" (5.16.030(A)). Anyone doing business in the city also needs a business license (5.04.030).
• Where it comes from: The permit is issued by the city manager, who sends a copy of the application to the sheriff's office for a written recommendation (5.16.040). In practice the city routes it through the police: the city's Business License Instructions say door-to-door solicitors fill out the business license application and bring it to the Police Department when they apply for a solicitor's permit, and police signature approval is required on the business license application form. The page names the Temecula Police Department Old Town Storefront, 951-506-5130.
• Fee: The city's User Fee Schedule for Fiscal Year 2026-27 sets the permit fee. It prints its amounts with a space after the dollar sign, so they are given here as plain numbers: the Police Solicitor's Permit is 52.00, "Plus Fingerprint Fee and State or County Fees, if applicable." The same Police page lists Fingerprints (Penal Code 13300(E) rolling maximum) at 25.00 and Livescan at 20.00. The business license is separate: $39 ($35 registration + $4 AB1379 fee) whether the business sits inside or outside the city. The code adds "a five-dollar fee for each additional person doing the solicitation" beyond the applicant (5.16.030(A)). So a new rep is 52.00 + $39 before fingerprints, and the state and county charges behind the livescan are not published on the schedule.
• Hours you may knock: The code sets no knocking hours. Chapter 5.16 runs from definitions through penalties — permit, sheriff's recommendation, manner of solicitation, "NO SOLICITORS" notices, receipts — and never names a time of day. Title 5 has no other solicitation or peddler chapter. Ask the police storefront whether a shift time is written onto the permit itself, since the application has to state "the dates and time of the activity" (5.16.030(L)).
• What the rep carries: The permit. "Upon request by the person from whom a contribution is sought, a valid reproduction of the permit issued pursuant to this chapter shall be shown by the person seeking the contribution" (5.16.090(E)). The rest of 5.16.090, the Solicitation or Sale for Charitable Purposes Card and its disclosure list, is written for charitable solicitation, not commercial sales. A permit cannot be transferred or assigned, and any attempt is void (5.16.050).
• What takes the time: The sheriff's office review. The city manager has twenty days from filing to issue the permit, and there is no permit activity until the permit is actually issued (5.16.040). The application asks for the California driver's license number, full name, address, picture, telephone number and date of birth of every person who will solicit, plus the place and date of any court judgment against the applicant for a serious felony or theft (5.16.030(A), (K)); a judgment within the past five years is grounds to deny (5.16.040(B)). Permits run two months, so a year-round team re-applies six times a year; applying before the old permit expires keeps it in force until the city decides (5.16.030(M)).
• Code: Temecula Municipal Code Chapter 5.16, Charitable, Religious and Commercial Solicitations (5.16.010 to 5.16.120), adopted by Ord. 94-12. eCode360 shows the Temecula code as including legislation through Ord. No. 2026-04, adopted April 14, 2026. Fees are in the City of Temecula User Fee Schedule, Effective Fiscal Year 2026-27, under Department: Police.
• Worth knowing: A "NO SOLICITORS" sign on a house, apartment or other dwelling is binding — a permit does not authorize a knock there (5.16.100(A)(1)). A homeowners' association can opt its whole subdivision out: if it posts a notice at each entrance, attaches a map and asks the city in writing, the sign reads that solicitation or peddling inside the mapped area "is prohibited and subject to criminal prosecution and a fine of up to $1,000.00" (5.16.100(B)). Soliciting without a permit is a misdemeanor, and may instead be prosecuted as an administrative civil action (5.16.120). Anyone with a fixed place of business in the city is exempt from the chapter (5.16.060(A)).
• Read it yourself: Temecula Municipal Code Chapter 5.16, Charitable, Religious and Commercial Solicitations · City of Temecula User Fee Schedule, Fiscal Year 2026-27 · City of Temecula, Business License Instructions · Temecula Municipal Code Title 5, Business Licenses and Regulations · Temecula Municipal Code, table of contents · checked 20 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• Are there hours the police put on the solicitor's permit, given the application asks for dates and times?
• Does every rep need their own fingerprints and livescan, or only the applicant?
• What do the state and county fingerprint fees add on top of the $52.00 permit?
• Which HOA subdivisions have opted in under 5.16.100(B), and where is that list kept?

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________