San Buenaventura (Ventura), 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: Yes — a certificate of registration from the chief of police, per rep, for anyone who does not maintain or work at an established place of business in the city, plus the city business license tax where it applies (6.200.070(A)). A solicitor is anyone going house to house taking orders for goods or for services to be performed in the future (6.200.070(E)). A rep invited to the home by the owner or occupant is exempt (6.200.070(F)).
• Where it comes from: The Ventura Police Department. Each registrant appears in person at the police department, is photographed and fingerprinted, and signs the registration form (6.200.080). The business tax certificate comes from the city's Business License office (4.155.210).
• Fee: The code sets a registration fee of $2.00, paid before the registration form is issued (6.200.080(E)). That figure carries a 1971 code citation. The city's own Solicitors Permit Process sheet, which would show what is charged today, would not load for this check. The business license tax is separate and was not read.
• Hours you may knock: The registration sections set none. 6.200.070 and 6.200.080 carry no clock times. Whether the city's process sheet states hours could not be checked.
• What the rep carries: The certificate of registration, shown whenever a law enforcement officer or any person the rep proposes to deal with asks for it (6.200.080(H)).
• What takes the time: An in-person visit for each rep, photographs and fingerprints, and a report the police department requests on every applicant from the FBI or the state Bureau of Identification and Investigation (6.200.080(B), (C), (G)). The code gives no processing time. A certificate lasts for the period written on it and never longer than one year (6.200.080(F)).
• Code: San Buenaventura Municipal Code 6.200.070; 6.200.080; 6.200.050; 4.155.210. Current through Ordinance 2026-008, passed May 12, 2026.
• Worth knowing: Soliciting custom for goods or services from any person on a public street, sidewalk, alley, place or way is unlawful (6.200.050). That is about the public way, not a front door. A new certificate is needed whenever the information a rep gave is no longer true (6.200.080(F)). For what the code leaves open, use the City Clerk Call Sheet.
• Read it yourself: San Buenaventura Municipal Code 6.200.070 · San Buenaventura Municipal Code 6.200.080 · San Buenaventura Municipal Code Chapter 6.200, Sales (6.200.050) · San Buenaventura Municipal Code 4.155.210 · San Buenaventura Municipal Code home (currency statement) · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• The registration fee charged today, and whether it covers the fingerprinting
• Whether the city sets knocking hours anywhere
• How long the police background report takes and how to book the appointment
• The business license tax for an out-of-town door-to-door sales company

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________