New Britain, CT Soliciting & Door-to-Door: No-Knock Registry (2026)

Sec. 3-1 defines "commercial handbill" broadly to cover any printed matter advertising merchandise, a business, a ticketed event, or material that is predominantly an advertisement, and defines "private premises" to include the yard, walk, driveway, porch and mailbox of a dwelling, whether inhabited, vacant, or temporarily unoccupied. Sec. 3-5 sets the default rule for inhabited premises that are NOT posted: a handbill may be left only by handing it to someone present, or placed so it will not blow into the street; mailboxes cannot be used where federal postal rules forbid it.

Sec. 3-6 overrides that default the moment a resident either verbally objects or posts a conspicuous sign near the entrance reading "No Trespassing," "No Peddlers or Agents," "No Advertisement," or a similar notice; at that point any distribution, whether commercial or noncommercial, is prohibited outright. Sec. 3-5(b) separately exempts U.S. mail and newspapers from the whole scheme, provided papers are placed so they will not be carried into the street by wind or weather. Chapter 3 does not set its own fine for a Sec. 3-6 violation, so the citywide general penalty in Sec. 1-15 governs.