Tonawanda, NY Soliciting & Door-to-Door: No-Knock Registry (2026)

Town Code Chapter 146, Article III governs household no-solicitation notices outside the Village of Kenmore. Under § 146-15, any owner or occupant of a residential property may post a notice stating in substance "peddlers or solicitors are prohibited" or similar wording; the Town Board requires it be placed conspicuously next to the main entrance door, plainly visible to anyone approaching, with letters at least 1/2 inch tall so it cannot be missed. Section 146-16 then puts the legal duty on the peddler or solicitor, not the resident: before approaching, they must check for a posted notice, and if one is up, they must immediately and peacefully leave without ringing the doorbell, knocking, or leaving handbills, samples or literature.

Even a solicitor who has already stepped onto the property, invited or not, must leave at once if the occupant asks. Separately, § 146-10 sets townwide hours that apply whether or not a notice is posted: no soliciting or peddling before 9:00 a.m. or after the later of 8:00 p.m. or half an hour after sunset. Anyone conducting business under a Town of Tonawanda Police Department peddler's or solicitor's permit (Chapter 146, Article I) is bound by both the posted-notice rule and the hours window; charitable and political canvassers are exempt from the permit itself but § 146-11 still ties them back to the § 146-10 hours and the § 146-11.1 registration duty for charitable groups.

The Police Department is the enforcing agency for the chapter and can also revoke a permit under § 146-4 if a permittee is found to have violated it.