Apple Valley, MN Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Peddling and soliciting in the City of Apple Valley, Minnesota sit under two licensing layers. Section 114.03(A) requires the county license required by M.S. Chapter 329 before anyone conducts business as a peddler, solicitor or transient merchant inside the city limits, and § 114.03(B) adds a city license for peddlers and solicitors. Solicitors for nonprofit organizations need not be licensed but must register, and § 114.03(B) points them to § 114.07, which the code prints as [RESERVED].

Applications go to the City Clerk before the applicant starts work. The form asks for legal and other names, a physical description, home address, business names, the type of business, whether the license is annual or temporary, the dates of operation, and a statement on any felony, gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor conviction within the last five years other than traffic offenses. It also asks for the three most recent locations where the applicant peddled, proof of the county license, a driver's license number or other identification, and the license plate number, registration information and vehicle identification number of any vehicle used. A temporary license is capped at 14 consecutive days, which matches the definition of a transient merchant. The fee is set in the city's fee schedule by City Council resolution, and solicitors engaged in interstate commerce are exempt from the fee but not from other licensing requirements.

The Clerk forwards each complete application to the Chief of Police, who orders background checks. Section 114.04 lists the grounds for denial: no proof of the county license, an untruthful or unsigned application or unpaid fee, a conviction within the past five years that reflects on honest business conduct, a revocation within the past five years, or a bad business reputation, which includes more than three complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the Attorney General's Office or a similar agency within the preceding 12 months. Section 114.06 makes every license nontransferable.

No license is required for products grown or raised on a farm, for door-to-door activity exercising constitutional rights such as speech, press and religion unless that exercise is merely incidental to commercial activity, for charitable solicitation by organizations registered with the attorney general under M.S. § 309.52 or exempted under M.S. § 309.515, or for peddling in a park as provided by § 95.03(T). Professional fund raisers do not share the exemption of the group they work for.