Bowling Green, KY Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

The Board of Commissioners' Code of Ordinances Subchapter 18-3 (Transient Businesses, Transient Professional Services, Peddlers and Transient Contractors) makes it unlawful for any peddler, solicitor, huckster, salesperson or other transient business representative to engage in activity in the City without first applying for and obtaining a permit and otherwise complying with the Subchapter (Sec. 18-3.02.a). The application goes in writing to the City's Office of Occupational License, stating the business name, permanent address, telephone number, entity type and federal identification number; the City may also request details on workers, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers (Sec.

18-3.02.b). Once the fee is paid, the Office issues a permit that the permittee must keep in immediate possession and display on demand to a City official (Sec. 18-3.02.c). A peddler who is not conducting business door-to-door must also carry written proof of permission from the property owner and display a permit sign with the business name, issue date and expiration date in public view (Sec. 18-3.02.d). The daily permit fee for a peddler is twenty-five dollars if there are three or fewer employees, with a four-day minimum of one hundred dollars, rising to fifty dollars a day with a two-hundred-dollar minimum for four or more employees (Sec.

18-3.03.b). Buying the permit late adds a charge of up to one-half of the calculated fee (Sec. 18-3.05.a), and a lost or stolen permit or permit sign costs five dollars to replace (Sec. 18-3.05.b). Separately, Sec. 18-3.06 bars any peddler from exhibiting goods or placing signs, bulletin boards or bicycle stands on City rights-of-way, sidewalks, parks or other City property without the City's written consent.