Fort Worth, TX Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Fort Worth City Code §§ 20-141 through 20-145 (Chapter 20, Article IV, Division 1) governs door-to-door vendors, defined in § 20-142 as anyone who travels by foot or vehicle from door to door, house to house, building to building or place to place within the city to offer for sale or solicit orders for food, goods, services or merchandise. Section 20-143 makes it unlawful to engage in that business without first registering with the city and obtaining a registration certificate, which the vendor must carry while vending; the city charges no fee for the certificate itself.

Section 20-144 requires each vendor to disclose, at registration: name and address matching a government-issued ID; the name and business address of any employer or principal if the vendor is an agent or employee; a brief description of what is being sold; the hours and location of the vending activity; the make, model, year and license plate of the vendor's vehicle; and the vendor's sales tax identification number. The stated purpose of the division, per § 20-141, is to protect residents' privacy during the hours solicitation is most intrusive, to curb aggressive or intimidating sales tactics, and to help police deter fraud and detect crime by requiring registration.

Before a 2015 amendment (Ord. 21674-03-2015), this division was titled 'Itinerant Vendors'; the current registration, information and regulation sections trace to that ordinance and to Ord. 15245, passed September 17, 2002.