Hammond, IN Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- License required
- Yes, from the City Controller before any sale
- License fee
- $100 plus $5 processing fee
- License term
- Nonrenewable, expires every December 31
- Sales hours
- 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday-Saturday
- School buffer
- 700 feet during school hours plus 1 hour each side
- Appeal window
- 10 days to Board of Public Works and Safety
- Maximum fine
- $2,500 first offense, $7,500 repeat
Summary
In the City of Hammond, Indiana, anyone going door to door selling goods or taking orders must first get a peddler's license from the City Controller. The Common Council's Chapter 122 licensing scheme covers residential door-to-door salespeople along with pop-up vendors, requires fingerprints and character references, limits sales calls to daytime hours, and charges a $100 license fee plus a $5 processing fee for a license that always expires on December 31.
It shall be unlawful for any individual to engage in, carry on, or conduct the business of being a residential door-to-door salesperson within the city without first having obtained a license as set forth in this chapter. ... Any individual desiring a license as a p ... eddler or door-to-door salesperson shall agree to make such sales only between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday; ... It shall be unlawful for any individual to engage in the business of peddler, pop-up vendor, or temporary non-food vendor, as defined in § 122.01, within the city without first obtaining a license therefor, as provided in this subchapter. ... A license shall be issued by the Controller to a successful applicant under this chapter after payment of a license fee of $100 and a processing fee of $5. The license shall be for a term of no more than one year. Regardless of the date issued, the license shall expire on December 31 of the year issued.
Full Breakdown
Under § 122.06, it is unlawful for anyone to conduct residential door-to-door sales in Hammond without a license issued under Chapter 122's peddler provisions. The sworn application filed with the City Controller under § 122.15 must include the applicant's name, address, a physical description of any vehicle or bicycle used, a 2-by-2-inch photo taken within the prior 60 days, fingerprints, the names of two Lake County residents who can vouch for the applicant's character, and a disclosure of any felony, misdemeanor, or ordinance conviction. The Controller investigates that history under § 122.16 and refuses the license outright if the applicant's character comes back unsatisfactory; licenses obtained this way are nonrenewable, so a peddler must reapply from scratch every year.
Section 122.17 sets the license fee at $100 plus a $5 processing fee, with the license expiring every December 31 regardless of issue date. Sales calls are boxed into daytime hours under § 122.09: peddlers and door-to-door salespeople may only knock between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and § 122.05 bars any street sale within 700 feet of a school during school hours plus the hour before and after. Section 122.08 forbids using horns, bells, or loudspeakers to draw attention to a sale.
Hammond police officers enforce the licensing requirement directly under § 122.03, and the Controller keeps a permanent violation record under § 122.04. A denied, suspended, or revoked license can be appealed to the Board of Public Works and Safety within 10 days under § 122.22, but previously paid fees are not refunded even if the revocation is reversed.
Violations & Fines
Operating as an unlicensed door-to-door salesperson, working past the 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday-through-Saturday window, or selling inside the 700-foot school buffer during school hours violates Chapter 122 and, because the chapter carries no separate penalty of its own, falls under the city's general penalty at § 10.99: a fine of up to $2,500 for a first violation and up to $7,500 for a second or later violation of the same provision, with each day a violation continues counted as a separate offense. A license can also be denied, suspended, or revoked under § 122.21 for fraud, misrepresentation, or any ordinance, state, or federal law violation.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Hammond
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