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

Lakeville City Code chapter 3-13 splits itinerant sellers into three categories. A peddler sells and delivers goods on the spot; a transient merchant rents space to display and sell merchandise; a solicitor takes orders for later delivery. Peddlers and transient merchants need both a county license under Minnesota Statutes chapter 329 and a city license from the Lakeville Police Department (Sec. 3-13-2). The city application, filed at least 14 regular business days before business begins, must list the applicant's legal name, aliases, physical description, home and business addresses, the dates and locations of the five most recent places the applicant peddled, any felony or crime-of-violence convictions in the past 10 years, vehicle plate information, a driver's license number, a passport-style photo and a Social Security number, plus the council-set fee (Sec.

3-13-2). The chief of police or a designee investigates, including background checks, and must approve or deny within 7 business days; a denial can be appealed to the city council. Solicitors instead register for free on a police department form and receive a certificate valid up to one year, returnable within 7 days of expiration (Sec. 3-13-7). Licenses and registrations are nontransferable (Sec. 3-13-6), and the chief of police may suspend one immediately if imminent harm to public health or safety is at stake, subject to a later hearing.

Every peddler, solicitor and transient merchant must display the city certificate on their outermost clothing and carry identification showing their name and organization (Sec. 3-13-11). Violating any provision of chapter 13 is a misdemeanor (Sec. 3-13-12).