Monterey, CA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

City Code § 22-19, "Regulation of Door-To-Door Solicitors," covers solicitors, peddlers, hawkers, itinerant vendors or merchants, canvassers and transient vendors selling goods, wares, merchandise or services, including magazine and book subscriptions. The rule turns on two triggers rather than a City-issued permit card: a resident who visibly posts a notice prohibiting soliciting or peddling on the property makes it unlawful for any covered person to enter for a sales pitch, and no such door-to-door activity may happen at all between sunset and sunrise, regardless of any posted sign.

The section dates to Ordinance 3319 (April 2003) and has not been amended since. Separately, Chapter 19's business license scheme once required approval of a peddler's license application under § 19-16, but that section has been repealed, leaving § 22-19's entry and hours restriction as the operative door-to-door rule rather than a discretionary permit process. A vendor who ignores a posted sign or knocks after dark is violating the ordinance regardless of whether they otherwise hold a general City business license for their sales activity.

Residents who want to stop door-to-door sales calls altogether have the self-help option built into the ordinance: post a visible no-soliciting notice, which converts any subsequent entry by a covered solicitor into a code violation enforceable by the Monterey Police Department.