New Brunswick, NJ Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Section 5.96.020 of the New Brunswick Municipal Code bars solicitation in the City of New Brunswick without a permit. The definition in § 5.96.010 is broad: it covers requests for money or property for a charitable purpose, and also entering private property without an invitation to advertise, promote or sell products, goods or services, or to run market research or opinion surveys. Peddlers, hawkers, itinerant merchants and transient vendors count as solicitors, and so does leaving handbills on private property.

Application goes to the police department under § 5.96.040. The written application asks for the purpose and estimated amount to be raised, the people in charge, any criminal convictions, the employer or organization and its contact, wages or commissions paid, vehicle details, each street to be worked, the expected dates, and a copy of the current state charitable registration. The applicant produces photo identification, which the police photocopy and keep, and signs under penalty of perjury. There is no fee. A change in the information must be reported to the clerk within twenty-four hours. No permit issues for a county highway without approval of the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders, or for a state highway without approval of the New Jersey commissioner of transportation.

Under § 5.96.050 the city clerk places a resolution before the city council at its next regular meeting, and no applicant gets a permit more often than four days in any six month period. A denied applicant can appeal to the governing body within fourteen days, and the hearing is held within ten days of filing (§ 5.96.060). The police director or chief issues a separate permit and badge to each individual solicitor (§ 5.96.070), who must carry the permit and display the badge at all times (§ 5.96.080). A permit is effective for three months, and solicitation is limited to 8:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. (§ 5.96.090). Section 5.96.030 exempts tax-exempt and Title 15A nonprofit organizations and people asking for food, shelter or money for themselves alone.