Roanoke, VA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- Curfew hours
- 9:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.
- Penalty
- Class 4 misdemeanor
- Exempt sellers
- Insurance agents, newspapers, farm products
- Permit required
- No citywide peddler permit
- Enacted
- Ord. No. 42228, Dec. 6, 2021
Summary
Roanoke does not require door-to-door solicitors to obtain a city permit, but City Code § 21-31 bars unsolicited sales calls between 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Anyone who knocks door to door offering goods or services without a prior invited appointment must stop by 9:00 p.m. and cannot resume until 8:00 the next morning, with narrow exceptions.
(a)No person offering any item or service for sale within the city, when such person goes from one (1) place of human habitation to another without a prior appointment with the inhabitants thereof offering such item or service for sale, shall do so between the hours of 9:00 p.m. in the evening and 8:00 a.m. in the morning...(c)The provisions of this section shall not apply to:(1)Persons licensed by the state under Title 38.1, Insurance, Code of Virginia (1950), as amended, when such persons are selling insurance.(2)Persons offering newspapers for sale.(3)Persons offering fresh farm products for sale.(d)Any person violating this section shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 94 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
Under Roanoke City Code § 21-31, adopted by Ordinance No. m. The Code defines 'prior appointment' narrowly: the resident must have given express consent in advance of the seller's arrival, and sellers may not even go door to door lining up such appointments during the same curfew hours. 1 of the Code of Virginia selling insurance, newspaper sellers, and vendors offering fresh farm products. Outside those exemptions and the curfew window, the ordinance imposes no permit, registration or fee requirement on door-to-door sellers, unlike Roanoke's separate itinerant vendor license (City Code § 29-71), which applies only to transient merchants who lease a stand or facility for under a year, and its Chapter 28 solicitations rules, which only require registration for charitable solicitors under state law § 57-48.
can report the seller to the Roanoke Police Department for a curfew violation; officers may also cite sellers found soliciting appointments after hours under subsection (b). The ordinance sits in Chapter 21, Article I, alongside the city's other general offenses, reflecting that this is treated as a nuisance-control measure rather than a licensing scheme.
Violations & Fines
Violating the 9:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. curfew, including soliciting appointments to sell during those hours, is a Class 4 misdemeanor under § 21-31(d). Each door-to-door sales call made outside the permitted window can support a separate charge, and the exemptions for insurance agents, newspaper sellers and fresh farm product vendors do not excuse other unsolicited sales activity after hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Roanoke require a permit for door-to-door solicitors?
What hours are door-to-door sales calls banned in Roanoke?
Who is exempt from Roanoke's door-to-door sales curfew?
What happens if a solicitor violates the curfew?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Roanoke
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