Know your rights · Washington, D.C.

Is door-to-door soliciting legal in Washington, D.C.?

Short answer: yes - courts won't let cities ban knocking outright. But “legal” is doing less work than solicitors would like you to think. Washington, D.C. law makes pressure sales cancelable, local rules on permits and hours vary, and once you say “leave,” the law is on your side. Here's the whole picture, with citations.

The quick version

Soliciting is legal but regulated - by the District itself; there is no separate city layer and no local hours cap.
Anything you signed at your door can usually be canceled within 3 business days (state and/or federal law).
A solicitor who stays after you say “leave” is trespassing - anywhere in Washington, D.C.
What a posted sign means here: not what the law keys on at an occupied home - § 22-3302 turns on the occupant’s will and a refusal to leave, so the words you say do the work.

What D.C. law gives you

D.C. Code § 28-3811

Until they hand you the notice, you can cancel any way you like

The District gives you until midnight of the third business day to cancel, and the seller must give you a written notice headed “BUYERS RIGHT TO CANCEL” explaining the deadline and giving the address to mail it to.

Then comes the clause that makes DC one of the strongest jurisdictions in the country on this point: until the seller has complied with that requirement, you may cancel by notifying the seller in any manner. No three-day expiry, and no need to put it in writing. A crew that skipped the paperwork has handed you an open-ended right to walk away.

D.C. Code § 28-3811

Work done before you cancel earns them nothing

If the seller performed any services before you cancelled, the seller is entitled to no compensation for them. “We already started” is not leverage in the District.

D.C. Code § 28-3811

Unclaimed goods become yours in forty days

After you cancel, the seller has to come and collect anything they delivered. If they fail to demand possession within a reasonable time, the goods become your property with no obligation to pay - and the statute puts a number on “reasonable”: forty days is presumed to be a reasonable time.

D.C. Code §§ 22-3302, 22-2302

Unlawful entry turns on your will, not on your sign

Unlawful entry covers entering a private dwelling against the will of the lawful occupant, or remaining without lawful authority and refusing to leave when demanded - a misdemeanor carrying up to 180 days.

Read the sign clause carefully before relying on it: the provision making a no-trespassing sign prima facie evidence of unlawful entry is written for property that is vacant and boarded-up or otherwise secured. At an occupied DC home, the operative words are the ones you say out loud. Separately, § 22-2302(h) makes it unlawful to ask, beg or solicit alms on private or residential property without permission from the owner or occupant - up to 90 days - though that provision is aimed at begging, not at commercial sales.

There is no city layer here - and that matters

DC is its own state and its own city at once, so there is no municipal ordinance underneath the code. That makes the contrast with the suburbs, where the same salesperson faces real rules, the useful thing to know.

One jurisdiction - no separate city layer

The District itself

DC is the rare address where the state and the city are the same government, so there is no municipal ordinance sitting underneath the code to add hours limits or a posted-sign rule. What the District licenses through DLCP is the business, not the knock: a Basic Business License to operate, and a Charitable Solicitation license for organizations soliciting contributions.

The practical consequence is that a DC homeowner has no local do-not-knock registry and no city hours cap - only the strong cancellation right above and the unlawful-entry statute.

One government instead of two usually means more protection. Here it means one less layer.

Across the river: license required, 9 a.m.–8 p.m., signs honored

Fairfax County, VA

Worth knowing because the DC region is one housing market. Fairfax County licenses peddlers and solicitors before they may go door to door, issues a laminated one-year license, confines soliciting to 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and provides that a solicitor may not solicit at a residence posting a “No Peddlers or Solicitors” sign.

Solicitors must show the license on request and leave immediately if asked.

The same salesperson working both sides of the river is under real sign rules in Virginia and none in the District.

Door-to-Door Vendor License

Montgomery County, MD

On the Maryland side, Montgomery County requires a Door-to-Door Vendor License for anyone traveling dwelling to dwelling selling goods or services, and vendors must display their state business license and operator ID while working. Gaithersburg, Rockville and Takoma Park license separately.

What a “No Soliciting” sign does - and where it falls short

Post one. Where the local code gives it legal force it turns some canvassers away, and everywhere it establishes that a knock wasn't welcome. But the patchwork above exposes the sign's two structural weaknesses: the rules protecting you differ block by block, and a sign can't say which ones apply here. It states a preference. It can't answer the question the person on your step would need answered.

Where NoKnock fits

Make the sign answer for itself

A sign that can answer that question is the stronger version of the same idea. NoKnock is that for any address in the country - you register free and put a QR decal at your door. Anyone who scans it, with an ordinary phone camera and no app, gets a full-screen Do Not Knock for your address, plus the soliciting rules that actually apply there: the Washington, D.C. law above, and your city or county's ordinance where we've reviewed one. No guessing which block's rules are in play.

Honest caveat: nobody is obliged to scan it, and the registry is young. The decal is what works on day one - it reads from the step, and most solicitors move on. The registry behind it is a backstop that grows as more homes on more streets register.

Religious and political canvassers play by different rules

In Watchtower v. Village of Stratton (2002), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a town can't require a permit for religious, political, or other noncommercial door-to-door canvassing. That's why city permit schemes carve those groups out, and why a “permit, please” challenge only works on commercial sellers.

What survives for noncommercial visitors: the trespass baseline (they must leave when asked) and, in some cities, posted-sign rules that apply to everyone. If you want maximum legal coverage from a sign alone, “No Trespassing” generally sweeps broader than “No Soliciting.”

Common questions

Is door-to-door soliciting legal in Washington, D.C.?

Yes, and unusually for a major city, DC has no residential solicitation ordinance setting permitted hours or giving a posted "no soliciting" sign legal force. Because the District is both the state and the city, there is no second layer of municipal rules. What DC does have is one of the strongest doorstep cancellation rights in the country.

Can I cancel a contract signed with a door-to-door salesperson in DC?

Yes, and possibly long after three days. D.C. Code § 28-3811 gives you until midnight of the third business day, but until the seller gives you the required written "BUYERS RIGHT TO CANCEL" notice, you may cancel by notifying them in any manner - no deadline, and no requirement that it be in writing. If they performed services before you cancelled, they are entitled to no compensation.

Is ignoring a No Soliciting sign illegal in Washington, D.C.?

Not by itself at an occupied home. D.C. Code § 22-3302 makes it unlawful entry to come onto a private dwelling against the will of the lawful occupant, or to remain and refuse to leave when demanded - up to 180 days. The clause treating a no-trespassing sign as prima facie evidence is written for vacant, boarded-up or secured property, so at a lived-in DC house it is the demand to leave that does the work.

What if a solicitor left goods at my DC home and never came back for them?

After forty days they are yours. Under § 28-3811, if the seller fails to demand possession of delivered goods within a reasonable time after cancellation, the goods become your property with no obligation to pay - and the statute presumes forty days to be a reasonable time.

Do the rules change just over the DC line?

Considerably. Fairfax County, VA licenses peddlers and solicitors, limits them to 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and prohibits soliciting at a residence posting a "No Peddlers or Solicitors" sign. Montgomery County, MD requires a Door-to-Door Vendor License. The same salesperson faces real sign rules in the suburbs and none inside the District.

Sources

This page is general information, not legal advice, and state statutes and city ordinances change - always verify against the current code before relying on a specific provision. Last reviewed August 2026.

The law backs you up. Make it easy to invoke.

Register your address, put the decal by the door, and the rules on this page are one scan away - on your door, for whoever is standing there. Free, under a minute.

Want the practical playbook too? How to stop door-to-door salesmen