Know your rights · New York

Is door-to-door soliciting legal in New York?

Short answer: yes - courts won't let cities ban knocking outright. But “legal” is doing less work than solicitors would like you to think. New York 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 - mostly by your city, not the state.
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 New York.
What a posted sign means varies by city: strong - many NY cities require peddler licenses and some (like New Rochelle) keep resident opt-out lists solicitors can’t target; a posted notice at your entrance bars canvassers in cities like North Tonawanda, backed by Penal Law § 140.05.

What New York state law gives you

N.Y. Pers. Prop. Law § 428

Three business days to cancel a doorstep sale

New York’s Door-to-Door Sales Protection Act gives you the right to cancel any time before midnight of the third business day after the sale. The seller must give you a receipt in the language of the sale and a detachable “NOTICE OF CANCELLATION” form in duplicate, and tell you about the right out loud; your money and any trade-in come back within ten business days.

The federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule mirrors it for most in-home sales over $25, and the New York Department of State publishes door-to-door scam warnings alongside these rights.

N.Y. Penal Law §§ 140.05, 140.10

A posted notice makes entry unlawful

The base offense - trespass - is knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on premises, and a posted sign or a spoken warning is what makes a solicitor’s presence unlawful. Push past it onto residential property and the charge can rise to third-degree criminal trespass, a misdemeanor.

The catch prosecutors watch is knowledge: the person has to have known (or clearly should have known) they weren’t welcome - which a conspicuous sign or a direct “please leave” establishes cleanly.

Municipal ordinances

Local licenses - and resident opt-out lists

New York cities license peddlers, canvassers, and solicitors locally, and several go further with resident opt-out lists that licensed solicitors are forbidden to target. Others make a posted notice at your entrance a bar to ringing your bell at all. The specifics are set by your city.

Your city sets the door-knocking rules

New York's largest cities regulate solicitors in different ways - a good preview of how much this varies town to town. If yours isn't here, search "[your city] solicitor permit."

License + resident opt-out list

New Rochelle

New Rochelle requires door-to-door vendors to obtain a license, and the city maintains a list of residents who opt out of solicitation - solicitors cannot target properties on that list. It’s a municipal do-not-knock registry in all but name.

A city keeping an opt-out list that solicitors are barred from targeting is exactly the model NoKnock runs nationally.

Peddling/soliciting permit; 7 a.m.–7 p.m.

Buffalo

Buffalo licenses peddlers and solicitors (City Code ch. 316) and limits activity to roughly 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The license and hours sit on top of the state trespass and cancellation protections.

Permit + posted notice bars doorbells

North Tonawanda

North Tonawanda requires a peddler/canvasser/solicitor permit (City Code ch. 65), and makes it unlawful to enter a building or ring the doorbell at a residence that has posted a notice prohibiting canvassers, peddlers, or solicitors near the entrance. Your posted sign is written straight into the ordinance.

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 New York 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 New York?

Yes, but cities license and regulate it, and some keep resident opt-out lists. New Rochelle, for example, bars licensed solicitors from targeting homes on its opt-out list, and North Tonawanda makes it unlawful to ring the bell at a home posting a no-canvassing notice. State law also lets you cancel most doorstep sales within three business days.

Is ignoring a No Soliciting sign illegal in New York?

It can be. Under N.Y. Penal Law § 140.05, entering or remaining unlawfully is trespass, and a posted sign or a spoken warning is what makes a solicitor’s presence unlawful; on residential property it can rise to third-degree criminal trespass under § 140.10. Some New York cities separately bar soliciting at homes that post a notice or join a resident opt-out list.

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

Usually yes. New York’s Door-to-Door Sales Protection Act (N.Y. Pers. Prop. Law § 428) lets you cancel any time before midnight of the third business day after the sale, and the seller must give you a detachable Notice of Cancellation form; your money is returned within ten business days. The federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule provides the same three-day right.

Do door-to-door solicitors need a license in New York?

In most cities, yes - licensing is local. Buffalo, New Rochelle, North Tonawanda and many other cities require peddlers, canvassers, and solicitors to obtain a permit before going door-to-door, often with limited hours. A legitimate solicitor should be able to show a current city license if you ask.

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 July 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