Know your rights · Tennessee

Is door-to-door soliciting legal in Tennessee?

Short answer: yes — courts won't let cities ban knocking outright. But “legal” is doing less work than solicitors would like you to think. Tennessee law makes pressure sales cancelable, cities set their own permit and hours rules, 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 Tennessee.
What a posted sign means varies by city: strong — Nashville, La Vergne and other cities run No Knock registries, a posted “No Solicitation” sign blocks all door-to-door in Nashville, and § 39-14-405 makes a posted sign remove a solicitor’s “I didn’t know” defense.

What Tennessee state law gives you

Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-704

Three business days to cancel a doorstep sale

Tennessee’s Home Solicitation Sales Act (1974) lets you cancel a sale over $25 made anywhere but the seller’s regular place of business until midnight of the third business day. The seller must tell you about the right, print it under a “BUYER’S RIGHT TO CANCEL” caption, and give you a cancellation form; refunds follow within ten days.

The federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule adds the same protection for most in-home sales over $25. Tennessee’s Division of Consumer Affairs publishes this right specifically for door-to-door sales.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-405

A posted sign kills the “I didn’t know” defense

Tennessee criminal trespass covers entering or remaining without consent, and a sign posted so it’s reasonably likely to be seen removes any claim the visitor thought they were welcome. So a “No Soliciting” or “No Trespassing” sign doesn’t just express a wish — it forecloses the usual defense. Criminal trespass is a Class C misdemeanor.

A spoken “please leave” has the same effect once said. After that, a lingering canvasser is trespassing, full stop.

City ordinances

No Knock registries are spreading across the state

Tennessee cities are rolling out No Knock registries fast. Nashville keeps a “no knock” list residents join for two years, and La Vergne runs one at its own noknock.lavergnetn.gov — both handed to permitted commercial solicitors, who must skip registered homes. It’s the same idea NoKnock runs nationally.

Your city sets the door-knocking rules

Tennessee'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.”

Metro permit + 2-year No Knock list

Nashville (Metro / Davidson County)

Metro Nashville requires a door-to-door solicitation permit through the Metro Clerk (Code ch. 6.64), and lets residents join a “no knock” list for two years. Crucially, posting a “No Trespassing” or “No Solicitation” sign prohibits all door-to-door solicitation — permit or not.

Nashville makes your posted sign an absolute stop, even for a permit-holder — the strongest version of “your no is the rule.”

Permit + badge + No Knock registry

La Vergne

La Vergne (Rutherford County) requires commercial solicitors to hold a $250 annual permit and a $75 ID badge, with a criminal background check, and runs a No Knock registry residents sign up for online. The registry blocks commercial solicitation while still allowing non-commercial callers.

State registration + county solicitor license

Knoxville / Knox County

In the Knoxville area, solicitors must register with the state and obtain a permit from the police chief, and Knox County requires a solicitor license (about $55 per 30-day period) with a background check. Solicitors may not enter any premises posting a “Peddlers or Solicitors Prohibited” sign.

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 creates no record of who ignored it. Enforcement is almost always complaint-driven — and a complaint is only as strong as your ability to say who knocked, and when.

Where NoKnock fits

Make the sign checkable — and the ignoring of it a record

A do-not-knock list a company can actually be held to is the stronger model. NoKnock is that idea for any address in the country — you register free, put a QR decal at your door, and canvassing organizations that subscribe get a “Do Not Knock” answer for your home before anyone walks up. If someone knocks anyway, logging it takes seconds, so the fourth violation reads as a pattern, not four bad afternoons.

Honest caveat: the registry is young, and not every canvasser checks it yet. The decal works on day one regardless — and it's the only option on this page that turns an ignored “no” into a timestamped record.

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 Tennessee?

Yes, but cities regulate it and no-knock registries are spreading. Nashville and La Vergne, for example, require a permit and let residents join a no-knock list that commercial solicitors must honor. State law also lets you cancel most doorstep sales within three business days, and in Nashville a posted "No Solicitation" sign prohibits all door-to-door solicitation regardless of permit.

How do I get on a No Knock list in Tennessee?

It depends on your city. Nashville residents can join Metro’s "no knock" list (good for two years), and La Vergne runs its own online No Knock registry at noknock.lavergnetn.gov. Once you register, permitted commercial solicitors are given the list and barred from your home. Coverage is city-by-city, which is the gap a nationwide registry like NoKnock is designed to fill.

Is ignoring a No Soliciting sign illegal in Tennessee?

It can be. Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-14-405, a sign posted so it’s reasonably likely to be seen removes a trespasser’s defense that they didn’t know they lacked permission, so a solicitor who ignores a clear "No Soliciting" or "No Trespassing" sign can be charged with criminal trespass, a Class C misdemeanor. In Nashville, a posted "No Solicitation" sign bars all door-to-door solicitation outright.

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

Usually yes. Tennessee’s Home Solicitation Sales Act (Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-18-704) gives you until midnight of the third business day to cancel a sale over $25 made away from the seller’s place of business, in writing; the seller must refund you within ten days. The federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule provides the same three-day right.

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 every rule on this page gets a record to point at. Free, under a minute.

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