Know your rights · Texas

Is door-to-door soliciting legal in Texas?

Short answer: yes — courts won't let cities ban knocking outright. But “legal” is doing less work than solicitors would like you to think. Texas 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 Texas.
What a posted sign means varies by city: strong statewide — under Penal Code § 30.05 a posted sign is itself legal notice, so ignoring it can be criminal trespass.

What Texas state law gives you

Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 601

Three business days to cancel a doorstep sale

If someone solicits you at home and you agree to buy — goods or services over $25 — Texas lets you cancel until midnight of the third business day after you sign. The seller is required to hand you a receipt and a cancellation form spelling out that right at the time of sale.

A parallel federal rule (the FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule) gives the same three-day window on most in-home sales of $25 or more. If a solar, roofing, or alarm rep pressured you into signing on the porch, you have time to undo it — and the Texas Attorney General publishes this right specifically for door-to-door sales.

Tex. Penal Code § 30.05

Your “No Soliciting” sign is legal notice — ignoring it can be a crime

Texas is unusually strong here. Criminal trespass covers entering or remaining on property after notice that entry is forbidden — and the statute expressly counts a posted sign as notice. A clearly visible “No Soliciting” or “No Trespassing” sign meets that bar, so a commercial canvasser who walks past it and knocks can be trespassing outright.

Even without a sign, telling someone to leave creates the notice. A first-offense criminal trespass is a Class B misdemeanor (up to 180 days and a $2,000 fine). In practice police warn first, but the legal footing is squarely yours.

Municipal ordinances

There is no statewide solicitor permit — your city decides

Texas doesn’t license door-to-door sellers at the state level. Permits, knocking hours, and even city-run no-knock lists are set locally, and they vary widely — the three cities below run three different systems. If your town isn’t here, search “[your city] solicitor permit.”

Your city sets the door-knocking rules

Texas'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.”

City peddler/solicitor license required

Houston

Houston requires a commercial solicitor to hold a city peddler license (Code of Ordinances ch. 38), with a background check and a visible photo ID card. A posted “No Soliciting” sign is enforceable against commercial canvassers, and — combined with the state trespass statute — gives a citation real teeth.

City permit + 9 a.m.–sunset, Mon–Sat

Dallas

Dallas requires every solicitor to register and carry a city permit ($50, valid one year, worn visibly), and limits home solicitation to 9 a.m. to sunset, Monday through Saturday (excluding major holidays). Solicitation is flatly prohibited at any home posting a “No Solicitors” or similar sign. Charitable and nonprofit canvassers are the main exception to the permit.

City-run “No Knock List”

West University Place

This Houston enclave runs an official No Knock List: residents register their address with the police department, and commercial solicitors — who must register with the city first — are given the list and barred from those homes. Ignoring it is what police enforce against.

A Texas city running its own registry is exactly the do-not-knock model NoKnock scales past one town’s borders.

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 Texas?

Yes, but it is regulated. Most Texas cities require commercial solicitors to register for a permit and limit knocking hours, and state law is strongly on the homeowner’s side: a posted "No Soliciting" sign is legal notice under Penal Code § 30.05, so ignoring it can be criminal trespass. You also get three business days to cancel most doorstep sales.

Is ignoring a No Soliciting sign illegal in Texas?

It can be. Texas Penal Code § 30.05 treats a clearly posted sign as notice that entry is forbidden, so a solicitor who passes a visible "No Soliciting" or "No Trespassing" sign and knocks anyway may be committing criminal trespass — a Class B misdemeanor. Police typically warn first, but the sign carries real legal weight statewide.

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

Usually yes. Texas Business & Commerce Code chapter 601 lets you cancel a home-solicitation sale of goods or services over $25 until midnight of the third business day after signing, and the seller must give you a cancellation form. The federal FTC Cooling-Off Rule provides the same three-day right.

Do Texas cities have no-knock registries?

Some do. Houston-area cities including West University Place and Sugar Land run official "No Knock" or "No Solicitation" lists: you register your address with the city, and permitted commercial solicitors are given the list and barred from those homes. Coverage is city-by-city, which is the gap a nationwide registry like NoKnock is built to fill.

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