When is solicitation not considered solicitation?

My search here turned up a great number of posts regarding solicitation, but I did not find something along these lines. If you are aware of a post dealing with this particular issue, please accept my apologies and point me in the right direction.

We are on private property and we have a sign posted up front "No solicitation".

For a second time in several weeks, a vendor (the same vendor) stopped my house offering their roofing services. I'm not certain where I came across this information, but is it not correct that if a vendor is cruising the neighborhood, then this activity would be cause to have them removed as they would indeed be violating our rules. However, I believe I came across a settled case where a vendor was similarly bounced, but later won a settlement because he had a customer in the neighborhood and was using the opportunity canvass the other homes.

Has anyone else heard of this or similar cases?

Any suggestions?

Thank you all in advance for your time.

While I normally say, "throw the bums out," in this case I would be a BIT more gracious.

I would ask if the person was aware of the prohibition. If they answered NO, then I would inform them and insist they leave. If they answered YES, I would likely call the sheriff to see what they thought. I would follow up with a call to the company - assuming the one violating was not independent.

From a Board perspective, I would tell anyone who wanted to do so, to call the sheriff when they are solicited. Then call the company and complain.

Not a major end of world issue. Just slowly follow up.

Now, this said, two 80 yr old women from a local church call on our street about once a year - I hide in my house :-)

No means no, except it probably doesn;t apply to religion of political canvassers

My Ca. HOA used to get van loads of Solicitors dropped of at our entrance and they would get picked up at the end of the day. We really tried to crack down on it and we had a Security Company that patrolled the neighborhood so we would call and complain if they were seen.

Before this when they knocked on my door I would ask them if they had permission to solicit in our HOA by the Board. They would almost always say yes they have granted us permission. I would then tell the that I was the President of our HOA and you are lying.

Now that I am in Texas and in another new Development. We get Solicitors calling all the time. I love to tell them that AOC and the Democrats say the World is going to end in 9 years so it would be a bad investment.

Considering so many people have the Ring doorbell and similar stuff, is this still a thing????? If someone comes to my door, I keep it simple - either I don't open it at all or say "I'm sorry, I don't do business with door to door salespeople" and shut the door.

We also have a no soliciting sign, but our problem in recent years has been people hanging stuff on the front doorknobs. There was a local satellite TV company and pizza place that was notorious for this until our board president had our property manager send a nastygram to the companies. A few neighbors had dogs that made it difficult to approach the door and the rest of us simply refused to answer and they'd go away when they realized no one was going to open the door.

In one of the Associations I belong to, we also have a no solicitation sign.

The Sheriff told us the following:

1) Don't call the police when the vendor knocks on your door, the vendor will simply say that they didn't see the sign.
2) Answer the door, be polite and inform them that there is signage posted saying no solicitation.
3) If the vendor goes to another home after they were informed, then call the police and (if they have someone free) the police will come out.

NOTE: Typically, someone will inform the vendor, close the door and go on with their day. Unfortunately, this doesn't solve anything as the police will need a statement from the individual who informed the vendor about the signage and a statement from the resident of the next home(s) the vendor went to.

This really depends on what your city/county/state legally considers to be "solicitation."

In the places I've lived, commercial activity (door-to-door sales) has been considered solicitation and thus can be restricted, but laws and ordinances often carve out exceptions for non-profits, charities, or political activities.

In our community in order to go door to door one must have written permission from the general manager which is highly unlikely.

Due to an increase of crime in 2019 many of us have opted for personal security cameras. We're also very active on FB and post photos, videos of trespassers or questions on who is in the neighborhood.

If someone needs a business referral, we ask. We live on a well trafficked street have no trespassing signs and two which read camera surveillance. Appears to have worked. No solicitors in the past 18 months.

I contacted the city attorney and discussed how we should handle a solicitor. He told me how to arrange the signs and who we need to allow to solicit within our association. The city attorney also indicated that vendors are to have a city license to do that. I spoke with the city police chief and asked his thoughts at what point do we call the police. Everyone was very helpful.

Old post.