Solicitors need county permit

Just a community FYI - solicitors in Loudoun County are supposed to show proof of permit issued by the Sheriff's office when soliciting. The permits verify that they have background checks through the Sheriff's office for the protection of county residents. Solicitors are required to have a copy on them and to show proof including their ID if someone asks. We've had two recent solicitors, one from Moxie Pest Control and one from Aptive Environmental both located in Chantilly who were not able to produce their permits. Aptive confessed they didn't have one (supposedly just filed). The same Moxie rep came to our home three times within a five day period. The third time I finally called the Sheriff's office. Their tactics can be very aggressive, even coming into resident garages if open. The Moxie rep stood at my neighbors front door for no less than 5 minutes when my neighbor wouldn't answer the door. I would suggest reading reviews on Yelp of their companies; both make it extremely difficult to cancel contracts.
Here's the instructions from the Sheriff's office: "Any person who witnesses a violation of this code of conduct or encounters a solicitor who refuses to provide their county issued solicitor permit, or does not have a permit should contact the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office by calling the 24-hour non-emergency number at 703-777-1021. "

 

Unfortunately, Loudoun's solicitors rules are a bit lax and don't always help when asking for solicitor's licenses.

Particularly, Loudoun doesn't count a mess of people/companies as solicitors. Most notably, it excludes companies that are going to perform a service entirely on site (Moxie for example would be servicing your site, so they aren't considered a "solicitor") as well as those who do have a business or do regular business in the county -- so just about any Loudoun based business, or those doing business for a bunch of neighbors could come to your door without the need for a license.

Here is the actual text of those code that Loudoun does not consider solicitors and therefore do not need a solicitor's license:

(1) Those persons who sell, solicit orders for or offer for sale, in person or by their employees, ice, wood, charcoal, meats, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, fish, oysters, game, vegetables, fruits or other family supplies of a perishable nature or farm products grown or produced by them or their employer and not purchased by them or their employer for resale;
(2) The vending or delivery of ice, wood, coal, meat, milk, butter, eggs, poultry, fish, oysters, game, vegetables, fruits or other supplies of a perishable nature, by vendors duly licensed under State law, to sell the same from a truck wagon in the County;
(3) Persons peddling, soliciting or canvassing where all the proceeds derived from such peddling, soliciting or canvassing are to be used solely for nonprofit charitable, religious or community service purposes;
(4) Sales or solicitation of orders by agents or salesmen of wholesale businesses who sell to retail dealers, institutions, processors, restaurants or manufacturers for manufacturing or other purposes, when such selling or soliciting is on commercial or industrial property;
(5) The delivering or soliciting of newspaper subscriptions;
(6) The soliciting of personal services by persons to be furnished by such persons on the premises where such solicitation is made;
(7) Any person who has a regularly established place of business or identifiable geographic location in the County, from which he transacts business and deals in goods, wares or merchandise or performs services or solicits orders for the same on a continuing and on- going basis within the County; and
(8) Persons licensed by the State under Title 38.2 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended.

 

This company came knocking on the door. Power was the name. Real heavy handed tactics. Tries to setup a free consultation for new windows with you so someone can come into your home. If you don't take they get a convenient call from their "boss" trying to get you to accept the free estimate even though multiple times I clearly said we're not looking to do that kind of work to the house. I don't usually answer the door but they got me wearing the same type of vest as the verizon contractors so I thought it was one of them for the first few minutes.

https://powerhrg.com/

 

z28lt1 - Actually, you've misunderstood the regulations - personal services are referring to those services that normally can't be performed exactly by another. So for example, an artist, woodcarver, etc...Their talents are very individual. Pest control is not a talent lol. The regulations say that the personal services, again those offered that are unique, are supplied on the premises by that same individual. This is not the case of the pest control solicitors. Others supply the actual treatment, not the solicitors.

Additionally, Moxie services are not located in Loudoun. So #7 would not apply.

 

Fair enough I have no idea how they would define personal services. That said, as I would read it, #7 doesn't require them to be in Loudoun, but to regularly and continually do business in the county -- "or performs services or solicits orders for the same on a continuing and on- going basis within the County".

 

You can’t exclude the beginning of #7; it defines the ‘who’ it’s referring to, specifically performing services from an established business in the county.