Door-to-Door Salespeople and Political Canvassers: Why They're Different at HOAs
In this age of Clinton, Cruz, Kasich, Sanders, and Trump (we put those in alpha order so as not to appear to favor any of them; that's sort of the lesson of this tip), how should your HOA handle door-to-door activities—from salespeople to political canvassers?
In this week's tip, we talk about how to handle both situations.
You can surely ban salespeople from going door to door in your community. "Yes, I think you definitely can, especially if you have a boost from your municipal ordinance where your project is located," opines Nathaniel Abbate Jr., a partner at Makower Abbate & Associates PLLC in Farmington Hills, Mich., who represents associations. "Regulating sales—there's no question about that."
Of course, you need to think of how you'll enforce a ban on door-to-door activities. "An association has the right to ask door-to-door solicitors to leave," notes Brad van Rooyen, a partner at Home Encounter, a Tampa, Fla., company that manages community associations. "If they don't leave, you're going to have to call law enforcement, who won't put that in as a priority call. Other calls will get priority.
"We've always advised our clients to respectfully tell door-to-door salespeople that they're not to walk through the neighborhood," explains van Rooyen. "If they're handing out literature, we ask them to pass that onto the manager so we managers can notify the company that there's no soliciting in the HOA. But most companies will disregard that request, so it's difficult to police.
"Also if you call law enforcement, they'll usually want the registered agent or someone with authority in the association to give them the right to get salespeople off the property," adds van Rooyen. "We can file that form with the local police office. It's just an affidavit, and gives them the right to trespass anybody off the association's property.
"The problem is when the company claims it's contacting its own customers," states van Rooyen. "We've had situations where a company like Verizon has tried to solicit door to door. When we approach them, they pull out their customer list and say, 'We're actually visiting customers.' Then we're in a predicament. We can tell them they can go to those designated doors but nobody else's, and 9 of 10 times they'll comply."
"Political canvassers, I think, is a finer point than salespeople," notes Abbate. Find out why in our new article, Door-to-Door Sales: Can You Ban It? What About Political Canvassing?
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President