Compliance guide
Contacting people from public records, without stepping on a rake
Last updated: August 9, 2026
Not legal advice. Solicitation law after a fire, disaster, or permit filing varies by state and sometimes by license type. This page is a starting point for what to check, not a substitute for asking a lawyer licensed in your state — especially if you hold a public adjuster, contractor, or restoration license with its own conduct rules.
Why this matters
Every record in ArsenalData is public — that's what makes the feed legal to build. But using that record to contact someone is a separate question, governed by your state's solicitation rules, your professional license (if any), and general consumer-protection law. The record being public doesn't automatically make every method or timing of contact legal.
Disaster and fire solicitation windows
A number of states restrict door-to-door or unsolicited contact with disaster victims for a defined period after the event — sometimes 24–72 hours, sometimes longer for public adjusters specifically. Common patterns to check for your state:
- A blanket "no solicitation while emergency personnel are on scene" rule.
- A fixed waiting period (commonly 24–120 hours) before any in-person or unsolicited contact tied to storm, fire, or flood damage.
- A longer, separate waiting period specifically for public adjusters, sometimes 48–72 hours or more.
- Restrictions that apply only to in-person/door-to-door contact, with mail and phone treated differently — check the method you're planning to use.
Permits, violations, and evictions
These records don't carry the same disaster-solicitation restrictions, but general rules still apply: do-not-call registry compliance for phone outreach, CAN-SPAM for email, and any state-specific home-improvement solicitation licensing (some states require a license or registration specifically to solicit home repair work, independent of your contractor's license).
A reasonable default process
- Confirm your state's disaster-solicitation waiting period before contacting anyone from a fresh fire-dispatch record — and if you hold a license (contractor, public adjuster, etc.), check whether it adds its own restriction on top.
- Prefer mail or a compliant call/text over unsolicited door-knocking in the first 24–72 hours after an incident, since in-person contact is where most state restrictions bite hardest.
- Scrub outbound phone lists against the National Do Not Call Registry and honor any prior opt-outs.
- Keep a record of when and how you first contacted each lead, in case a compliance question comes up later.
Questions
If you're not sure how a rule applies to your state or license, ask your own counsel — we're happy to share what we know, but we can't give you a legal opinion. Reach us at hello@arsenaldata.io or through our contact page.