Contacting homeowners in Utah: Do Not Call and telemarketing rules for investors

Utah telemarketing rules for real estate investors: the short version

Picture a homeowner in Utah who is behind on payments, gets a call from an unknown number at 9:30 at night, and finds out the caller is an investor. That one call can bring a complaint, a lost deal and possibly legal trouble. Utah telemarketing rules for real estate investors exist to prevent exactly this kind of contact.

Two layers apply. Federal law sets the baseline through the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule. Utah has its own telephone solicitation law (Utah Code Title 13, Chapter 25a) and Telephone Fraud Prevention Act (Utah Code Title 13, Chapter 26), and they differ from federal law in details such as calling days, registration and disclosures.

Rules vary and change. This article is general information, not legal advice. A Utah attorney can confirm what applies to a specific business model before a calling or texting routine starts.

Common outreach methods and the main rules to think about

Rules vary by state. General information, not legal advice.

What the federal Do Not Call rules require

The National Do Not Call Registry. Consumers can add their home and cell numbers to the registry. Once a number has been registered long enough, telemarketers may not call it for sales purposes unless an exception applies, such as the person's written consent or an established business relationship. Utah law separately bars unsolicited calls to Utah numbers on the national registry (Utah Code 13-25a-108).

Calling hours. Telemarketing calls are limited to between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the time zone of the person you are calling. For a Utah homeowner, that means Mountain time, even if you are calling from somewhere else. Utah law also bars telephone solicitations without prior express consent between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m., on Sundays and on legal holidays (Utah Code 13-25a-103).

Company-specific requests. If someone asks not to be called again, federal rules require the caller to record that request and honor it (47 CFR 64.1200(d)), and Utah requires the same of the solicitor they asked (Utah Code 13-25a-107.2). That applies even if their number is not on the national registry.

Identify yourself. Utah requires a caller to identify themselves and the business, promptly state the purpose of the call, and end it if the person responds negatively, and it bars withholding caller ID (Utah Code 13-25a-103). The federal Telemarketing Sales Rule also requires caller ID to be transmitted (16 CFR 310.4(a)(8)).

Does a call to buy a house count as telemarketing?

This is the question investors most often get wrong. The federal definitions focus on calls that encourage the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods or services. An investor offering to buy a house is on the other side of that transaction, so some people argue the federal rules do not reach it.

Utah's law answers it directly. Utah's definition of telephone solicitation includes a call encouraging the person called to sell real or personal property (Utah Code 13-25a-102), so a cold call offering to buy a Utah home is covered by the state's Do Not Call and calling-hour rules. Those two rules do not apply to someone who holds a license from Utah's Division of Real Estate and acts within its scope (Utah Code 13-25a-111). On the federal side, regulators and courts can read the definitions broadly, and an investor who also sells, assigns or markets properties may look more like a seller. An attorney can say where the federal line sits for a specific business.

Businesses calling other businesses and people who have asked to hear from you are treated differently, but those exceptions are narrow. A homeowner who never contacted you is not in either group.

Texts, prerecorded calls and cell phones

Texting is not a loophole. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, autodialed calls or texts to a cell phone, and prerecorded or artificial-voice calls, require the recipient's prior express consent, and prior express written consent when the message is telemarketing (47 CFR 64.1200(a)). Utah also limits automated dialing to people who gave prior express consent or have an established business relationship (Utah Code 13-25a-103). Bulk text blasts to people who never agreed to hear from you are a common source of lawsuits.

Ringless voicemail and mass dialers. The FCC has ruled that ringless voicemail messages are calls subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (FCC 22-85), so they fall under the same prerecorded-message rules. An attorney can review any automated outreach before it starts.

Make opting out easy. If someone replies with a request to stop, treat it as final. Keep a written record of the request so it survives staff changes and new campaigns.

• Do not call outside the permitted hours.
• Do not keep calling after a clear "no" or "stop."
• Do not send automated messages without consent.
• Do not misstate who you are or what you plan to do with the home.

Treating owners in hard situations with care

Many motivated sellers are dealing with a death in the family, a divorce, unpaid debt or the threat of losing the home. These filings are public records, which is part of why investors can reach out at all. Keystone Court Data delivers such filings with the owner and property already matched, county by county, including Utah. The records tell you a situation exists. They do not give you permission to be pushy about it.

Lead with honesty. Say who you are, that you buy houses, and that there is no pressure. Make clear the person can say no and that you will respect it.

Consider a letter first. A short, respectful letter lets a person read your offer on their own time, and it avoids the phone rules entirely. If you do call, keep it brief, ask whether it is a good time, and end the call politely if it is not.

Never imply you are with a court, lender or government agency. Misleading wording can create liability under consumer protection laws, and it damages trust with people who are already stressed.

Building a low-risk outreach routine

Write down your own policy and follow it every time. A simple one covers calling hours, a script that identifies you, a process for recording stop requests, and who is allowed to contact owners. Train anyone who works for you on it.

Compare each channel against its risk before you choose. Our table below gives a rough picture of how the common methods differ. It is a general guide, not a legal opinion, and a Utah attorney can confirm the details. Utah's Telephone Fraud Prevention Act also requires many telephone sellers to register each year with the Division of Consumer Protection unless an exemption applies (Utah Code 13-26-102, 13-26-104).

You can see how Keystone fits into that workflow on the how it works page, but the compliance responsibility for how you contact owners stays with you.