Quote Originally Posted by bossyfan View Post
Hi there, I recently signed a daycare contract for my two children, admittedly without reading the whole thing (my bad, I know). We have had our children in this daycare for over a year. Originally, she was part of an agency. When she broke away from the agency this spring, she had us sign this new contract.

We have decided to enroll our kids in a french immersion preschool starting this September, so we gave our daycare provider notice last week - which effectively gave her 5 weeks notice. She said that the new contract specified that we are required to give 2 months notice (should have read the thing, I know), and wants to charge us for September.

Has anybody come across (as parents) or has required (as a daycare provider) 2 months notice prior to withdrawing the children?

It seems oppressively long, but interested in hearing others' experiences.
It is longer than normal but I have heard of other provider's who have this 2 month notice period and is more common when a sibling group is in a day home because it creates multiple spaces on the same day. Just like when children age out for school, we do all we can to avoid getting caught with multiple empty spaces and start recruiting to fill them fast.

She's quite entitled to charge for the extra weeks where you only gave 5 weeks notice instead of 2 months. It's common that parents are charged for days reserved for a child vs their attendance and so, if a client gives short notice, then of course, that policy continues if they decide not to attend and pay regular fees for the whole notice period.

Make sure the full bill is settled when you leave. Don't assume that the owed money can be paid on the next fee due date as it would have been had you remained in her care for the full notice period. Accounts should be settled in full on final day of care. If you fail to do this, and she has a late payment fee, she can charge you that too.

Years back, I had someone leave without giving me notice because they found a cheaper place. They picked up on Friday evening and then sent me a message thanking me for all the care but because they were a young struggling family, their child wouldn't be returning! I had to send them a copy of my contracts showing the notice period of 4 weeks (I am 6 weeks for sibling groups) and explaining to them that all fees were due immediately, that there was a late payment fee of $10 per day. They argued that they had already paid out a deposit to the new place and would have to pay fees in advance too and while I could empathize, the double cost of new place fees and mine was a consequence of their own choices - a "them problem" not a "me problem". I was not financially responsible for the cost of their decisions.

Because I could empathize, when Mom asked to pay fees on the next payment due date which was 2 weeks away I agreed but was clear that it would be my only extension of time. Sure enough, payment day came without funds. I had to message the parents and remind them and was then told they didn't have it and could I let them off!! I had to be really stern then.

I had already let them pay late. Had waivered late payment fees from the date they left to the extented time. I ended up having to be really firm and state that the full 4 weeks fees were due as promised that day, or I would be taking to Small Claims court and because they had breached the agreement to pay on the revised date, I would be seeking $10 a day from the day they left to the court hearing (average of 6 weeks @ $70 a week) plus filing costs and outstanding fees.