Quote Originally Posted by 5 Little Monkeys View Post
I'm in MB but here you can not have a licensed home daycare in the basement if there isn't 2 exits and children can not sleep in the basement. I use my whole basement (it's set up like an apartment...bathroom ,kitchen,living room, bedroom, laundry room) for daycare but because I am private, this is allowed. Maybe your neighbour is thinking of a licensed home? I am not sure what ON laws are though. If you have extra home insurance for your daycare they should be able to tell you the rules too. That is where I found out some of the rules for MB
I am a licensed home daycare in Manitoba and your home as a whole must have two exits, but not necessarily two basement exits - this is why a daycare in an apartment would never be eligible for a license. It is a different story if you are a licensed group home daycare as you must go by a different set of regulations due to the number of children in care - which is a max of 12, instead of the max of 8 in a regular licensed home daycare. It is only not allowed to let the children sleep in the basement and there must no access to the furnace. Making sure you have hardwired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are also important.

But adequate home insurance is important no matter what, make sure you let your insurance provider know your plans.