The licence is issued to a licensee, not just to the building
In BC, care for three or more children who are not related to the operator requires a community care facility licence. Licences are issued and inspected by the medical health officer of the regional health authority, working through licensing officers. The rules come from the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, the Child Care Licensing Regulation and the province's standards of practice.
Because the licence names the licensee, a change of ownership is not a simple handover. Contact the health authority's licensing office early in your due diligence, ask exactly what a change of licensee requires for that facility, and make your offer conditional on it. Do not assume the seller's licence lets you open on day one.
Check the facility's licensing history
Health authorities publish inspection reports and any conditions placed on a licence. Read every report for the facility. Repeated findings about ratios, records, hazards or staff qualifications tell you what you will inherit, and a licence carrying conditions or a reduced capacity is worth less than the seller's headline number of spaces.
Staff are the business
Licensed group care requires qualified staff: early childhood educators and assistants certified through the province's ECE Registry, plus criminal record checks through the provincial program for everyone who works with children. Confirm each staff member's certificate and expiry date, their pay, their accrued vacation, and, above all, whether they intend to stay. A daycare that loses its ECEs on closing cannot operate at its licensed capacity.
Enrolment, waitlist and funding
Ask for the current enrolment by age group against licensed capacity, the waitlist with dates, and the fee schedule. Many BC facilities participate in provincial programs that reduce parent fees or fund operations; those agreements are with the operator and have their own change-of-ownership reporting rules. Ask the seller which programs the facility is in and confirm with the ministry how a new operator continues in them.
Provincial programs that affect the numbers
British Columbia's ChildCareBC plan runs several programs that a facility may be part of: operating funding paid to licensed providers, fee-reduction initiatives that lower what parents pay in exchange for the operator agreeing to fee limits, income-tested benefits paid on behalf of eligible families, and a smaller set of sites funded to charge $10 a day. Each program has an agreement with the operator, reporting obligations, and rules about what happens when the licensee changes. A facility's revenue can depend heavily on these payments, so ask for the agreements and the last year of remittance statements, and confirm with the ministry's program staff how a new operator transitions before you remove your financing condition.
Ratios, capacity and what they mean for revenue
The Child Care Licensing Regulation sets maximum group sizes and staff-to-child ratios by care type and age, and the licence states the facility's maximum capacity. Revenue is therefore capped by licensed spaces and by how many qualified staff you can keep on shift, not by demand. When you model the purchase, use licensed capacity by age group multiplied by the actual fee for that group, minus the vacancy the waitlist history suggests, and check that the staff roster can legally cover full enrolment on every shift including opening and closing hours.
Diligence checklist for a daycare
- Licence certificate, capacity by care type, conditions, and every inspection report for five years.
- Staff list with ECE Registry certificate numbers and expiry dates, criminal record check dates, wages, tenure and vacation owed.
- Enrolment by age group, waitlist with dates, parent contracts and fee schedule.
- Program agreements and remittance statements from the province.
- Lease, zoning confirmation, outdoor play space measurements, and any strata or landlord restrictions.
- Incident logs, complaints, and the emergency and health policies the licence requires.
Premises
Licensed child care is tied to the physical space: indoor and outdoor area per child, washrooms, sleeping areas, kitchen and fencing are all inspected. Check the lease term and renewal options as you would for any business, plus the zoning and municipal business licence, and any strata or landlord restrictions on hours and outdoor play.
Taxes and closing
Furniture, equipment and computers are taxable business assets for PST in an asset sale; obtain a clearance certificate. Consider a share purchase if it keeps the licence, funding agreements and staff employment continuous, and weigh that against inheriting the corporation's liabilities. Your lawyer should sequence closing so the licence and funding steps are complete or formally accepted before money changes hands.
Browse listings
Frequently asked questions
Does a BC child care licence transfer automatically when I buy the business?
No. The licence is issued to a specific licensee for a specific facility by the health authority. Ask the licensing office what its change-of-licensee process requires and how long it takes, and make your purchase conditional on completing it.
What qualifications do daycare staff need in BC?
Group child care requires early childhood educators and assistants holding certificates issued through the provincial ECE Registry, in numbers set by the Child Care Licensing Regulation for each age group, along with criminal record checks. Verify each certificate before closing.
Where do I find the daycare's inspection reports?
Each regional health authority publishes community care facility inspection reports online. Search the facility name and read every report for the past several years.
Sources
- Province of BC: Rules for operating a licensed child care facility
- Community Care and Assisted Living Act: Child Care Licensing Regulation
- Province of BC: A guide to community care facility licensing in British Columbia
This guide is general information for British Columbia, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements with the regulator linked above and with your own lawyer and accountant before you buy.