Exit Planning

Yes, you can sell your daycare completely confidentially by utilizing the QuietDeal™ system, which relies on strict non-disclosure protocols, blinded marketing materials, and secure data rooms. This multi-layered discreet approach ensures that parents, teachers, and competitors remain unaware of the sale until a transaction is finalized.

A sole proprietorship daycare cannot be directly sold or transferred to a new owner because the business is legally tied directly to you. To sell a sole proprietorship, transactions typically have to be structured as asset purchases, which triggers major hurdles with Ontario’s Ministry of Education (MOE) licensing and the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system.

An optional lease renewal extension is a contractual clause in the commercial lease agreement that gives you, the tenant, the unilateral right to extend your lease while preventing the landlord from refusing the renewal. You can have an optional lease renewal extension with a pre-set rent rate or market rent.

Yes, you should extend your commercial lease before listing your daycare for sale. Many owners assume their landlord is friendly and will easily agree to a lease extension later, but relying on landlord “courtesy” during a business sale is a massive, deal-killing mistake.

For the highest valuation and to secure buyer financing, your daycare lease should have a remaining term of at least 7 to 20 years (including renewal options). Lenders require a long lease runway to approve buyer’s loans, and buyers will heavily discount or pass on businesses with short leases due to the risk of non-renewal.

If you own your daycare center as a sole proprietor, you can still sell your daycare, but the transaction must be structured as an asset purchase. Because a sole proprietorship is tied directly to you as an individual, the license cannot simply be transferred to a new owner. This means the buyer must completely re-license the facility with the Ontario Ministry of Education (MOE).