The Premises Rules That Decide a Child Care Centre’s Capacity

Last updated 12 September 2026. Written by Jatin Dua, Broker of Record at RE/MAX Quantum Realty, 799 The Queensway, Etobicoke · Commercial & business purchases · 15 min read

The capacity on the licence is a measurement, not an opinion

When a seller tells you how many children the centre is licensed for, they are telling you something about the building, not about the business. Those numbers come out of O. Reg. 137/15 under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, and they are specific enough that you can check them with a tape measure and a floor plan.

Section 16(1) requires a child care centre to have at least “2.8 square metres of unobstructed floor space for each child in a licensed infant, toddler, preschool or family age group, based on the licensed capacity,” and at least “2.58 square metres of unobstructed floor space for each child in a licensed kindergarten, primary/junior school age or junior school age group.” Two words in there do a lot of work. “Unobstructed” means the storage cabinet, the cubbies and the fixed millwork are not floor space. “Based on the licensed capacity” means the calculation runs on the number on the licence, not on current enrolment. A centre operating below capacity does not get to count the empty space twice.

The numbers, in one place

Requirement	Figure	Source
Indoor play activity space — infant, toddler, preschool, family age group	At least 2.8 m² of unobstructed floor space per child, based on licensed capacity	O. Reg. 137/15, s. 16(1)
Indoor play activity space — kindergarten, primary/junior school age, junior school age group	At least 2.58 m² of unobstructed floor space per child, based on licensed capacity	O. Reg. 137/15, s. 16(1)
Outdoor play space, where a program runs six hours or more in a day	At least the equivalent of 5.6 m² per child based on licensed capacity, unless otherwise approved by a director	O. Reg. 137/15, s. 24
Outdoor fencing, infant / toddler / preschool / family age groups	Fenced to a minimum height of 1.2 metres, with gates securely closed at all times	O. Reg. 137/15, s. 24(3)
Artificial illumination	At least 55 dekalux	O. Reg. 137/15, s. 22
Temperature	Maintained at a level of at least 20 degrees Celsius	O. Reg. 137/15, s. 23
Sleeping accommodation, under the Building Code	Not less than 0.93 m² of floor surface area per child, with not less than 2 300 mm ceiling height over the entire room area	Building Code, 3.7.1.3(3)

Separate rooms, not one big room divided by furniture

Section 17(1) is the provision that most often makes a promising space unworkable. Each licensed infant group needs “a separate play activity room and a separate sleeping area that is separated from any play activity area.” Toddler, preschool and family age groups each need separate play activity rooms.

Read that against an open-plan retail unit or a former office floor and you will see the problem immediately. You are not buying square metres; you are buying rooms. An open box does not become an infant room plus a separate infant sleeping area plus a toddler room because somebody drew lines on a plan. It becomes those things after demising walls, doors, mechanical revisions, and a building permit. On the tours I do, this is where the number the seller quoted and the number the space can support start to diverge.

On or below the second storey

Section 20 requires that rooms used by infant, toddler, preschool, kindergarten or family age groups be “on or below the second storey, unless otherwise approved by a director.” That is a short sentence with a large consequence for anyone looking at a third-floor plaza unit or an upper-level space in a mixed-use building. There is a discretion in it, but a discretion is not a plan. Do not price a third-floor conversion on the assumption that the discretion will be exercised your way.

The outdoor space is where deals quietly die

Section 24 requires an outdoor play space “at least equivalent to 5.6 square metres for each child based on the licensed capacity, unless otherwise approved by a director,” where a program “runs for six hours or more in a day.” Most full-day centres run six hours or more. So for most centres, this applies.

Three further rules shape it. First, s. 24(3): the space must be “at ground level and adjacent to the premises, unless otherwise approved by a director,” and for infant, toddler, preschool and family age groups it must be “fenced to a minimum height of 1.2 metres and the fence is furnished with one or more gates that are securely closed at all times.” Ground level and adjacent — a rooftop terrace or a park across the street is not, on the face of the regulation, the answer. Second, s. 24(2): above a licensed capacity of 64 the space may be divided by a fence, provided “each fenced-in area is not used for more than 64 children at one time.” Third, s. 24(4): play structures constructed or renovated on or after 29 August 2016 must meet CAN/CSA-Z614-14.

That last one is a diligence question with a real dollar figure behind it. If the seller replaced the play structure in the last several years, ask for the documentation showing it meets the standard. If they renovated it and cannot produce anything, you are looking at a potential replacement cost nobody priced into the deal.

Washrooms are a Building Code question, and the answer depends on dates

Fixture counts for a child care facility are not in O. Reg. 137/15. They sit in the Building Code, in the table at 3.7.4.3.I, which sets the maximum number of children per water closet and per lavatory by age.

Age of children	Maximum number of children per water closet and per lavatory
Under 2	10, without regard to number of each sex
2 to 5	10, without regard to number of each sex
6 to 9	15 for males; 15 for females
Over 9	30 for males; 26 for females

Here is the honest caveat, and it matters more than the table. Whether those ratios apply to the existing centre you are looking at depends on when the building was built, when its permits were issued, and whether a change of use is involved. Ontario replaced O. Reg. 332/12 with a Building Code based on the National Building Code of Canada 2020, in force 1 January 2025 with a transition period to 31 March 2025 for work already permitted or substantially designed. So a centre licensed and built years ago may lawfully differ from the current table. Do not assume your target centre must currently meet those ratios, and do not let anyone tell you it must. The chief building official decides what Code applies to a given building and a given project. That is the answer you want in writing before you commit renovation dollars.

Ministry plan approval blocks the building permit — this is the sequencing trap

This is the single most useful thing in this article for anyone planning a fit-out.

Section 14(1) of O. Reg. 137/15: “Where a person proposes that a new building be erected or an existing building be used, altered or renovated for use as a child care centre… the person shall not commence the erection, use, alteration or renovation until plans are approved by a director.” And that approval is designated “applicable law” in the Building Code, at 1.4.1.3(1)(a)(0.i), for the purposes of clause 8(2)(a) of the Building Code Act, 1992.

Clause 8(2)(a) is the provision that tells a chief building official to refuse a permit where the proposed work “will contravene this Act, the building code or any other applicable law.” So the municipal building permit cannot issue until the Ministry has approved the child care plans. Not “should not.” Cannot.

What the Ministry wants to see at application

Section 13(1) requires evidence, at the time of application, that the premises complies with municipal health laws, orders of the board of health and the medical officer of health, fire-hazard by-laws, building by-laws passed under the Planning Act, the Building Code, O. Reg. 213/07 (the Fire Code), and the Safe Drinking Water Act, 2002 where applicable. Section 13(3) closes the loop: “A licensee shall ensure that a premises complies with the matters listed in subsection (1) at all times.”

Read that as a diligence list. Fire, health, building, water. Ask the seller for the current fire inspection, the health unit’s most recent report, the occupancy documentation, and — where the premises is not on a municipal supply — the drinking water records. “At all times” means a lapse is a live compliance issue, not a historical one, and on a share purchase it arrives with the corporation.

New septic and safety barrier rules land on 1 January 2027

O. Reg. 197/26 adds requirements that take effect 1 January 2027. New s. 24.1 prohibits any septic system access point within the outdoor play space, and requires any access point elsewhere on the premises to be inaccessible to children, secured to Building Code requirements, and to include “a secondary safety device.” New s. 24.2 adds a safety barrier requirement. Section 14(2) is replaced so that plans submitted for approval must show septic access points and safety barrier locations.

There is a transition worth knowing if you are buying an existing centre: s. 24.1(1)(a) “does not apply until July 1, 2027 in respect of a centre that was licensed before January 1, 2027.” So a centre licensed before the start of 2027 gets until the middle of that year on that particular requirement. If you are buying a centre on a private septic system, this is a capital item to price now, not a surprise to absorb later.

Zoning is a separate permission, and the Ministry does not grant it

A licence does not zone a property. In Toronto, Zoning By-law 569-2013 defines “Day Nursery” in Chapter 800 and treats it as a conditional permission in some commercial zones rather than an outright permitted use — in the Commercial Local (CL) zone, day nurseries appear among the uses permitted only if they comply with specific conditions. That is the kind of detail that does not show up on a map.

The City is blunt about the interaction: even if a building permit is not required, compliance with the zoning by-law is required; and even with no construction proposed, a change of use requires a building permit. The City also warns that some properties remain subject to former municipal by-laws and that some provisions of 569-2013 are under appeal and not in full force and effect. Never conclude a use is permitted on the strength of the interactive map. Get a zoning condition in the offer and get a written City review behind it.

One environmental point belongs here too. Under O. Reg. 153/04, a change from a commercial use to an institutional use is a prescribed trigger for filing a record of site condition. Whether a particular child care conversion is such a change is a question for a qualified person and for your lawyer, not for a broker and not for the vendor’s listing. If you are converting commercial space, ask the question early — the environmental clauses in your offer are how you buy the time to answer it.

Accessibility: the outdoor and exterior rules are the ones that bite

The Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation’s Design of Public Spaces requirements apply to public spaces “newly constructed or redeveloped,” and “redeveloped” is defined as “planned significant alterations to public spaces, but does not include maintenance activities, environmental mitigation or environmental restoration.” So a repaint does not engage it; a planned significant alteration does. The covered spaces include outdoor play spaces, exterior paths of travel, and accessible off-street parking. Small organizations came under the schedule on 1 January 2018 and large organizations on 1 January 2017.

Note the boundary. Design of Public Spaces governs the listed public spaces, not the inside of your building — interior barrier-free requirements sit in the Building Code, and that is a question for your designer and the chief building official. Separately, if your business ends up with twenty or more employees, the next accessibility compliance report deadline is 31 December 2026.

How I read a child care premises

Plan first, licence second, price third. I want the floor plan with room-by-room areas, the licence with its capacity and age groups, the outdoor space measured and photographed with the fence height, the fire and health inspections, and the permit history. Then I do the arithmetic in s. 16(1) and s. 24 myself and see whether it produces the number on the licence. If it does not, either there is a director’s approval behind the difference, or the capacity you are paying for is not there.

Frequently asked questions

How much indoor space does a child care centre need per child?

At least 2.8 square metres of unobstructed floor space for each child in a licensed infant, toddler, preschool or family age group, and at least 2.58 square metres for each child in a licensed kindergarten, primary/junior school age or junior school age group. Both are calculated on licensed capacity, not current enrolment, and “unobstructed” excludes fixed obstructions. That is O. Reg. 137/15, s. 16(1).

Can the outdoor play space be a rooftop or a nearby park?

Section 24(3) requires the outdoor play space to be “at ground level and adjacent to the premises, unless otherwise approved by a director.” So a rooftop terrace or a public park down the street is not what the regulation contemplates, though there is a discretion. The requirement is at least the equivalent of 5.6 square metres per child based on licensed capacity where the program runs six hours or more in a day. Do not buy on the assumption a discretion will be exercised in your favour.

How high does the playground fence have to be?

For infant, toddler, preschool and family age groups, the outdoor play space must be “fenced to a minimum height of 1.2 metres and the fence is furnished with one or more gates that are securely closed at all times.” Above a licensed capacity of 64, the space may be divided by a fence provided no fenced-in area is used for more than 64 children at one time. Measure the existing fence; 1.2 metres is not a tall fence and older installations often fall short.

Do I need a permit before Ministry approval, or after?

After. Section 14(1) of O. Reg. 137/15 prohibits commencing the erection, use, alteration or renovation of a building for use as a child care centre until plans are approved by a director, and that approval is designated applicable law in the Building Code for the purposes of clause 8(2)(a) of the Building Code Act, 1992. The municipality cannot issue the permit until the Ministry has approved the child care plans. Sequence it that way or your fit-out schedule will not hold.

Does the centre I am buying have to meet the current Building Code washroom ratios?

Not necessarily, and you should not assume it does. Building Code application depends on when the building was built, when permits were issued, and whether a change of use is involved. Ontario replaced O. Reg. 332/12 with a Code based on the National Building Code of Canada 2020, in force 1 January 2025 with a transition to 31 March 2025. A long-established centre may lawfully differ from the current table. The chief building official determines what applies.

What do the new 2027 rules require?

O. Reg. 197/26 adds s. 24.1 and s. 24.2, effective 1 January 2027. Section 24.1 prohibits a septic system access point within the outdoor play space and requires any access point on the premises to be inaccessible to children, secured to Building Code requirements, and to include a secondary safety device. Section 24.2 adds a safety barrier requirement, and s. 14(2) is replaced so plans must show septic access points and safety barrier locations. For a centre licensed before 1 January 2027, s. 24.1(1)(a) does not apply until 1 July 2027.

Is a day nursery permitted as of right in Toronto commercial zones?

Not generally. Zoning By-law 569-2013 defines “Day Nursery” in Chapter 800, and in the Commercial Local (CL) zone day nurseries fall among the uses permitted only if they comply with specific conditions. Site-specific exceptions in Chapter 900 can also override the base zone, some properties remain under former municipal by-laws, and some provisions of 569-2013 are under appeal. Get a written City zoning review; never rely on the interactive map alone.

What lighting and temperature standards apply?

Artificial illumination must be “at the level of at least 55 dekalux” under s. 22 of O. Reg. 137/15, and the temperature must be “maintained at a level of at least 20 degrees Celsius” under s. 23. These sound trivial until an older space with poor lighting or a unit with heating supplied through a landlord’s system fails on them. Both are worth checking against the lease’s HVAC and utility obligations before you commit.

Sources

• Ontario e-Laws — O. Reg. 137/15 (General) under the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014
• Ontario e-Laws — Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, S.O. 2014, c. 11, Sched. 1
• Ontario e-Laws — Building Code, O. Reg. 332/12 (Table 3.7.4.3.I; Article 3.7.1.3)
• Ontario e-Laws — Building Code Act, 1992, S.O. 1992, c. 23
• Government of Ontario — 2024 Ontario Building Code
• Government of Ontario — Apply for or renew a child care licence
• City of Toronto — When Do I Need a Building Permit?
• Ontario e-Laws — Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation, O. Reg. 191/11

This is general professional commentary from a Broker of Record on commercial and business acquisitions in Ontario. It is not legal, tax or accounting advice, and it does not create any professional relationship. Whether a licence transfers, how a purchase should be structured, what tax applies and what a regulator will require on your particular file are questions for your lawyer, your accountant and the regulator itself. Rules, fees and published requirements change — verify anything you intend to rely on against the primary source on the day you rely on it.