Overview

Early childhood centres located on Crown-owned land must have a Property Occupancy Document (POD). A POD sets forth the terms and conditions of a centre's use of ministry property.

Historically, the ministry has had several different ECC PODs. At present, the ministry's policy is to standardise ECC PODs so that every ECC is on one of three PODs: 1.) Licence to Occupy, 2.) Lease, or 3.) Stand Alone Lease. The applicable POD depends upon whether the centre is located on or off a school site and whether the ministry or the centre owns, or partially owns, the building.

Centres located on school sites

Two types of PODs apply to centres that are located on school sites. If the ministry owns, or partially owns, the centre's building, then the ECC POD: Licence to Occupy should be used. If the centre owns the building, and the centre needs to lease only the land from the ministry, then the ECC POD: Lease should be used.

Click here for more information about the terms and conditions of these PODs.

Stand alone centres

Stand alone centres are located on Crown-owned land and housed in ministry-owned buildings, although the centre may have a partial equity interest in the building. Most stand alone centres were established prior to adoption of the Education Act in 1989 which implemented the Tomorrow's Schools initiative.

Stand alone centres may be located on school sites, but are separate from the school and are not included on the school's POD with the ministry. Stand alone centres may also be next to or separate from a school.

The ministry is implementing a new long-term lease for stand alone centres. Click here for more information about stand alone centres.