Nursery issue: non refundable deposit of £1000.

[kgb777]

Is this a normal practice for a private nursery to retain full £1000 deposit?
In november 2011 we looked for a nursery for our 2 y.o daughter and found an afternoon place available from September 2012 in Noting Hill, London.
They have asked for £1000 deposit to secure the place and to sign terms and cons. We have sent the cheque during the same month. Unfortunately in June 2012 we had to move and our new home is far away from the nursery in Noting-Hill. On 1st July we notified the nursery that we wont require the place any longer and that our daughter is not going to start with them from September 2012.
I understand that there are some admin fees to be covered but i hoped that we will be able to recover at least some money from the original £1000 deposit.
Turns out this is not the case and ' no longer kind and friendly' nursery manager advised me that i have signed terms and cons, where i have agreed for full £1000 to remain with the nursery....
Please can someone tell me if you had a similar experience as £1000 is a lot of money for our family.
thank you

It might be legal but it is immoral and I think you can be glad your child hasn't ended up there as clearly it is run by thieves and scoundrels.

sorry, you have paid a £1000 non refundable deposit in lieu of perhaps 4-6 weeks lost business in a private nursery, then you pull out and want your money back???

If they pulled out on you at last minute you wouldnt have been happy.

As said earlier on the thread catstail, its very unlikely the nursery has lost business. How many London nurseries do you know without a waiting list?

It was a signed contract though - with quite a common clause regarding deposit. They are being arsey though, as they will have a waiting list and be able to fill the position.

yes, it happened to me. For £200. I told them that I wanted half the money back, as I can understand that they were expecting my child to start. However, she did not start and as I let them know within two days of her not starting, I could not see how £200 in their pocket would resolve the issue.

I got half the money back.

being non-refundable is kind of the whole point of a deposit

fuck me that's expensive!

Hoping I have heard that about other countries having hugely subsidised childcare and hence far more women are able to work. I just don't understand why we can't use their models for childcare.

I paid £1900 for 2 children and paid £1000 deposit so for London it seems normal.
I would check terms and conditions and maybe the threat of legal action may get you half of it back? I

OP as your move is necessary do to flooding, perhaps recovery of the deposit will be possible via your insurance - certainly worth checking. If you have legal cover they may be able to help you too.

I pay over £800 per month for 3 days per week in London suburbs. The waiting lists are so long that I put DD's name (well baby Lambzig) down when I was 12 weeks pregnant and only got the days I wanted when she was 18 months old.

Currently pg with DC2 and seriously exploring with with medically and childcare qualified sister, the financing and logistics of opening a nursery instead of going back to my job after maternity leave.

These amounts are way more than I could earn.

One of the nurseries I am registered with has exactly the same policy - daylight robbery, but nursery places are scarce so you have little choice but to agree.

A friend of mine once signed a contract on a flat, then pulled out a few months before he was due to move in. The landlord refused to give back the deposit so he took legal action. In the end he got the deposit back minus the reasonable costs of the landlord to find a new tenant.

So agree with others that gave said just because it is in the contract does not mean you cannot get anything back.

It's perfectly legal. If it seems so unfair, why did you sign the contract?
You mention hoping nobody else is "trapped" like this; but you read the terms and conditions before signing, didn't you?

Floggingmolly -as others have said, good nurseries in london are like hen's teeth. You have to agree to their ludicrous terms or you wouldn't be able to go back to work at the end of ML.

I think the website that SuzysZoo quoted is really interesting:
It is clear from the guidance to the Regulations issued by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) that a genuine deposit, (like a reservation fee paid to secure a nursery place) can be kept by the operator as payment for the reservation but only if it is a small amount. It is a matter of judgment as to what amount is acceptable but if the deposit is of such a size that it could be regarded as an excessive payment to stop the parents from cancelling the nursery place then it may be a disguised penalty and won't be enforceable.

I think that £1000 for 5 afternoons of nursery could be regarded as excessive

I think the thing is that in notting hill and surrounding areas, to get a place in a nursery/ school, you have to be on the list from birth. So it is probably inconvient for them as those spaces were almost guaranteed to be full

( although I'm sure people moving into the area would jump at the chance)

Yes, same deposit here. It was made very clear on payment that it was non-refundable under any circumstances.

And someone mentioned a nanny.
A live in nanny in c London is around £450 net a week. Add tax and employers ni etc and that's £650 ish a week. That's £2600 a month. So only works out cheaper if multiple children

A live out nanny is higher

I had to fight tooth and nail to get dc3 into the local private nursery....I pestered them night and day for weeks and weeks before I even got her onto the waiting list (although they were nice enough not to charge me that particular £50!) and was quite happy to cough up the 1 month non-refundable deposit (£1200) after all that effort when she finally got a full time place. It becomes the last month's fees, subject to me giving sufficient notice, as and when she leaves, which seems completely reasonable.

Yes, I took an intake of breath before I paid it, but I knew damn well I wanted the place, so wasn't going to lose it at that point :)

And yes, it is bastard expensive but a) this is London and b) its a brilliant brilliant nursery and I just wish it had been available for my older dcs.....

Bloody hell.
I paid £25 deposit for the DDs' private nursery, credited to first month's fees but otherwise non-refundable. Fair enough. Fees for two per month were £770 - ok, that was 5 years ago and would now be about £1100, but still that is for 2, full time.

The nursery/out of school club (also private) where my DDs went until recently literally charge by the minute - you sign in and out on a computer and you are charged only for time used. The exception is the school transport (£2.75/day) because the bus still runs, but if your DC is off sick, you only pay for the bus, not for any care.

And yes, this place is hugely oversubscribed and utterly brilliant. All nurseries should be run like this. I understand that costs are much higher in London in terms of leases on buildings and rents etc., but someone is taking the piss down there!