paying back a deposit

[lakey100]

my daughter is a childminder and recently started minding a small baby. she always asks for a deposit which is used to cover 1 months payments if the child leaves as the parent has to give 1 months notice to take the child out. the parent of the baby decided to take her child out after less than 4 weeks as her working hours had changed but she did not put it in writing to my daughter so therefore it rendered the deposit non refundable as she did not give written notice. she even signed to say she understood the rules on giving notice and the deposit. she is now threatening to take my daughter to the small claims court for the money. my daughter has all the correct paperwork and signatures but is understandably very upset by this as she does not have the money as she has had to use it to pay her bills. any advice please?

[PhilTilson]

Just a quick point on the small claims court threat: don't worry about it! It's highly unlikely that it will ever occur, and even if it did, the worst that is going to happen is that she will be ordered to repay the deposit. So tell them to go whistle!

[THECORBYLOON]

" The contract states 'deposit held until termination of contracts' (so I can understand how she has misunderstood and thinks she gets it back, but that misunderstanding is surely her problem, not mine,-she should have read all her paperwork correctly, not just that one sentence?). 'Deposit held until termination of contracts' does not mean that it is returned to the parent."

If you can understand why she believes the deposit should be paid back then you agree that the contract is ambiguous which hardly helps you does it?.

[cm13]

'If you can understand why she believes the deposit should be paid back then you agree that the contract is ambiguous which hardly helps you does it?.'

No maybe not, but like I said maybe she should read all the paperwork, not just one sentence. There's not space on the contracts (provided by my insurance company) for me to write out every different eventuality of what may happen with the deposit, and that's why I have policies, which all go in to detail- and clearly state that she does not get it back.

[tigwig]

Hi, I am a childminder and I'm a little confused to be honest (doesnt take much lol). Are you saying that you arent returning her deposit because she didnt give you 4 weeks written notice? If so, how much notice did she give you? If she had have given 4 weeks written notice then I take it its your policy to refund that money back? As presumably she would have already paid the usual monthly fees until a leaving date.
I just do things a little different thats all. I charge a deposit when a place is confirmed (which is half the usual months fees). However this is deducted off the first months fees meaning obviously I dont get to keep it as extra. I also insist on 4 weeks written notice but my fees are charged at the beginning of the month in advance so if someone did just take their child out then they would have already paid me. Unless of course they did so just before paying the next months fees then I would take legal action with the NCMA.

[ojread2]

the deposit was used to pay the notice period that other wise would have remained unpaid

[cm13]

tigwig, I hold my deposits and use them to pay for the final month. Sort of as a security measure incase a parent just disappears just as the next months fees are due.

[ojread2]

And it isn't an extra either tig
TBH (as an ex minder myself) using it towards the first months fees could find you in a situation whereby you dont get your notice period paid
I'd rethink my policy on that if I were you