advice needed please emergency relocation

[barley2]

This is a bit random which is why I'm totally stuck- any advice would be great!
DD has a place for Reception in a great school where we have been living for the last 4 years. In July we purchased a house really near the school but have discovered a major and complicated problem with it that is a danger to our health.....
As a result we are living with relatives about 40 mins away, we both work and there is no way relatives can take dd to school every day as well as look after small ds.
We have applied to local authority where relatives live but they are very reluctant to process our application due to the circumstances. I do not want to live in the property we bought even though problems will be eventually fixed and I am not looking for her to go to a specific school, just one she can get too.
It's all been a nightmare really and this seems very unfair on dd as she's coped well with all the change and upset in the house. She's been really looking forward to school :(

[hellymelly]

Blimey.What is up with the house? Are you intending to get another house in that same area? does she have to start this term?

[prh47bridge]

If she goes to a school near your relatives house you will lose the place currently allocated. If you then end up moving back to the area you used to live you are likely to find that your daughter ends up at an unpopular school.

If the unsafe house is your permanent address you can apply through your current LA (i.e. where your house is) for a place at a school in the LA where you are currently living with your relatives. The LA where you are living will be able to tell you which schools have places available. Apply for one of them and they will have to give you the place.

On the other hand if you are using your relatives house as your permanent address you should kick up a fuss with the LA where you are currently living. You live there. They therefore have to process your application. Don't take no for an answer. Ask to speak to the Admissions Manager. If that doesn't get you anywhere threaten to refer them to the Local Government Ombudsman. I would imagine they are worried that this is somehow a fraudulent application, i.e. you are using the address of your relatives in an attempt to get into a school even though you don't actually live there. However, from your post that clearly isn't the situation. You are genuinely living with your relatives.

[LIZS]

Would insurance not cover you having to rent elsewhere locally if the problem is structural, at elast while it is resolved ?

[aftereight]

Can you rent a house local to the school you have a place at/ new house with problems? Am assuming the work on the new house to put it right will be covered by insurance or suing the previous owners for non-disclosure etc, in which case your rent would be covered too.

It would be a terrible Shane to lose the place by taking a place at a school near relatives for a relatively short period of time.
Good luck, sounds v stressful.

[aftereight]

*Shame

[barley2]

Thanks so much for your advice everyone- the problems with the house are bizarre and involve asbestos and badgers' setts (!!) and so are another complicated battle in themselves and hence why I'm quite so desperate to at least get the school problem sorted. The issue also cannot easily be resolved or covered by insurance and so renting is not an option;(
I think I will up the anti in kicking up a fuss with relatives LA - I have actually confronted them in their insinuation that I would make this problem up as a way to get DD into one of their precious schools- very arrogant especially as original school is in a borough rated for excellent schools and has outstanding Ofsted results, lovely community feel etc etc....

[hellymelly]

We had asbestos,but not badgers. Had it in the artex (niiice) ceiling in our attic room and had the whole thing removed.I still mull over just how thorough they were though. Did it not show up on your survey? If not maybe you could sue?

[yellowsubmarine41]

I was just wondering why such major problems weren't picked up in a survey.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Can you get a childminder near the school and you take your dd to the cm and the cm do the school run. Not ideal I know, depends how long it will take to sort it all out.

[PettyCoat]

When does DD turn 5? Could you defer her entry to reception for a term whilst the house is fixed and send her to a childminder near your relatives for that time?

[Saracen]

I was going to suggest the same thing as PettyCoat. You can keep your daughter out of school and defer her start for at least a term, longer if she turns five on or after 1 January. That lets you keep hold of the school place you've been offered.

If you sent her to school elsewhere for a little while, you'd lose the place you've already been offered (assuming the school is oversubscribed).