Renting in catchment area and owning outside it

*owned address

Cauliflower our situation was exactly the same as yours, no intention of ever returning to the house that was tenanted, and indeed under offer when the LA started investigating me (and they treated me like I was a criminal btw). The Council honestly didn't give a scoobies what the situation was. We'd been overseas and returned to borough, rented house for 3+ years while we were away, then straight into new rented place.... they still used the owner address.....

Dunes i imagine as yoid have evidence of a long-term renter on your long-term rented out property and you having lived abroad until recently youd have a bit more of
A case.

Can I hijack?
We are a year behind you. Own a house. It has been rented for the past 4 years while we live abroad.
If we return in the summer, and rent a house in the same area (because we have long term tenants on 12 month repeat contracts, and will probably want something bigger on our return), and then apply for secondary, how will that look? It is almost certain the house we woukd rent would either be in a different catchment, or closer to catchment school, as we are right on the boundary currently.

It is nothing to do with last minute. If you had your house for sale / sold and was planning to rent until you saw a house you wanted to Buy, that’s fine. But you're not. Youre keeping your house you own and planning to rent in the catchment. Youve time before th cut off to get yours on the market and in some areqs even sell. But ours not. Youre trying to commit fraud. The reasons are not important. It is what it is.

Will you find somewhere to rent in time, OP? Tbh, I would have thought paying two lots of Council Tax to the same Council would be a red flag, I thought that was one of the things they check!

I applied for a reception place for my DD when we were renting and owned a house but there were a few hundred miles between the two residences!

It's not Ecclesbourne is it? I know their applications are scrutinised as it's so oversubscribed.

HaaaHaaaa that is good to know. There were no additional barriers beyond the address on the form. If anyone got upset and reported us as suspected frauds we’d have all the documents they’d need. I still might call again and check on Monday.

What happened with my BIL doesn't show that they were no additional barriers as he didn't attempt to get past the first barrier as he'd been rumbled.

But The rules are broadly, you can't own a house nearby and then rent in catchment.

You have had 6 years to move into the catchment of the infant/junior/secondary school. You have chosen not to, instead preferring your own house/location for whatever reason.

You now, late in the day, have realised that you might need to be in catchment to guarantee your preferred school.

You thus have 3 months to sell and rent to be properly within the rules. You're cutting it very fine. (Should have listened to your DH).

If it was so important for your son to stay with his peers, why didn’t you move earlier when your H suggested it? You would be cheating your way in.

Does anyone have any idea how I can prove to the LA that I’m not cheating my way in?
You are cheating your way in. Just because you think you have good reason to cheat doesn't mean you aren't, and also doesn't mean that the child you are cheating out of a place doesn't need the school more than you.

I don't see how you can prove that you don't intend to move back there. Keeping a house to give to your son in a decade whilst living in a rented house sounds like a classic admission fraud. You've left it too late for it to sound plausible.

I did an in year admission for a Derbyshire school and I had to provide loads of evidence.

I work in Derbyshire schools as a supply teacher and was surprised how often this sort of thing goes on. And how many people think they aren't doing it when they are.

Of course you're cheating! Don't kid yourself - it's not the emotional attachment to your current house - it's the moving elsewhere to secure a school place.

Don't just ask your LA btw - get it in writing.

But you are cheating
It wouldn’t matter how lovely your home was and how much it would break your heart to sell if you never intended to live in it again, would it?
That makes zero sense.
And unless you live in the last little bubble in the country where the LA hasn’t experienced people attempting to buck the system in exactly the same way you think you can; the house will be classed as your permanent address for admission purposes and your cunning little wheeze will come to naught.

It's risky. We moved out for a year while we were renovating our house, and had to apply for a secondary school place in that time. We used the address where we were currently living (rented), as instructed on the council website. A few months later we got a phone call from the LA, who had seen that we also owned a house, and had changed the address on our application to our permanent home. We were fine with this as we hadn't moved in order to be in a specific catchment area but for other reasons altogether - but you may find that you go through all that expense and upheaval for nothing.

Cross posts with Medi!

Of course lots of people move into catchment areas - hence house prices! However the vast majority dispose of the previous home. What you are doing, by renting out your old home, is not allowed, except when it is very clear the move is not for school places (eg old home in Scotland rented out, new one in Cornwall). Which is not the case here.

In reality some LAs are far more thorough than others. I wouldn't take the word of someone at the call centre though - they almost certainly won't have anything like the expert knowledge of the Code and how your LA interprets it. You need to get in writing exactly how they would deal with your situation, what evidence they would need. Then if there is a suggestion that your old address is used, or your place withdrawn, you have some documentation to appeal with.

Most LEAs will take the owned house as the official address (unless you've moved from Lands End to John O'Groats as cannot possibly commute form the owned address to the school).

And flipping addresses has been clamped down in by many, if not most, LEAs and consequently there is far less of it going on than there was.

However, it seems you live in one of the few remaining areas which does not go abiut it the normal way. But you still need the information you were given in the telephone in writing before you rely on it.