Moving house after accepting primary school place?

[School200]

Hi all, bit of a hypothetical situation at the moment but would appreciate any insight.

Backstory is DH, DC and I currently live with my parents and have been for the last 10 years. I met DH abroad and my parents have very graciously let us live with them while we go through the costly and lengthy immigration process for DH to get his British nationality hopefully later this year. We’ve been able to save for a house deposit of some sort and contribute to household bills and all grocery shopping while my parents near retirement so it works well for us all.

DC has been offered a place at our first choice school to start this September and we were also hoping that this year would be when we were able to move out and buy a house of our own. However since the cost of living crisis we are not able to get a big enough mortgage anymore so are now instead looking to rent. No great urgency at the moment but maybe in the next 3-6 months and also open to all areas both in and out of primary school catchment area. But I’ve read conflicting things online that if you change address within the first year of starting primary that the place could be withdrawn?

If for instance we find a rental property this summer and move before DC starts could this be an issue? Is it better to delay moving until next year?

Very confused and know nothing much about this process at all so any replies would be so helpful!

Forgot to add we are based in Birmingham so don’t know if that makes any difference with the LA and their policies etc.

What they are looking for is people who temporarily move to catchment and then move out when a place is offered.

Whilst you don’t fit this criteria - you should consider your child being part of the community and having friends local to play with.

Also don’t rent when you can buy even a smaller house will rise in value, rent is wasted money.

@Itsanotherhreatday Thank you for your reply. We would like to stay in the same area is possible as you said we’ve been here a while and DC has already made friends from nursery most of whom are going to the primary school in question. It’s just we have no idea exactly where we are going to end up and we really thought we would be able to move out this year. I stupidly assumed that once your child starts at reception the place is yours and you could move around?

Totally agree with you on the renting front but the amount of mortgage we could get right now isn’t enough to buy even half a house!!

You are allowed to move house.

They are bothered by fraudulent applications where someone moves to a rental property next to a school then back to a house they own where they used to live for example. Or a grandparents house they never lived in.