Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Renting in school catchment area temporarily

202 replies

3weeksuntilwine · 08/03/2018 20:48

I’m prepared to be told I’m unreasonable and potentially planning something illegal...

We live on the catchment boundary of a really good primary school and my DD is due to start reception in September 2019. We are currently looking at houses and hoping to move a couple of miles to get into the catchment completely but there’s nothing on the market at the moment and we haven’t sold our house. I’m aware the application process will start in autumn.

Would it be unreasonable to rent a flat for a few months in the catchment area from September 18 and use the rental address on the application? The dodgy bit is that we would continue to live where we are now. My crazy thought is that we’d have a short term lease and if we still haven’t sold/moved then stay in current house until something comes up...(so keep the rental for a few months only)

I know this sounds crazy but we also have two younger kids who would be going to school a couple of years later. If we didn’t get into this school, we would have to consider a fee paying school for the eldest as other schools locally aren’t great. The big cost outlay now would be far cheaper than sending all three to private school.

Am I considering a fraudulent act?
Has anyone done anything similar?
If the majority agree this is an ok plan, are there any flaws in it?
Tia

OP posts:
VileyRose · 09/03/2018 07:39

This is wrong. And unfair.

Iamagreyhoundhearmeroar · 09/03/2018 07:46

The "randomly selected one" very probably has parents who deliberately chose to live in catchment also, RoadtoRivendell, but did so transparently, without the skullduggery op was contemplating?
Very strange post Hmm

anxiousmumtobe33 · 09/03/2018 07:51

This won't be a popular answer on MN, as many posts are about being close to 'good schools' - but I honestly believe if your kids just go to the local school for the area you currently live in they'll be absolutely fine.

And I say that as an ex teacher. My DC's school application is literally just the four closest schools to our house.

Moving to be near 'good schools' creates sink schools. And we're all responsible for that.

vespertillio · 09/03/2018 07:51

For everyone being so sanctimonious - as we all know, house prices are more expensive in the catchment areas of popular schools, so even buying a house in the catchment area gives what so many of you call an 'unfair' advantage. Good luck OP, sounds like you should move into the place in the catchment though.

TammyWhyNot · 09/03/2018 07:56

KERALA spot on. And the more middle class parents clamour for ‘the one’, the more deeply the schools’s respective reputation and desirability is entrenched. And so it goes on....

KERALA1 · 09/03/2018 07:59

It can be quite an average school in terms of management/staff. But if it has the right demographic - thats what many people want.

Its easy to scoff and be "right on" but middle class people would prefer Amelia's friends parents were professional people with up together lives rather than chaotic drug users or people with low expectations/don't value education themselves.

ThatIsNachoCheese · 09/03/2018 08:00

Op I know two people who did this to get into a primary school that links to an outstanding secondary.
First one rented and still had old house and lived between the two. Second one had her house on the market for about 6 months before applying and rented a house while hers was still on the market as it wasn't selling.

Because she could prove her house had been on the market for a significant amount of time they were fine with it. Both families got their kids into the school they wanted.
I can't begin to get my knickers in a twist about it but that might be because my kids are older now so I don't have to care about shit like this any more!

NeverTwerkNaked · 09/03/2018 08:10

I wouldn’t commit fraud to get into an ostensibly better school. It’s just ridiculous.
People used to go to all kind of crazy lengths to get their children into my secondary school because it got good results. Fact is there were actually a lot of quite crap teachers, but there were enough parents prepared to send their children to tutors and this masked how average the school actually was. I was predicted a d for maths and a c for English, then my parents paid for tutors and i got A’s in both.
(Also got two first class degrees now, so think I genuinely had the ability to get good grades, the teachers were just rubbish)

my2bundles · 09/03/2018 08:11

Be prepared because other parents who lose out on place due to situations like this will report it.

RedForFilth · 09/03/2018 08:18

If we didn’t get into this school, we would have to consider a fee paying school for the eldest as other schools locally aren’t great sounds like you could afford it if you're even considering it so you'll have to do that.

My main issue with this is the lack of housing we have and you're going to take a home away from someone and not even live there.

TammyWhyNot · 09/03/2018 08:19

The thing is, though, KERALA, that a mixed school can absorb a wide range of demographic. The vast majority of families in deprived , or ‘rough’ or council estate areas are simply ordinary families living decent lives and doing their best as parents. If there is a genuine diversity of students the minority of kids from chaotic, underachieving families can be absorbed without affecting the performance of focussed high achievers. It is the polarisation that is the problem.

Many mc parents seem to believe that most comps are teeming with feral thugs who will ‘eat their child for breakfast ‘.

(My DC are in a comp which serves a S London estate, families with private swimming pools, bohemian middle class and the occasional gang member. High FSM ratio, Outstanding school, good results for ALL abilities).

DailyMailareDicks · 09/03/2018 08:22

You would get caught. The council administer the applications. They also administer the council tax. You would be suggesting to them that you no longer live in the nice big house that no one else is living, and instead cramming your 3 kids in to a tiny flat. They would know the house is not let out, as no one else would be paying council tax while living there. Next step, they knock on your door at tea time, 3 kids under 5 make a lot of noise. You'll answer the door with a glass of wine in one hand and a stressed face, the enquiry officer will ask how long have you been living across 2 houses and at that point you will realise your not supposed to be here. You should have been living in the tiny flat, feeding your kids Pom bears and hotdogs. Rumbled.

Don't even try it, unless you genuinely move in to the flat until you can find the right house.

NeverTwerkNaked · 09/03/2018 08:25

I agree Tammy . My son goes to a school which has a very poor estate as a large part of its catchment. We haven’t had a single incident of bullying. Whereas friends who scrabbled to get their children into then “naice” school have complained of bullying regularly.

Lalliella · 09/03/2018 08:37

OP I’m going to go against the flow here and say go for it. Yes it’s probably a bit wrong, but so what? You’re just doing the best for your children. And you want to live in that area ultimately so it’s only a temporary white lie. Round here we have grammar schools stuffed to the gills with middle class kids whose parents have paid for tuition and many of whom get bussed in from miles around. It’s wrong, but we do all we can for our kids.

You need to be very careful about the rules though. Look into what proof you have to give. For example being on the electoral role, council tax bills and so on. And there might be a minimum residency requirement. So it might be better to get the rental property sooner rather than later, and keep it at least until your child is at school.

Kikashi · 09/03/2018 08:45

I've known people who have done this. Check the application rules very carefully - some LA's say you have to have lived at the address you apply from for 12 months before application. With some you have to be at the same address when your DC starts the school (there may be a home visit before reception) with others you only have to meet the address requirements on the date you apply.

Some one I knew actually told people she had split with her partner and then reconciled to explain the short rental period in the catchment.

If you do it don't tell people your plan - someone might rat on you. Rent as close to the school as you can get.The first primary my eldest went to only had 30 places and there were 26 siblings who had priority one year and the fight/appeal for places was truly frantic.

DenPerry · 09/03/2018 08:45

Hmm.. we just moved house a few months ago and applied for the school, genuinely living in the area. But still own our old flat in a different area and still paying council tax as not rented yet! Hope that doesn't cause a problem..

KERALA1 · 09/03/2018 08:46

God am not saying at all that naice middle class schools have no bullying quite the reverse. Or that what I said is what I think. I went to a basic comp and bullying and drugs at my friends private school were a hundred times worse than at mine. It's perception and why people get so exercised about the "right" school hence the op presumably a law abiding person contemplating fraud. Powerful stuff

TammyWhyNot · 09/03/2018 08:47

OP: in our borough and the neighbouring they check Council Tax and electoral roll. For a recent ‘nearby’ move they would check to see if you still own your house. And they use that as your application address. They pulled several kids out of the playground and withdrew their places in one case.

TammyWhyNot · 09/03/2018 08:50

YY, Kerala, understood that you were giving an (accurate, IMO) account of the motives of others.

ChocolateWombat · 09/03/2018 09:23

Denperry, that is exactly the kind of information which will be thrown up in the checking. They will investigate if it the 2 properties are fairly close to each other and it would be possible to commute to current and applied for school from original address. Many councils stipulate that the 1st house needs to have been sold, evidence of living in the rented and 12-24 months (depending on council) lease agreement signed. Having 2 sets of council tax linked to your name will trigger an investigation into it.

ChocolateWombat · 09/03/2018 09:29

I see there are more people saying to do it, justified by 'doing the best for their kid' with zero mention or recognition that their family doesn't live in a bubble and their choices affect other families and children. Again, people find it more convenient and less challenging to see it as doing so wing for their own family rather than considering another family who may have lived in the area for many years, attended the local schools and met the criteria who will be pushed out by these fraudulent actions.....but again, it seems some people won't even consider this becaue it's pretty uncomfortable thinking, or simply decide they don't care and their desires are more important.

This isn't a victimless crime. I think this a key thing for people to be aware of. You might not like the word crime, because when you plan to break the rules, you don't like to really think you are doing something wrong, but there very clearly are victims who are specific families and children, due to specific actions of others. Worth thinking about....but ignored by many because perhaps that would make it harder to live with and people like to justify their wrong choices.

gussyfinknottle · 09/03/2018 09:34

My dd didn't get her first choice. Catchment line this year was drawn about 300 m away. If some entitled parent faked their way in, I would be very angry.
Op you risk people sussing your fraud out and telling the authorities. Because most people have experience of this on the sharp end. Either their own kids or friends and family.

ChocolateWombat · 09/03/2018 09:40

It's not a victimless crime.

It is clearly against the rules and clearly has a direct impact on others. Saying you are putting your family first is one thing, but this is taken to an entirely new level when it affects other families too.

Anyone considering this, remember it is not a victimless choice to make.

Ski4130 · 09/03/2018 09:41

It's morally wrong, as is suddenly finding your faith to get your kids into a faith school.

GoSuckAFart · 09/03/2018 09:46

its folks like you OP, with the money, the means, to fiddle the system that means folk like me are offered a primary school that isnt in our catchment because its been oversubscribed.

Don't be a dick OP. Do the same as everyone else. If you want your choice of school then pay for it or appeal whatever school you are offered.

Swipe left for the next trending thread