Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Buy BTL house for postcode for secondary? Please help

331 replies

Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:26

Please tell me if I got it right or wrong in my head! I think there is probably something I have not considered well.

We live in a house which we bought and we have a mortgage.

We have saved around £100k which we can use for a deposit for another house.

Our kids are early KS1 years but we don't have a good comp secondary around - we live in a heavy grammar area.

Would it be a strategic move to buy a second property close to a good comp secondary, have a buy-to-let mortgage on it , and use this address for the secondary applications? It will work well for most grammars anyway.

Would it matter that someone else would live in there as the mortgage would be buy-to-let? If we get a place to that school we will move there but since the primary is next door to our house we wouldn't like to move from now. And we don't want the money to sit in our account forever.

This house would be used from us as a back-up if our kids won't do well in the grammar results.

AIBU - There is something I am missing and we can't use an address that someone else lives even if we own that property

AINBU - You can use the address of your hypothetical BTL property

OP posts:
DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:12

FatMumSlimDad · 15/12/2023 15:34

You need to do like the rest of us do and move house before Year 6.

You put your current address (that the primary school has, that you LIVE at) on your secondary application.

If you're capable of affording 2 houses and 2 mortgages though then why not look at private schools?

you don't even have to move house.

CormorantStrikesBack · 15/12/2023 16:14

Send them to private school. You can afford to.

thankfully many schools will want to see all the bills, etc in your name at this address

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 16:14

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:11

Renting a home isn't a crime.

Thing is though that schools do check and rescind places on the basis of this if they find out. Sometimes they can do this after school has started and then there may be no school place.

Also imagine if you wanted a school for your child and lost out to a child one road closer who it turns out didn't actually live there but lived half an hour away. Would it be a case of 'fair play to them' or would you dob them in. Most parents would do the latter.

kids talk - first day of year 7 someone may ask the child where they live. The child may respond that they live in other town. The other parents then find out, the teachers then find out, the head then finds out, the local authority then find out. The parents of said child then find out they no longer have a school to go to.

Mummyratbag · 15/12/2023 16:15

I know you are not from the UK and you have graciously acknowledged this is wrong, but my tuppence worth...

We are hoping for an out of catchment secondary, we have feeder school and sibling attending on our side, but due to a nearby school consistently failing ofsted it's oversubscribed. We wouldn't dream of doing anything underhand, but when I spoke to the admissions officer for advice on our chances, he warned me that they track/chase down every dodgy application and said that friendships have been lost over it. I don't doubt it I would be furious if we lost a place due to someone lying and would be tempted to use it at appeal. Also there is a housing shortage in this country so posting about buying up houses which you intend to leave empty is going to get you a backlash too!

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:17

You rent it long enough to cover checks. Life isn't fair - schools aren't equal.

Familia mea, mea fortitudo.

A

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 15/12/2023 16:18

CormorantStrikesBack · 15/12/2023 16:14

Send them to private school. You can afford to.

thankfully many schools will want to see all the bills, etc in your name at this address

Edited

Yep, it’s staggering that OP seems to want best of both worlds, buying a BTL with sizeable savings but not paying for private education (why not get a free grammar place instead?!).

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:18

Vade ad Victor Spolia

Roundycippae · 15/12/2023 16:19

Our cities schools are all good, or very good. Because people send their child to the local school - and you realistically get a choice of 2 out of the 7/8 state secondaries available.
My kids have friends whose parents are GPs, pilots, actors, teachers, cleaners, cabbies, tradies, carers, or don’t work at all.

like real life, they’re mixed in with people from all backgrounds.

The people who can’t face their kids being in education with kids from the estate use the handful of ( not that great, really overpriced
) private schools. Maybe you should OP, probably cheaper than buying a spare hse that you don’t need in attempt to fool an admissions team who will have seen it all before…

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 16:21

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:17

You rent it long enough to cover checks. Life isn't fair - schools aren't equal.

Familia mea, mea fortitudo.

A

I am guessing you wouldn't be saying 'fair play so well done them' if someone pulling this trick means your child loses their place to a school within walking distance and ends up with a trip on two busses and a 20 min walk to get to school. At a guess you would be phoning the local authority to complain that your child missed out due to fraud and demanding your child gets a place. Can't have it both ways.

if there are only a certain number of places and too many children then by someone cheating the system it means someone else who would have been entitled loses out

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:23

Have you seen how few children pass 5 GCSEs?

DeltaAlphaDelta79 · 15/12/2023 16:25

LeaveBritneyAlone · 15/12/2023 16:03

@DeltaAlphaDelta79 can I ask how you got into that line of work? I’m in an industry that bores the crap out of me. Looking for a new direction!

Ill do an AMA 😁

andHelenknowsimmiserablenow · 15/12/2023 16:25

Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:53

I came here for some serious advice. When I started the thread I didn't have a clue about all this.

Please try to help and don't be judgemental. I am not stupid enough to do something illegal, I am just trying to understand the options.

So, what people do? If we relocate on time, then we would have to live to this property for the duration of year 6 essentially? So to move the summer before the applications?

And as I have a younger kid who would be year 3 in our current primary, would I have to drive 30' back and forth everyday for this year?

Is this what people do to secure a good school for their kids?

We live in a great primary school catchment area road, but just a tiny bit out of the catchment area for the secondary school.
Many people buy in our road to get their kids into the primary school and then, when the eldest is in year 5, sell up and move to the catchment area of the secondary school, even if that means driving back to the primary school every day for the younger ones, knowing their sibling place at the secondary school is already in place.
There are other people who do what you proposed with a buy to let property, but believe me, you may face hostility from other school parent neighbours whos kids have missed out on the catchment of the secondary school, when they find out yours got a place fraudulently. They might even report you for it.

Kwasi · 15/12/2023 16:27

Rent a place for 6 months in the secondary catchment area. One family at DS's school successfully did this.

2023forme · 15/12/2023 16:28

We did as @DragonMama3 said. We are in Scotland so no grammar schools but the secondary school close to where we lived was dire - one of the worst performing in Scotland with a lot of gang related violence etc.

we rented in the area of a decent school (didn’t necessarily want “the best” school, just somewhere where the likelihood of DC getting stabbed was lower!) and rented out our house.

we did need to show council tax, lease etc to secure a place as DC were at a different feeder primary. Once place secured, we bought a house in school catchment area.

It was a stressful process and a lot of faffing about with moving etc, but worth it to get DC into decent school.

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 16:28

my local authority have got rid of sibling priority above local children as so many were moving into area for child one and then moving back out in the belief subsequent children would all get a place.

lots of upset parents on facebook with 'how am I meant to get two children to school when they are 40 mins apart' posts come selection day

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 16:30

2023forme · 15/12/2023 16:28

We did as @DragonMama3 said. We are in Scotland so no grammar schools but the secondary school close to where we lived was dire - one of the worst performing in Scotland with a lot of gang related violence etc.

we rented in the area of a decent school (didn’t necessarily want “the best” school, just somewhere where the likelihood of DC getting stabbed was lower!) and rented out our house.

we did need to show council tax, lease etc to secure a place as DC were at a different feeder primary. Once place secured, we bought a house in school catchment area.

It was a stressful process and a lot of faffing about with moving etc, but worth it to get DC into decent school.

but the difference is you then bought a house in catchment so stayed in the area and lived in the rented house.

DragonMama said rent a house and you don't actually have to move into it i.e. a fraudulent address which you do not live in but just put down for the application

that is the difference.

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:31

@2023forme Don't blame you.

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:32

I didn't say not to live in @forgotmyusername1

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 16:32

what 2023 did is fine. rented in an area as main address, lived there and then bought once place secured. That is playing by the rules

what is not playing by the rules is using an address you don't live at and have no intention of living at to get a school place. that is fraud.

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:32

Rent implies quiet enjoyment of said property.

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:33

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 16:28

my local authority have got rid of sibling priority above local children as so many were moving into area for child one and then moving back out in the belief subsequent children would all get a place.

lots of upset parents on facebook with 'how am I meant to get two children to school when they are 40 mins apart' posts come selection day

Would that not be karma?

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 16:33

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:12

you don't even have to move house.

Show quote history

yes you did

you said rent a house in the area for a few months and you don't even have to move house. It is exactly what you said.

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:36

I said rent a house. If I'm paying rent - I'm going to live at that property.

DragonMama3 · 15/12/2023 16:36

I meant you don't need to dispose of the other home. People move home out of school catchment areas.

usernother · 15/12/2023 16:39

Borth · 15/12/2023 13:32

The house your are registered at on the electoral roll will be the one the LA uses.

Not always. Some people get themselves put on the council tax at other addresses and get caught.