Buy BTL house for postcode for secondary? Please help

[Schoolhousemystery]

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

Not everyone tutors for grammars. We didn't tutor our DC and they got in by a country mile. We didn't move for the schools either. They were our closest schools. Not a lot of bother and hype for everyone. DC got stellar academic results there but I suspect they would have done in a bog standard comp too.

but why should op children go to the crap school? Whilst more working class kids get the privilege of a good school just because they live closer.

Why shouldn’t they?! That’s their catchment - why should they deprive a local child of a place at their nearby school simply because “Well I don’t qualify but I don’t want to go there anyway”.

OP has the enormous privilege of being able to move closer to the school but she doesn’t want to. Why should her kids get the advantage?

I love round the corner from our very good secondary - people like OP infuriate me. It’s v oversubscribed. We will probably get in but if we don’t it will 100% be because of cheats like the OP

Also the classism in this post is a load of wank - working class kids should get the shit schools further away? REALLY?

Why are you pretending you don’t understand what posters have said because it is not hard. You need to use your genuine address on applications. If you prefer schools in another location, you need to move house.

Oh right - sorry for the sweeping generalisation. My only knowledge of grammars comes from mn! From that extensive research it seems as though there's often a lot of preparation for the test. Fair enough of course if it's your local school but not sure why people bother if not. As you say, if they're going to get in easily they will most likely do well at a comp. If not, is it worth the hassle and expense for 1/3 of a grade and relative disadvantage for those with Oxbridge aspirations, I wonder 🤔

Nice try.

Sorry my post was in response to @UbiquitousPenguin

Says whom?

You do realise catchment is solely to keep the poorer children out. Tang Hall kids can't get into a good state.

@PostmansKnock a burner house! That's brilliant, proper made me laugh!

Stop trying to defraud the system OP, people who live there n the catchment area, deserve that place.

Yes

No. You need to actually LIVE at the address. Doesn't matter whether you own it, rent it out or not. If you don't live there then it's fraud.

OP. If you've already saved £100k and can afford an additional mortgage, why don't you either:

1. Use the £100k and what you would be paying in mortgage to send your DC to private school?

1. Buy a rental property and use the rental income to send DC to private school?

@Hughs "Grammar schools raise attainment by a third of a grade on average.

Is that all? It seems very low, hardly worth the bother and the tutoring costs."

Because grades are a smoke screen. The sort of kids who get into grammar schools would do just as well anywhere else. People talk about grades because the real reasons are less ...socially acceptable.

@UbiquitousPenguin
Not everyone tutors for grammars. We didn't tutor our DC and they got in by a country mile. We didn't move for the schools either. They were our closest schools. Not a lot of bother and hype for everyone. DC got stellar academic results there but I suspect they would have done in a bog standard comp too.
...as did our daughter. The exam tested for aptitude and ability to do well in the future and you couldn't really be tutored for that. Some of her friends who slaved away burning the night oil, didn't get in much to their parents' horror. This was 30 years ago though....!

‘

The schools do check. We sold and moved house when child was in year 5 we needed more space and secondary school was a factor. We spent 2 years going backwards and forwards to primary school for younger sibling. We were investigated by LA and asked to provide 3 very specific proofs of address once we received our application. It wasn’t a problem for us as we had actually moved house. It was a popular school, someone may or may not have reported us. They may have checked all families who moved into area?

‘but why should op children go to the crap school? Whilst more working class kids get the privilege of a good school just because they live closer’

yeah, sod the WC kids. They need to go to the worse schools so they’re encouraged into lower paid work where they belong.
Just imagine if they went to Uni and became Doctors, scientists, ran the media, went into finance, ran companies, or heaven forbid, went into Education or Goverment.

What kind of world would it be if we had politicians from WC backgrounds who actually knew what it’s like to grow up on a lower income, without privilege, came from the same background as most of the people they’re supposed to represent?
That would be awful.

One of my friends, in Nigeria earned the £15k needed to come to the UK, not an easy thing to do as a young woman. She then moved up the career ladder in the sciences. But she still needed advice about our systems when it came to employment laws, maternity, our early years provisions and education. In the workplace you wouldn't ask certain questions, if you haven't got anyone to ask, you don't know.

Honestly if this is what you want to do just do it "properly"

Friends of ours did this. They bought a BTL. They let it out for X years (let's say oldest mid way through year 5...) Then moved into the BTL.
They let the primary home.... Stayed in BTL for 3 and a bit years.
Sold it once youngest was in year 7 and paid NO CGT...
Moved back into main family home after tenants moved out and they had finished renovating it

That said.... if you can afford to have a mortgaged house sitting empty for years you can prob afford private school
🤷‍♀️

I know someone who did this, bought another house but didn’t rent it out & “temporarily separated” from DH & used that address. They are wealthy but 4 dc so getting the oldest into the best state meant they will all get in & a big saving on private fees.

I am surprised anyone doesn’t realise this is fraud / not permitted. It is absolutely not ok for rich middle classes to steal a school place from a deserving less wealthy child who lives nearby like this.

But it does happen

You shouldn't do it, because it is morally wrong. No child should have to go to a crap school, if you are that bothered you should either work towards improving schools for everyone, by lobbying, voting, or pay for private education, which I consider to be wrong, but is part of the class system of the uk, and legal.
Don't complain about pp being judgemental, you asked for advice on how to commit fraud, to circumvent the way school places are allotted.

OP you say you didn't know what you were asking about was wrong. But you must have known it was morally wrong. That's why you are being judged. And quite rightly.