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AIBU?

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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:
cestlavielife · 15/12/2023 12:40

Very funny op !

Of course you have to Buy and move into it.

Let out your current home.

OhmygodDont · 15/12/2023 12:40

You’d need to have post coming like bank statements, updated drivers licence all sorts to prove you live there is you get pulled for a check due to fraud for placements.

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 15/12/2023 12:40

Oh. I think what you're actually asking is: how likely are you to be caught, if you give a false address for your child to get a place that they otherwise wouldn't be entitled to?

Hobbi · 15/12/2023 12:40

Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:31

How can we make it work then?

We live next to the primary and it would be silly to move 30min away before we even know which will be the secondary our DC will go to...

Can we have two mortgages on both houses and both of them to be on our name, without renting any of them? i.e. the second property to be empty?

How? Don't commit fraud for a start. Do you think you're the first to have thought of this? Twenty years ago a work colleague tried this and was rumbled immediately, narrowly avoiding prosecution and left with a white elephant flat and two mortgages.

ActDottie · 15/12/2023 12:41

Pretty sure it’s fraud…

HungryandIknowit · 15/12/2023 12:42

Why don't you move in if they don't get into the grammar school, then apply.

AngelontopoftheTree · 15/12/2023 12:43

But... but... but.. but....

Op is just not listening, because no-one is giving her the answers she wants.

Tinkerbyebye · 15/12/2023 12:43

If you use an address but don’t live there it’s fraud

so buy a house in the school area and live there and let out your current house

Original poster
Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:43

Ok. Thank you all!

Buy to let is not going to work, thank you, I didn't know it.

We need to live there, I understand that too.

The only solution based on your responses would be to keep the second house empty before the application, during and until we get the result.

Pay the council tax on our names and move GP.

A financial question please - Can we arrange with the bank to have two properties with mortgage and none of them to be BTL?

If not, I guess only cash buyers could "cheat" the system?

OP posts:
EdgarsTale · 15/12/2023 12:44

That’s fraud & a ridiculous idea. Just move to the area you want them to go to school. It’s not that difficult if you have spare money.

Boomboom22 · 15/12/2023 12:44

No. The only address you can use is the house your child lives in. It is illegal. And fraud.

PinkFrogss · 15/12/2023 12:45

Well that would be fraud, so no you can’t do that.

Why don’t you just move to the area?

People being landlords for stupid things like this just fucks the system up for everyone else.

ActDottie · 15/12/2023 12:45

Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:36

Ok, I got it.

Can we have two mortgages as our "main property" and not rent any property?

If our salaries are high enough to be able to justify two mortgages without having to rent any of the two, would that be ok?

None of this is relevant! Seriously!! How can some people be so thick! It’s fraud. You have one main residence and you must use that address on your application.

Original poster
Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:46

The problem is that this second house is about 30min drive from the primary school! How would that work? Would we drive 30min every day for two years back and forth in order to get an address for an application?

OP posts:
PinkFrogss · 15/12/2023 12:46

Ok. Thank you all!

Buy to let is not going to work, thank you, I didn't know it.

We need to live there, I understand that too.

The only solution based on your responses would be to keep the second house empty before the application, during and until we get the result.

Pay the council tax on our names and move GP.

A financial question please - Can we arrange with the bank to have two properties with mortgage and none of them to be BTL?

If not, I guess only cash buyers could "cheat" the system?

You would have to do that very far in advance, and not close to school admissions at all otherwise you’d be rumbled, you might still get rumbled anyway. It’s both morally wrong and very financially expensive.

bookworm14 · 15/12/2023 12:46

Of course you can’t do this - it’s fraud and you would be depriving another child of a place. If you’re so horrified at the thought of sending your child to the local secondary, use the £100k to pay for private education.

chickenpieandchips · 15/12/2023 12:46

I live in Bromley. There are details on the website about this. They are very thorough.
How to get round it? Move into the right catchment area in advance. Or go to the local school. Or pay school fees.

VisionsOfSplendour · 15/12/2023 12:47

Mumof1andacat · 15/12/2023 12:38

The council where I live don't really look at your address for senior school. What counts is the primary school your children currently attend. The senior schools in my area have 'feeder' primary/junior school and that goes to your favour.

That's pretty unusual isn't it? Are you in England?

twistyizzy · 15/12/2023 12:48

notlucreziaborgia · 15/12/2023 12:45

https://www.theschoolrun.com/moving-house-school-places-what-law-says

All the information you need is here^

Is private school an option?

You can't suggest private school because that is creating inequality! The fact that the OP has enough money to buy another house to cheat the system won't be good enough to suggest private option.

Hobbi · 15/12/2023 12:48

Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:43

Ok. Thank you all!

Buy to let is not going to work, thank you, I didn't know it.

We need to live there, I understand that too.

The only solution based on your responses would be to keep the second house empty before the application, during and until we get the result.

Pay the council tax on our names and move GP.

A financial question please - Can we arrange with the bank to have two properties with mortgage and none of them to be BTL?

If not, I guess only cash buyers could "cheat" the system?

No. No one can cheat the system, that's the definition of 'not allowed'. You can attempt to be a dishonest cheat and fraud if you choose. Like a tax dodger, benefit cheat or shoplifter. You seem determined to commit fraud however so I'm not sure why you asked. BTW, you will get found out; in the meantime your children will never be able to bring friends home, you'll miss important letters from school and, when your children lose their place, you will have disrupted their education due to your sense of entitlement and belief that the rules don't apply to you as you're better and richer than other folk.

CalistoNoSolo · 15/12/2023 12:49

If you've got enough money to afford to keep a second house empty, why don't you send your children to a private school?

Thehokeypokey · 15/12/2023 12:49

Your council tax bill will show that it's an empty property so no that won't work (unless you are also going to add council tax fraud to your list).

OhmygodDont · 15/12/2023 12:50

Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:46

The problem is that this second house is about 30min drive from the primary school! How would that work? Would we drive 30min every day for two years back and forth in order to get an address for an application?

That’s exactly what you have to do. You move move or your child doesn’t go to that school.

Thehokeypokey · 15/12/2023 12:50

Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 12:46

The problem is that this second house is about 30min drive from the primary school! How would that work? Would we drive 30min every day for two years back and forth in order to get an address for an application?

Yes

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