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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:
thesixleggedpsychopathonthetrain · 15/12/2023 13:14

Why not just send your children to the nearest school, like most people?

usernother · 15/12/2023 13:15

If the LA have any suspicion at all that you don't live there (I'm not going to tell you how they become suspicious) they will investigate and if it's is found that you have made a fraudulent application for a school place, the place will be removed. And it would serve you right.

Twiglets1 · 15/12/2023 13:15

DrMarshaFieldstone · 15/12/2023 13:13

What do people do? They move house with an eye on catchments and then they live in that house.

It is pretty strange that the first two plans were either to hoard property to 'strategically' hedge your bets or commit fraud rather than just...moving house.

Exactly - I don't know why @Schoolhousemystery didn't see this situation coming a mile off and move to an area good for primary and secondary schools when the children were pre school. Money doesn't seem to be an issue so it's strange they ended up in an area with a poor secondary school.

Penguinmouse · 15/12/2023 13:15

You say “how will you make it work?” - just move there closer to the time?

TrinityTinselToes · 15/12/2023 13:16

Cheats

shepherdsangeldelight · 15/12/2023 13:16

Schoolhousemystery · 15/12/2023 13:11

Thank you all, really helpful, although some thought that I want to do something illegal... absolutely not the case! I just had no clue about all this and I thought to ask. I will also check what the council says and the admission criteria of the comp school.

So, the take away and only options are:

  1. Move at the end of Y5 the latest
  2. Go to our local comp if needed and don't move

Of course all that if no success at a Grammar - which by the way it's not just a matter of tuition, the kid may have a bad day, be unwell, whatever. The success is not guaranteed if a kid is tutored.

Yes, but check your point (1) in the admissions criteria for your area. Some areas may require you to have lived in the address on your form for a particular length of time.

With two houses 30 minute away, you will also probably need to actually sell (and not just leave empty) your current house.

MrsHobbit · 15/12/2023 13:17

Ah, Tory problems. 🎻🎻🎻

Lanneederniere · 15/12/2023 13:18

The CF who bought my house for this purpose even asked for a copy of our Council Tax bill before contracts were even exchanged. Being an 'IT expert' I suspect he was planning to doctor it for fraudulent purposes. Luckily I declined, but as I said above, they got away with the whole scam.

Hobbi · 15/12/2023 13:18

thesixleggedpsychopathonthetrain · 15/12/2023 13:14

Why not just send your children to the nearest school, like most people?

This is mumsnet, that concept is horrifying for many. Ordinary children? [shudder]

Darker · 15/12/2023 13:21

How about investing in the school your kids go to so that more kids get a better education?

personally I couldn’t live like this. Every child deserves a good education, not just those whose parents are prepared to game the system. You do realise that another child who lives closer will lose their place if you do this?

CombatLingerie · 15/12/2023 13:21

@PostmansKnock ‘burner house’ 😂

Mummyoflittledragon · 15/12/2023 13:23

LIZS · 15/12/2023 12:56

Many LA will not accept a second address if there is another owned property within a reasonable distance, or even if you "move" near the application date. If you btl your tenants will use that address for gp, dwp, hmrc, council tax etc

Yes. This is true. Some LA ask for proof you’ve sold your other property. You may get around letting it out - as in letting your home out rather than selling. But you’d have to ask the LA.

FucksSakeSusan · 15/12/2023 13:26

We and LITERALLY EVERYONE I KNOW thought about this a long time before secondary school was on the horizon. We started off living somewhere with an ok primary but decent secondary, then moved area. The first consideration when picking where to live in that area was schools.

I have relatives who moved to an area they didn't really like before their little one started school so that they're in the right area for the secondary they want. They can't wait for the day they can move house but aren't going to jeopardise their child's place at that school.

How you have got this far without (a) considering schools and (b) realising that your plan is fraud I do not know...

Redlarge · 15/12/2023 13:29

Its fraud. Its wrong and it favours the privilaged.
However, in my area no one was asked to provide evidence of address and did what the feck they wanted. Even at appeal stage when the school was directly questioned about what evidence they used. They admitted they didnt. They just relied on the information on the form.

Redlarge · 15/12/2023 13:29

Thehokeypokey · 15/12/2023 12:50

Yes

Show quote history

People are doing this everyday all over the country.

Fingeronthebutton · 15/12/2023 13:31

You can have the council tax in your name. We once had a tenant who didn’t want to be known. We paid it.

notacooldad · 15/12/2023 13:31

Don't forget what is a great school now may not stay that way. All it takes is a change in the leadership team and things can change very quickly.
This happened to ds1 school. His was excellent. A year after he left lots of things happened and the school changed for the worse.
I go into thar school regularly for meetings for the young people I work with and I would not be sending my child there if it had been like that when he was going.
You could be going to all this trouble and end up worse off.

Daisies12 · 15/12/2023 13:32

It’s lying and fraud. What an awful example to set your kids. Good moral standards are far more important than what school they go to.

Borth · 15/12/2023 13:32

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

Desdemona44 · 15/12/2023 13:32

This has to be one of the most batshitly middle class threads I've ever read on here

A*

Himawarigirl · 15/12/2023 13:33

Haven’t read the whole thread, but if you can afford to buy two houses and not bother to rent one why don’t you pay for private school? Seems less complicated.

Benibidibici · 15/12/2023 13:34

You can't do this

You must list your primary residence.

If you move temporarily and retain ownership of your family home - they'll look at this & check up on you - eg if you've moved to a 2 bed flat but also conveniently still own a lovely 4 bed detached further from school, they'll assume the family house is actually your home.

If you want the school, go and live in the community around it like everyone else.

ManchesterLu · 15/12/2023 13:35

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?

You make it work by playing by the rules like (most) other people. If you want to be in the catchment area for a certain school, that's fine, but you need to actually MOVE there. You can't just have everything you want. Everyone else's children are just as deserving as yours.

greengreengrass25 · 15/12/2023 13:35

Daisies12 · 15/12/2023 13:32

It’s lying and fraud. What an awful example to set your kids. Good moral standards are far more important than what school they go to.

Well said

Don't be dishonest

Pipsquiggle · 15/12/2023 13:36

Hi @Schoolhousemystery

Please look in detail about the admissions process at both the grammar schools and secondary schools that you are thinking of.

It's really, really important that you know the criteria and the priority of that school's admissions - they are likely to be different.

For my DC's grammar school - one of the first criteria is that e.g. Yr 7 Sept 2024 admission, you have to live in catchment (a boundary on a map) from at least 1st Sept 2023 - basically to stop exam tourism.

In our local excellent secondary school some village primary schools get priority admission, so funnily enough at the end of year 5 / beginning of yr 6 you tend to get some new DC joining so they are virtually guaranteed a spot at this secondary school.

Knowing the admissions process for all these schools is vital

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