Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

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:
Soontobe60 · 15/12/2023 15:03

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?

Oh dear… youre asking a public forum how to commit fraud!

Mummyoflittledragon · 15/12/2023 15:04

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 15:02

if you have that much money to burn go private

can go where you like then

100k will not touch the sides with 2 dcs.

DinoDays · 15/12/2023 15:06

DeltaAlphaDelta79 · 15/12/2023 12:57

I work as a fraud investigator for a local council. Thank you for keeping my colleagues and I in work 😁

You will need to live properly in one property and use that as your actual lived at address, for schools, council tax, etc etc.

I am currently investigating several cases similar to this, and they are usually fairly easy to spot and investigate.

@DeltaAlphaDelta79

Now that sounds an interesting job! Please do an AMA!!

forgotmyusername1 · 15/12/2023 15:07

I would

rent out current property
rent a property in new area you want to live and physically move there
move kids to new primaries in that area

this summer would probably be a good time.

cestlavielife · 15/12/2023 15:08

caramelsauce · 15/12/2023 14:44

I’m confused why everyone saying it’s illegal and immoral?

OP is saying that if children don’t get into the grammar schools where she currently lives she wants them to go to a better secondary school in another area and would then move there? Where is this illegal and immoral??

She wants to live in her lovely big house (making assumptions ) but pretend to live in the small buy to let while actually renting it out to someone else .
You cannot do that, as they ask for evidence you live in the house . Not your tenants.

You move to new area and apply from there.

LeaveBritneyAlone · 15/12/2023 15:09

Well yeah if you wanna break the law, commit fraud and prevent an actual deserving child from attending that school, got for it Hmm

LeaveBritneyAlone · 15/12/2023 15:10

How can we make it work then?

I mean there’s just NO solution is there to this issue. It’s clearly absolutely impossible to move closer to a school you want your kids to go to.

Pipsquiggle · 15/12/2023 15:12

CurlewKate · 15/12/2023 15:03

@Pipsquiggle IMO the problem with private schools in grammar school areas, they tend to be pretty mediocre as the grammars have creamed off the bright local DC." Hmm. I suspect King's Canterbury , among others, might contest that!

That's £10k per term or £15k if you board - hardly your normal local private school circa £5-6k per term.

Mind you I live pretty near Eton & Wycombe Abbey - fee wise they are out of most people's grasp - definitely mine anyway.

FatOaf · 15/12/2023 15:12

There would be no obligation on the tenants to pass on mail to you. The correct thing for them to do would be to mark it "not at this address - return to sender", so the local authority would know you didn't live there.

BestZebbie · 15/12/2023 15:13

You could buy the second house now and move there in year 6, that would not be fraud.

If you are thinking about only moving there as "backup" if your child doesn't get the grades for a grammar school - isn't that going to make them feel awful?? Like, not only were they not smart enough to "succeed" but now as a direct result the whole family has to be uprooted and the child also has to leave their childhood home, local friends etc? Like going into exile as a punishment?

CrikeyMajikey · 15/12/2023 15:13

What we really need is good schools in every area. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Schools that could provide for those with SEN, physical disability and those super bright, Oxbridge kids. Then there’d be no need for OP to commit fraud and rob a catchment kid of it’s rightful place.

Christmassss · 15/12/2023 15:13

How can we make it work then?

You use some of your 100k towards moving costs to buy in the right catchment area.

ttcat37 · 15/12/2023 15:13

Jeez if you can afford to buy and keep a second house then look at private schools and move near there instead.

It grates that you said “We won't try to trick the system if it's something illegal.” So if it wasn’t illegal that makes it ok? You know there aren’t endless places in schools. You were trying to swizz the system and take a place off someone who was eligible, knowing that you weren’t. Have some morals.

Rocketpants50 · 15/12/2023 15:17

There is a lot of what ifs here.

Please whatever you do get your child to lie, project your insecurities and the pressure to get into your chosen school on to your child. Please let your child enjoy their education and ensure that you put their 'happiness' above all of this.

BigBundleOfFluff · 15/12/2023 15:17

Someone in the my kids primary school has done this. I feel very sorry for the child. Everyone else walks to school together - she has to drive. Kids drop in on each other as we all live in the same area - she doesn't.
Even when they are doing projects like graphs on how do you get to school in the morning she's the odd one out.
It's a real shame for the kid - she's missing out on the whole social aspect of school snd it's very obvious.

Mirabai · 15/12/2023 15:19

Pipsquiggle · 15/12/2023 15:02

Glad Kent has good private schools. I have been underwhelmed in Bucks. certainly not worth the £5-6k per term fees.

I would say the vast majority of local bright DC who pass the 11+ go to the grammars.

London only has a handful of grammars which are notoriously hard to get into so hardly reflective of a county wide system like Kent. No surprise it also has a load of private schools - it's London

Show quote history

Yes it’s true London only has limited grammars, but with some exceptions, most inner London boroughs have 20-50% of children in private schools. No-one regards London comprehensives as having the brightest students “creamed off’.

ModestMoon · 15/12/2023 15:19

You should wait until you know whether they'll get into grammar school and then move.

Honestly though this idea is insane. If you have 100k to spend then invest in tuition for your children. If you're not sure whether they'll get enough grades with that much capital behind you then I'd probably move to the better area when they're in year 6.

JoshLymanIsHotterThanSam · 15/12/2023 15:21

You move to the place where you want your kids to go to school and be fucking grateful you are financially in a position to do this whilst the rest of us minions have to put up with the shit comps because we can’t afford to move.

Must be fucking wonderful to have enough money to just go fuck it we’ll buy a second house next to the good secondary schools.

LeaveBritneyAlone · 15/12/2023 15:21

OP the bottom line is you have to LIVE at the address.

And there are VERY clear definitions of the word ‘live’ so don’t try and be clever - owning the property is not the same as living in the property. Even if you don’t have tenants in.

And even if you think ‘we will have tenants in then move in when it comes to applying’ - don’t bother. There’s very strict legislation around letting properties that will inevitably mean you probably won’t have it turn out that way

Mirabai · 15/12/2023 15:22

CrikeyMajikey · 15/12/2023 15:13

What we really need is good schools in every area. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Schools that could provide for those with SEN, physical disability and those super bright, Oxbridge kids. Then there’d be no need for OP to commit fraud and rob a catchment kid of it’s rightful place.

Edited

Sounds great but that would involve grammars and SEN schools in every borough and some people wouldn’t like that either.

Perhapsanorhertimewouldbebetter · 15/12/2023 15:23

No, do not do this.
Apart from potentially being caught out it's also completely morally wrong.

StarlightLime · 15/12/2023 15:25

CalistoNoSolo · 15/12/2023 12:50

Quite the overreaction there.

Show quote history

No. Op needs to understand the potential outcome. Not that she's listening...

Sapphire387 · 15/12/2023 15:28

If you can afford 100k deposit and a second mortgage, I reckon you can afford to pay for private school. So maybe go for that instead of swindling a state school student out of their place at a good school.

WhickDittington · 15/12/2023 15:29

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?

YABU.

FFS. You wouldn't be living there and so would be using an address fraudulently.

Beezknees · 15/12/2023 15:29

You make it work by actually living in the area you want your kids to go to school in.

Although everyone I know just sends their kids to the local school, nobody chooses an area specifically for schools.