Is this admission fraud? AIBU to report it?

[grammarmom]

Here's the situation.

We live in a grammar school catchment area that gets smaller every year. When we bought our house several years ago, it was very comfortably within the catchment for an excellent local grammar (very high in the league tables), and oh boy was it reflected in the price. Now we're right on the boundary. Among the thirty or so houses around us, some children got in last year and some didn't, literally a difference of a few yards.

Another child on our street, who is in the same class as my DC, only just passed the 11+ (a few points above the pass threshold). We live on the same road, but they are about 50 yards further from the school gate. Based on last year's distances, my child would likely get a place while theirs wouldn't.

Over the weekend, during a sleepover, the child mentioned that her mother has now rented a house much closer to the school to secure a higher priority for admission. The tenancy was apparently signed one day before the cut-off date, making it "legal" for admission purposes. She still owns their original home, but the story being presented is that relatives who were previously "homeless" will now live there free of charge, and all bills and utilities have been transferred into those relatives' names (I strongly suspect that the mother will in fact pay these bills as those relatives are penniless).

She's even moved the children's belongings to the rented property and makes them spend nights there (they hate it). There's no doubt that once the school place is obtained, they will move right back.

This effectively pushes my child down the priority list and means they may now miss out.

Would this constitute admissions fraud? It feels incredibly unfair that someone with £40k to spare for rent can effectively buy their way into a top grammar school, especially when their child didn't perform particularly well in the exam (despite being tutored for hours every day).

Should I report this? I have no more detail apart from what this child told me (and they obviously weren't too sure about some aspects of it due to age).

It’s legal. Get over it

Surrey seems to be a council where you can't own and rent.

Not necessarily legal depending on the area.

You didn't think about doing it at the time and already said she had an 'extra 40K'.

How would you feel if local people said you didn't deserve the grammar school because they were priced out of the area because people with more money bought the houses instead.

There is no 'end' to this other than improving all the schools so there isn't such a huge disparity between them.

MyDDs grammar school have people come in from the next county. Not sure if really had a catchment area

No. I didn't, because that would have been outright dishonesty. I've never cheated in an exam either, even when I easily could have. Stupid me.

Inner Area
The school will only admit students from the published Inner Area as shown below:
The Inner Area means applicants whose Main Address is in the following postcode areas; E2, E4, E5, E8, E9, E17,
EN1, EN2, EN3, EN4, EN5 (Sectors 1, 2, 4, 5 only), EN8 (Sectors 7, 8, 9 only), N1 (not N1C), N2, N3, N4, N5, N6,
N7, N8, N9, N10, N11, N12, N13, N14, N15, N16, N17, N18, N19, N20, N21, N22. There is no preference within
this list. Only children residing in one of these postcodes will be admitted to the school.
Main Address means the place at which the applicant spends the weekday nights in the ordinary course of
events.
Priority is given to those applicants who are resident in the Inner Area as of 7 January 2026. Therefore,
applicants living outside of our published Inner Area at the time of registering for the assessment tests, must
provide evidence of their new Inner Area address by the 7 January 2026 if they wish to be considered for
admission to the school.
Shared Care
When parents live separately the application must be based on the address at which the child usually lives and
from which he or she attends primary school. When parents live separately but the child lives equally with both
parents at different addresses, the child’s home address must be mainly within our Published Inner Area. For
example, if one parent resides within the postcode area N22 and the other parent resides within the postcode
area HA3, the school will consider the application if the main address is the in N22 postcode area.
Open Evening
The school will be open for tours for pros
For latymer school

Aside from looking like a pushy parent who might negatively impact on her own childs selection for a school place?

and after all of this, it's very possible that both kids won't get in anyway.

If your kid is bright, they'll be fine in a comprehensive. Don't worry. Grammars barely have any impact once you account for pupil demographic.

Quotes from OPs first post:
"When we bought our house several years ago, it was very comfortably within the catchment for an excellent local grammar (very high in the league tables), and oh boy was it reflected in the price."
" It feels incredibly unfair that someone with £40k to spare for rent can effectively buy their way into a top grammar school."

Ok to buy your way higher up the list by buying a house, but not renting?!

How would you feel about pushing local people out of the area because you drove the house prices up so much? Do you think they deserve places in the grammar school far more than people who relocated to the area? I do.....

That's not true- you can own and rent you just have to prove that where you rent is your main residence.

Exactly. If the person was outwith the catchment but swooped in and bought a second home closer would the OP still complain? Because minority sure that happens all the time.

As backed up by the council admission procedure, owning two homes where one is TEMPORARY is against the rules. The other person has moved on a TEMPORARY basis, not even full time but ad hoc, to bend and manipulate the rules. OP moved PERMANENTLY to a family home which was in the catchment area.

Do you need any more help with comprehension?

If the other mother hasn’t broken the actual admission rules then fair play to her. You both (understandably ) played the grammar school catchment game and she might have played it a bit better/ more aggressively. It happens.

So what would you call buying an expensive house just to make sure your child gets into a decent school? Everyone wants the best for their kids, but most wealthy people I know only happen to be in that position because of generational wealth - one could argue that’s unfair.

In many LEAs this would count as fraud. I’m amazed at how many people seem to think it’s absolutely fine. For every place which is obtained through fraud, another child is missing out. Surely that’s not ok?

You do displaced people fleeing war a favour and end up a displaced people yourselves along with dealing with them fighting amongst themselves, talk about gratitude.

That's a bit mean to the child who I doubt was the instigator in this scheme.

It's an unfair system. Parents are going to play the game in a number of ways and we don't know for sure if what the other mum has done would be classed as fraud in their area, especially if she's made sure to sign a long term tenancy.

Yes but what is the definition of temporary and permanent? Lots of people move homes. You are not required to stay in your same address forever. Different councils have different rules, it may be until the place is offered; it may be until you start school , it may be for 12 months. I don't think any councils ask for longer proof than that.

If it’s legal there’s not much you could expect to happen surely. If it’s legal, I’m not sure on paper what the difference is between buying a house in good catchment area or renting one in catchment area. Unless there is some issue with the part where she moves back to their house… of course morally it’s shitty but then I think that’s the basis of the entire education system tbh in the uk! The fact there is 11+ still in some areas is the epitome of it

It would be meaner to a child in your care, to have them hang around imoral sly people, as they will be harmed.

I doubt if councils have the desire or money to investigate if this is fraud so probably the child will get it anyway!