Due to move soon but no schools are allocated to kids - Council not responding

[Alwaysconfusedmum]

We are due to move in next 2 weeks to our new house in East London from west London but council is refusing to allocate school to my kids. They are saying Exchange documents or solicitor letter are not sufficient, the place cannot be allocated until we physically move to the property. Exchange documents are legal documents, how come it’s not sufficient. Or they said we could apply through our current council and request for transfer of schools, which mean they’ll be using our current address to allocate schools, again really stupid procedure.

How are we expected to move without the school? Application process and allocation of school can take up to 3 weeks, are kids expected to stay at home for all three weeks which missing work for all this time.

I have checked the procedure for quite a few other councils, they all accept solicitor letter as proof of address. I have emailed council around 2 weeks ago but haven't heard back or got any acknowledgement. This process can jeopardise our whole move, if this deal gets cancelled we'll be under £5000 for solicitor, searches, valuations etc

I am sure there is something wrong …..can someone pl help??? Do we have any right to demand for the place before we actually move???

JS

If you've exchanged you'll be a darn sight more under than that - you've committed to buy!

My council also wanted us to wait for completion until I could apply to local schools.

I think that either they need to stay home, or you need some overlap in moving in or they need to go back to their other school while the new one is sorted out (I'm guessing not feasible)

Due to people getting houses lined up in order to get "good" school places then pulling out - nothing but completion documents or rental documents saying it's all signed is accepted in our area

Also - I would always call councils rather than email - sometimes more than once people different people have different ideas as to procedure.

Are the schools you want over subscribed? If a school has places and no waiting list you can apply using your current address for in year admissions. Someone I know has just got school places in Cambridgeshire but lives in London using their London address.

If there's no place you'd only go on the waiting list any way.

Could you commute to the current school whilst the new school places are being found? I know when we moved it took a while to sort out new school places and I had to travel 25 miles each way twice a day to get the children to school. It took around six weeks before the new school places were sorted.
It would be a shame to not go through with the sale if you could commute for a few weeks, but then I have no idea how far you are moving.

With exchange documents we are legally bound we cannot pull out last minute. I just want a local school so kids don't miss out and so I can be at work. This is my new job, I just simply can't be off from work.
I ve tried calling council several time but no use.

Yes, these schools are oversubscribed there is no way we can get a place in our catchment school.

It will be 6 hrs of travelling time- dropping, picking, going to work . I work full time :(

We had this, we moved over the summer holidays to minimise disruption to DSs education
our 'new' house was on the border of two councils - one said they couldn't talk to us until we had physically moved as we may be moving to get into a better school - except we were moving from an outstanding school 70miles away to a 'good' school here. And that said they then couldn't make arrangements over the summer but could probably sort out a place by October.
The other authority said no problem to register him ASAP, they would find him a place so he could start in Sept and just let them know ASAP if there were any problems.
Funnily enough both authorities have exactly the same issues with shortage of places but only one was a royal PITA about it. We ended up at the latter one.

I'm afraid it sounds very normal. You could phone and ask where the nearest school to your new that has spaces is and apply there from your present address - if they have spaces it won't matter what address it is. That might be a fair distance from the house though and (I might be wrong) but doing it now rather than after you move may mean you wouldn't be entitled to transport if it is further than the regulation distance.

If you want a near school and they are over subscribed then you have to join the waiting list after you move and wait however long it takes for a space.

There is nothing stopping you getting the place in the nearest school with places for now then joining the catchment waiting list as soon as you move though, it will probably mean some disruption but it might be your best option.

Although it will be 6 hours of travelling time each day the school will be open and closed at the same time as normal so it just means leaving the house a lot earlier and arriving home a lot later each day. It is massively inconvenient and I do understand as I was in a similar situation and was working full time when we moved house but it is only temporary until something is sorted out.
I would make the 6 hour daily sacrifice for a few weeks in order to complete the sale (ours was 5 hours a day. Just make sure you have lots of quick to prepare foods in so that you don't have to spend ages cooking when you get home and don't expect the children to do any homework during the upheaval period.
It is a shitty situation but once they are in their new schools and you are in your lovely new home it will be worth the short term inconvenience.

I am really surprised that there is no standard procedure for all councils to follow - Both my kids are also moving from outstanding to good school. I fear, if I apply from my current address, kids will be given this school around 1/2 hrs bus ride away in need of improvement.

I guess we have no option but to wait. I have already made an application but because council is not responding I don't know whether they are going to consider the same or I have to make a new one when we actually move.

The standard procedure is that you can't apply until after you've moved house.

It's a pain. We did it and I sympathise.

However, it is hard to see how else it could be done.

Exchange of contracts has no equivalent for renters, so to allow owner occupiers the advantage of applying 6-12 weeks ahead of a move would be unfair.

If the 'good' school has spaces then they can apply now from your present address and get in, is that what you mean by 6h trip, from your old address to the new school?

If there aren't spaces then they can't make spaces for you either now or after you move unless you go through appeal (which may or may not be successful) which will take quite a while regardless.

That's why we moved house in the school holidays. However, it wasn't a problem because we just filled in the forms, the school had vacancies and confirmed a start date before we moved. I suspect there are no school places where you are moving to or the council would be more helpful.

You're not disadvantaged.
Apply now from your current address. Put down the schools you want. If they have a space you WILL be offered it, it's that simple. And if they don't, you won't, but then you can opt to go on the waiting list. And then when you complete on your sale, send the proof through and the council will update your distances at that point and then you'll move higher up the wait list cos you're nearer.

Once you are a resident of the new authority they have a duty to find you A school place. They aren't obliged to find you a place at your preferred school.

That's very helpful and it does make total sense now to apply from our current address.
Thank you all very much for your answers and suggestions.

Good luck :)