Landlord applying for primary school

[Solarpowergirl]

Hello -

Hoping someone will have come across a similar experience and can help shed some light. We have rented our current home for almost 3 years from a family who are working temporarily in Spain. The house is in the catchment area for a good primary school and we were just about to submit an application when DH was told that the family are returning in the Summer as they want their DD1 to start school in the UK.

Whilst we had speculated this might be the case, we are wondering if they can do this, given the applications have to go in now and they will somewhere down the line have to provide proof of council tax payment, way before the date of their actual return. Shouldn't we be entitled to apply for the place instead and then inform the school that our lease ended before school started?

stranded sorry my post was more directed at admissions as I wanted to clarify that a non resident LL can make an above board application. As the OP has now confirmed

strandedatseasonsgreetings, I agree there are very specific rules in paragraph 3.27 of the admission code regarding children of UK service personnel and other Crown Servants but I possibly wrongly assumed that a family working in Spain for three years as this landlord is was not such a person.

Solarpowergirl, I would not rely on what the LL's wife has said, what matters is the School Admission Code and the booklet put out by the LA defining their rules around admission. The rule that matters in this case is who is living in the house on the day that the school places are notified to parents. I would ask for confirmation in writing off the LA that as far as your child is concerned that as tenants in the house, places are allocated on the basis of the address you are living in on the set date.

As far as the landlord is concerned they can only say that from a set date that they will be resident at the address. If it is before the set date then they have a perfect right to make that application and Solarpowergirl as you will not be in the house you are then giving an incorrect address. If that date is after the set date then the address they should use is the address in Spain, that is where they are resident on the set date. If the LA then want to change the rules then that is up to them but they then open up a can of worms over every late application that was caused by a change of address.

I thought it was to do with residence. You are the residence, pay ct etc, so apply.

Ok the landlord will do their own thing and that means applying but if they are not there now, I don't see how their application will be more important that yours.

Who knows where you will be living once your child is hopefully offered a place - it may well be in the catchment. You don't know, they don't know but at present you are entitled to apply and the landlord is entitled to apply but the fact of the matter is that the landlord is not currently in the catchment area or borough or country so their application will not take priority over your application.

I had the same thing. I wanted to live at my mum's address (another town) to see if ds could get into another school in another area and if he did we'd move. So it was condition on getting a place in a place I was not living but could move to anytime. I was told quite clearly to apply all you like but if you are not at the address at the time of applying your application will either be not considered or at the bottom of the pile. Basically they were not going to consider an application on the basis that 'if i get a place, I will then reside at that address'.

If the landlord is skewing your application well it shouldn't - it's not about ownership but about residency (that is evidencible) at the time of applying and at the time of deciding school places.

"I was told quite clearly to apply all you like but if you are not at the address at the time of applying your application will either be not considered or at the bottom of the pile."

Not a fact. We lived at one address, apllied for a school mentioning we are going to move into the catchmenet area from this date giving a full address. We moved in and then a few months later the lanlord had told us about his decision to sell the house. We got the place at the desired school and informed them about our new and present address in July. The LA checked it and that it. And the school was oversubscribed.

Octavia09 - In general you must be living at the address at the time you make your application or, at the very minimum, have exchanged contracts or have a confirmed offer of tenancy. It does vary from LA to LA but in general if you move after submitting your application you are likely to be treated as a late applicant, putting you at the bottom of the pile.

If you move after offers are made you should be ok, although some LAs insist you must remain at the same address until your child actually starts school. However, there are doubts as to whether or not such policies are allowed by the Admissions Code.

prh47bridge, we did have a confirmed offer of tenancy and a back up from the letting agents.

We had a family apply for a place on the strength they intended to move into the area (which they still haven't done 4 years later) and were allocated a place ahead of families living in the area

Octavia09 - I thought that was probably the case. I was just trying to make it clear that there are only limited circumstances where you can move after applying and be treated as if you had applied from your new address.

Mrz - Oh dear. That definitely shouldn't have happened. It is too late now but they really should have lost the place on the basis that their application was fraudulent, and I would question whether or not they should have got the place at all. This is why LAs really should demand very strong evidence that someone is going to move.

prh47bridge I think the application was made in good faith as they intended to buy a house in the village but the sale fell through. However 5 families went to appeal and only one was upheld leaving 4 children to travel to the village where this particular family still live.

Hello - have some friends who moved back to London from NY last year and they were not working fo the British Govt. They had a similar situation to you and both famillies were able to apply, as you say on different grounds. I think you have to speak to the LEA yourself though to confirm as you don't want to have any issues on top of an already stressful situation.
Good Luck!

You need to check the school admission criteria - I live in Notts and although you can apply at the address where you are now, IF your tenancy does not cover you until the date on which your child school AND / OR you move out of the catchment, you lose the school place.

Can only express sympathy at the horrid situation in which you are in.

mrz - you dn't live in Notts do you?? That sounds like a family I know. It was all very annoying.

Watching this with interest. Me and DD intend to leave Antwerp next summer and live in our house which is currently rented out.
She will do last year of primary and then hopefully, her whole secondary schooling at one place.
I have been in contact with the education dept., to say they were less than helpful would be an understatement.

kreecher - suggest you get a copy of the admission criteria for your school. If you serve notice correctly on your tenants (so that they are not surprised as the OP was), then move back to your home while the admissions application round is taking place then you have done nothing amiss.

If you need to see out the school year in Antwerp then you would be a late application to the secondary school in the UK &, for a popular school, go onto the wait list. I don't envy you finding yourself in that position. I don't think LAs hold places open just in case - phr47 may be able to advise.

I can confirm that LAs are not allowed to hold places open just in case. They are prevented from doing so by law.

I should clarify, we will leave when DD is 10 so she can do her last primary year prior to going to senior school a whole year later.
It is a bloody nightmare, she doesn't need to only apply to the junior school, she needs to apply to the parish office(?) as it is a catholic feeder school.