Lying about address on Primary School application

[PeppermintLatte]

i know it's wrong and i feel awful about it, but i feel i don't have much choice. this could be a little lengthy but i don't want to drip feed. i'd really appreciate it if you could take the time to read it and offer any advice.

ok, ex fiancee and i lived together in a nice suburb, we had a DD (who will start school next year, so i need to fill my application in september) we had a nice life and were so happy (well i was) then he decided family life wasn't for him, he still loved me but felt it was better we split i just want to let you know at this point that we still have a good relationship, i wouldn't go as far as saying we are friends but we are civil and still care for each other.

ex owns a property just outside of the catchment area of the school we had always wanted daughter to attend. it's a good school, not outstanding, but above average, it's a faith school and DD and i still attend the church every week that DD was christened at - this is the church that is linked with school, although the school don't make this a priority on the criteria, it's essentially just catchment area and siblings. DD attends a private nursery in the area and a few of her little friends will be attending this school.

ok, when ex and i split i had to move in with my mum, i'm newly self employed on a crap income and i had no choice. the area my mum lives in is awful, high crime rate, asbo rate etc.. and the schools are awful (i attended one, cousins attended another) i cannot send my girl to either of these schools, i just can't.

anyway, ex has just bought a bigger property in the catchment area of the school, i am still with my mum but am desperate to get back to the area i lived with ex, it's lovely and DD and i were so happy there, plus i work there, this is where my clients are from. one of my clients has a brother who lives in a 2 bed flat in the area, he has applied for his visa to move to australia to be with his GF and has said i can rent his place when he goes (likely to be late 2013) i'm pretty sure i will be able to afford it by then and i will also claim housing benefit if i need to. the area is fairly pricy, i certainly couldn't afford it just yet. i asked him could i use the address for the school application as i will be living there next year, he wasn't comfortable with it and said no. fair enough.

started panicking as sept isn't too far away and ex said "just use my address, i'm her father and you'll be living in the catchment area just after she starts school anyway" but surely it's not that easy? we are not together and are unlikely to reconcile. i claim WTC and CTC and my child benefit is obviously registered to my mum's address and this is what they use to determine DD's permanant address. would i have to change my benefits over to ex's new address? this seems dodgy to me and i would be terrified they would investigate me & see that i didn't really live there. but then how do people use "grandma's address" do they have to put child benefit into grandma's address? ex is saying he would move back to his old property and we could actually move in his new property for a few months so it's legal, but still, i know it's wrong and it's possible they would investgate me if i changed address to ex's property?

no they wont at all! we moved LOADS when ours were little and i mean three times ina year and we just informed them of a change of address, it can be quite common esp in rental properties, as your ex has not claimed benefits etc i woudl assume they have no way of knowing it is his house and he wont be living with you so i cannot see that you are breaking any rules, you are just renting a house form someon who happens to be your ex.

5madthings thank you so much for your advice. yes, luckily we get on well and both have DD's best interests at heart. it's a shame it didn't work out with us but he is a good person. no he has never had tax credits from his new address so i guess they wouldn't automatically know he lived there, unless i was unlucky and they suddenly decided to investigate me. but would he need to stay on his old address for electoral roll? i am so bloody paranoid!

it's just with the bills and council tax and mortgage being in his name but i am down as being single (because i am) it seems dodgy to anyone on the outside.

i would say he should stay on the other addy for electoral role yes, and all you say is you are moving house, they will assume you are moving into a rented property they have NEVER asked us for details of who we are renting from etc, it would only maybe be an issue if you wanted to claiming housing benefit whilst you lived there? and even then if you could show a lease and that you were paying rent it shouldnt be a problem :)

i would change the bills etc to be in your name as well actually, and council tax but he could still pay the council tax? as long as the bills are in your name no one will know who is paying them, if he is happy to still pay the council tax etc?

I'm sure plenty of people move twice in a year, and frankly in that instance you could tell the truth. You moved into a property temporarily in order to be in catchment whilst waiting for your flat to be available. So long as you're actually living there it isn't against the law, surely?

5madthings i won't claim HB whilst living in his property, he is happy to take care of bills etc.. because it's only temporary.

well that sounds great then :) i think change bills to your name, it can still all be paid by dd out of his bank etc, that wont make any difference at all.

i cant see the problem at all, its all legal and above board etc, you are simply renting his house for a while until you get his place, who pays the bills etc is your business and if he is happy to continue to pay them thats great :)

It's really best not to lie. Move in with your ex but make sure there is a formal written agreement in place showing that you are there as a lodger not as a partner, and that you live separate lives and have separate finances. People who are in the process of divorcing and are living apart from one another at the same address are allowed to claim tax credits as single parents so it shouldn't affect the tax situation. Get him to charge you a nominal rent (and possibly then give the same amount back to you in increased child support, less a little for bills?). It's MUCH better to set up your domestic situaton within the catchment area and then tell the truth than it is to lie. You are very likely to get caught and then will have to reapply as a late applicant and get a place in the worst school in the area (that no-one else wants)

They won't care about how often you move house. People move all the time for all sorts of reasons. I wouldn't sugest you lie about where you're living though. It's not worth the risk and stress of worry about getting caught out. I'm not entirely clear if you are saying you would be living in the ex's house with him, or without him. If he's not living there then there should be no issue. If he is then you'd best take professional advice on how that may affect your tax credits etc.

I know some one who got their son into a school that's very far away from where the child lives based on her ex's address. This man is not the father of the child!!! She was married to him and had 2 older kids with him. Divorced. She's now married to someone else who's the father of this 4 year old. But said 4 year old is going to the school that's nearest to his mother's ex-husband! I don't know how that happened.

There is a high likelyhood that you will get caught. If you use the exs address then you might get an offer of a place, but if they are outside of catchment this is by no means guaranteed. The key date is the last date for on-time applications, that is the date when your address has to be right. It does not matter if you are moving into the area in late 2013, it is the cutoff date which will be some time in January 2013 that matters and that you are still at that address till after the school place is allocated in April 2013?
The current arrangements mean that daughter spends the majority of the school week with you and therefore it is you address that matters, not his.
Also it is a church school that means that is probably is its own admission authority. What that means is that the school governing body is responsible for putting all the applications in admission criteria order. So there is a fair chance that people you go to church with will be involved in ensuring the order is correct. It does not take a genius to realise that somebody is quite likely to say, she doesn't live there!
That will lead to your child losing the place at the school and you being put in a very awkward position when it comes to going to church. To be brutally honest you would be cheating and people will know it.

Best advice is to look to move into the area in a rented property by January 2013 and keep it till your daughter starts school.

admission she is going to move into her ex's house so she will be living there when she applies and not doing anything illegal, then once the flat become available which will be after her dd has started at the school she will move, the flat is also in catchment area tho.

she is moving into the ex's NEW house which is in catchment and he will continue to live in the old house which is just out of catchment.

but if you read the whole thread she is going to move in before she applies, her ex is moving and she can live in his house in the catchment area.

tiggytape she is going to live in her ex's house (he has another one and will live at that) so she is living in the area when she applies and she will be leaving there when her dd starts in sept 13 and then the other flat (also in catchement) wil be available by nov 13. as long as she is legally living in her exs house when she applies so jan 2013 thats ok and she can stay there until the flat becomes availalble in the nov, luckily she has an ex who she gets on with who is willing to help out as it helps his dd :)

thanks for all the replies everybody.

just to clarify, i used to live in an apartment with ex that was ever so slightly out of catchment area, although one of our neighbour's children went to the school...anyway ex has now moved from that apartment and bought a house 5 mins from school, it was actually nothing to do with catchment area and schools, it was just a bargain that came up that ex felt he couldn't let it pass him by. he has told me he will move back to his apartment and i can move into his new place with DD whilst i apply for the school, he has offered to let me stay there until november 2013 when i move into the flat (which is 2mins away from the school)

now i know i could say no and start looking for another flat sooner, but i'm skint, i'm self employed and only in my first year of business and i don't think i'd manage to well, i'm hoping by november 2013 when i get the flat that things will have picked up a fair bit, if not i'll just have to struggle. so i think my ex's kind offer of living at his new place rent free is the best option. everything would be in his name though, which is worrying me when i inform tax credits and child benefit that i have moved. it will look suspicious to them and i cannot afford to lose my tax credits. i'm hoping the likelihood of them investigating me will be slim but you never know. ex will stay on electoral roll for his old place, but as i say mortgage/council tax bill etc.. will be in his name. i know the school usually ask to see proof of address (usually council tax bill) but i'm presuming that will be ok to be in her father's name? after all the school won't know we are not together.

sorry for the long post, just wanted to make sure i have made myself clear and haven't drip fed.

If you are living in his house, but he is not resident there, and your Tax Credits, and most importantly, your Child Benefit, is paid to that address, then your application is not fraudulent, it is not illegal, they won't investigate you.

Ultimately, he would be classed as your Landlord, as your rent would be payable to him. So you WILL be renting, and living in a house in the catchment area, that just happens to be rented from your Ex-fiancé.

HTH.

WRT to utility bills, you would HAVE to treat it as any other rental property, and the Council Tax especially will have to be in your name.

Easy answer - you get him to draw up a rental agreement, stating when you move in, and your end of tenancy date, and you pay the Council Tax like you would in any other rented house, in your name. The other bills can be in your Ex's name, but the CT has to be in yours. Job done, no moral problem, as you WILL be living in the area. So no sneakiness, no lying, just an application from a lone parent who is renting a house in catchment, from a Landlord.

CardyMow thank you for replying. i am just so bloody paranoid! i just keep thinking how will tax credits know he is not resident there, i'm assuming they will know it's his place because of everything being in his name. surely it's not good enough for me to just give my word that he doesn't live there. then again, maybe they won't ask or ever know.

i'm also starting to panic incase anything goes wrong with the flat (what if his visa for australia gets declined?!) and i have to move back to my mum's. would DD be kicked out of the cause because we had moved out of the area? i need to take a chill pill with all these "what if's?" it's just that her education is so important to me.

sorry, Cardy i cross posted with your last one

is there any particular reason council tax will have to be in my name? if it's for the school won't they accept it in her father's name as they won't know we are not together? also will i need to inform electoral roll that i have moved from my mums?

i meant kicked out of the school in my second to last post, not kicked out of the cause! i'm tired

I would put council tax in your name, as surely he will have to pay council tax for himself in the other flat. He can still pay by direct debit from his account if that works for you all maintenance ways, they won't care who pays it as long as it is paid. You then have one item in your name, plus CB, plus put a bank account at that address and you are sorted.

Your arrangement is perfectly legal, and as you said you want to live in the area and will be, it can't be ideal living at your mum's anyway. I would do all the application and provide paperwork in your name if poss as otherwise someone might get confused as to whether you are in his house or flat etc. Invite vicar/ vicar's wife / local busybody round for tea one day, you will be fine, just hope there are spaces in the school! Your exP is being great, men often get a bad press on mumsnet, but it sounds as if he is taking his responsibilities seriously, and it will be easier for your dd having both parents nearby.