To tell school admissions we are temporarily renting in catchment?

[Broderieanglaise]

We are renting in catchment because we genuinely can't find a house to buy. We have the intention and funds to buy within catchment, there just isn't anything coming onto the market and there hasn't been since the beginning of the summer holidays. Literally not a single 3-4 bedroom house within the admittedly very tiny catchment area of the school.

The school admissions brochure states if we own a house elsewhere, then any other address will be considered as temporary. But if we sell our other house (which is 45 mins away and next to some excellent state schools already), then we'll lose out on capital appreciation. In other words if we're out of the property game for 12 months or more we're likely to find we can't get back on at the same level in our new area. House prices went up 15% in our area last year and the same is predicted this year.

So am I being unreasonable in asking the admissions dept to allow our application? Am I likely to get a clear answer from them before putting in my application?

How do you know that you will have good capital appreciation? Markets are very variable.

If your own home is in an area with such excellent schools then slap a 15% uplift on the asking price now and see if you can sell it. At least that way you can genuinely say that it is on the market.

You wrote that you aren't moving into catchment for the school. In that case why not stay in your current place until the admissions window closes before renting? Which school are you actually applying for? If you aren't going to apply for the catchment school then leave it off the application surely and apply elsewhere? Then wherever you live becomes a non-issue as all schools will be out of catchment for you and the LA won't be interested.

I guess you really have to look at how the LA are to be expected to differentiate between your circumstances, and the circumstances of someone just renting to get the catchment school. As a minimum you need your house to be on the market or rented out.

Sound reasonable to me, don't know why you have to tell the LEA though, surely if you are ensconced prior to the application deadline with council tax, electol role etc in place and your old house rented out they can't argue? People are allowed to move house. As a probably forever renter the level of suspicion really irritates me.

45mins would be ridiculous here, and I assume where you are if you're encountering a truly tiny catchment area.

When we were buying, nobody would EVER consider accepting an offer from a buyer who was not proceedable - ie had a firm offer on their exisitng house that had been accepted and was in the hands of solicitors.

You will NEVER be able to buy in your new area if you approach it like this - because the rare house that does come up will be snapped up before you sell your old house and become proceedable.

So you either have to sell, sit on the cash, and wait - or accept that you will not buy where you want to.

Here, the fact that you own another house within a commutable distance would put you out of the running for admission.

In the thread on the AIBU board Tiggy you constantly talk as if the OP is cheating. But she isn't, from what she has said. She has no reason to move for an outstanding school as her older children are at an outstanding school. She isn't renting a flat opposite the school. She is renting a family home for as long as it takes to find a house to buy in the area. She moved there a few months ago, not just as the deadline loomed. I presume she's surprised to find herself in this situation as she probably thought six months would be long enough to find a new house. Now she is stuck - she can't risk losing her place on the property ladder by selling now, so she has to rent, but that probably won't happen before the admissions deadline.

I think she should be honest, with the knoledge that admissions may insist on her property as the address. I think what she needs is proper advice about what is likely to happen.

So, if she puts in an application, presuming it is just one eg she is in London, with her rental address plus all the info and evidence she has about why this is her residence and not the home she owns, with the school she wants as first choice and the catchment school for owned property as second choice, what would happen?

If the council says no, we will only accept the address of the property you own, would she get bumped off entirely? Or would she get school B because of the sibling rule (her older children go there) or school B anyway because they will view her preferences against the old address even if she put new address on the form?

Have to agree with tiggytape, the reality of the situation is that the permanent house address will almost for sure be the one the council accept, no matter how much info is given about the situation with the rented accommodation being genuine.
As such unless the school is not that popular the chances of getting a place rest on how much priority a sibling who lives out of area gets. If the council separates in-catchment siblings from out-of-catchment siblings then you probably will not get a place in a popular school.

Oh,there's a new thread on this?

But what I want to know, out of curiosity really, is what would happen if she puts in her application with her rental address and all her info about the owned property. If the council say no, there's not enough mitigating circs were are going to take her owned property address, what would be the best way to list preferences?

School A near rental property
School B near owned property

So that when the council changes the address she still has a school in catchment area?

Or does the council refusing to accept your address bump you off entirely and you end up in the pile waiting to see what places are left after all preferences have been allocated?

The council should if they know about both addresses use the mortgaged one and she'd be allocated based on that address.

The problem is often that parents keep quiet about an owned home elsewhere, the council allocates in good faith, and by the time they realise the wrong address has been used schools have had places allocated and such an applicant ha to go on the waiting list.

would be the best way to list preferences

Regardless of which address ends up being used the preferences should always be listed in true preference order. Assuming the LA use the owned property address her chances of getting into school A will be reduced but she has the same chance of getting into school B regardless of whether she puts it first or last.