Please help with complicated primary applications issues!

[EverydayAnya]

Sorry this is going to be so long and boring. Will try to bullet point.

1. We currently live somewhere out of catchment for any local schools

1. We are trying to sell our house and buy somewhere local but within catchment of schools. We couldn't do it earlier because DH was on a contract job (so technically self employed) and couldn't get a mortgage as he was doing this for less than 3 years (I didn't get all te specifics). His company have now offered him a permanent contract and so it's only now he has been able to get a mortgage for the new house.

1. The house isn't selling and so we can't buy anywhere else. Application deadline is January 15. I just don't see us selling and buying within th next 4 months.

1. I'm having DC2 in 6 weeks and am soooo stressed.

1. What do we do??!!

My main issues are as follows:

1. Can we rent near a school for January and then try to buy a house near it later on? That would be ok wouldn't it as we would still be in catchment?

1. What if we rent near the school for January but then find a house which isn't in the catchment for that school anymore but for a different school (still in same borough) Can we still keep the first place? Would we even get a place at second school as they are all massively oversubscribed? So if it's in June let's say and all the places have already been allocated what would happen to us?

Is it still fraudulent to stay at first school even though we have not tried to be deliberately fraudulent it's just that we didn't find a house we wanted there??

1. Is there a minimum amount of time you can be at an address before it's ok to move elsewhere but still remain at the school. For example if you are in one house from reception to year 1 and then move house surely it's then ok to still continue at same

School even if you're not in the catchment?

I am so confused and unsure about what to do. We are trying to do the right thing and nothing's going in our favour. I'm utterly stressed about where DS will go and where the heck we are going to be living over the next year

Any help and advice would be massively appreciated.

Thanks!

Thanks for replying tiggy!

Which council do you mean? Redbridge where we are now or Waltham Forest? I can only apply from one borough can't i? Can I fill in two applications from different boroughs?
So it wouldn't be amending an application for Waltham Forest it would be a late application yes?

As in I should ask Waltham Forest to give me a grace period for their application deadline

Way too many question marks there and another: what's the difference between completion and exchange?

Of do you mean I should do the application to Waltham Forest but use my redbridge address as long as WF have told me I will be able to amend it by a certain point. Can I do that?

EverydayAnya have you taken your house off the market?

Have you put any time limit on how long you'll wait for these people to find somewhere they like?

My neighbours found a buyer for their place. They made the buyer wait 4 months while they house hunted, then decided after all they were not going to sell. The buyer must have been fuming!

Do you have any indication of how close they are to finding somewhere?

Exchange is when you exchange contracts - it's all legally binding then and very few sales fall over after that as I believe there's a monetary penalty for breach of contract.

Completion is the day you actually move, get keys, transfer money etc.

Some people exchange and complete on the same day but there's often a week in between.

Which council do you mean? Redbridge where we are now or Waltham Forest? I can only apply from one borough can't i? Can I fill in two applications from different boroughs?
So it wouldn't be amending an application for Waltham Forest it would be a late application yes?

Redbridge and Waltham Forest both participate in the pan-London system so their rules are likely to be the same. However, if you want to be sure you need to ask Waltham Forest.

You apply from Redbridge. You cannot fill in two applications. In the pan-London system a move from one borough to another is treated as amending an existing application, not making a new application.

It used to be the case that changes of address up to mid-February were accepted without you being treated as a late applicant. I can't see that provision in any of the London admission arrangements I've checked this year so it may be that this has changed.

When is it official

Exchanging contracts is straightforward. You sign a copy of the contract and the other party signs a copy of the same contract. Your solicitor sends the contract you have signed to their solicitor, their solicitor sends the contract they have signed to your solicitor. When that has happened you have exchanged contracts and you are committed to the transaction. As YonicScrewdriver says, there are financial penalties if one party pulls out after exchange.

No our house is still on the market. We've had an offer though.

We won't be in a chain on our end as we have inlaws as the stop gap.

That was really helpful information to know that you can transfer one application from one borough to another. So even if we start in redbridge we can amend for WF as opposed to making a late application. Thanks for that

Also in the WF guidance it does mention being able to give new address by February on page 8 below

www.walthamforest.gov.uk/Documents/Starting-Primary-2015.pdf

The only problem now is having to wait for the buyers to find their own buyers. Hence more stress for me

Hey everyday. I am no expert had a bit of similar situation last year. We had found a place (to rent) through an agent who promised it would be refurbished in time to move into in december. This of course did not happen and in January we had to retract our offer and start looking for something else. We could not find anything suitable to move before the deadline so we applied from our old address but only listed schools relevant for the new area we were moving to and then moved in February and supplied the council with details and proof of the move. the only thing I would be worried about in your case is what you are going to provide as proof that living with in laws is your lawful/permanent address? In Haringey you have to provide council tax and utility bills. Will you have this? In this case it might be better if you are renting in Walthamstow or wherever you are planning to settle as living with family members can be seen as being a temporary address if your house has not yet been sold. Again in Haringey you do not have to have sold your previous house. You just need to have rented it out or show that it is on the market and you are trying to sell it. That is what they told me anyway. So if you have moved address and all your child benefits, GPs and have documents to prove you have moved and evidence your house was on the market and you accepted an offer I think it would be fine.
But as others have said better to get it in writing so you have something to show if there are any questions asked. In my experience the council staff were very forthcoming with information once I got through to ask them questions relating to my situation. It is a fact of life people move around so if you are genuinely moving I don't think you should worry so much.

Thanks so much maiden

I'm going to be trying the council every day from now to see f I can get some concrete answers.

Watching this with interest. We are moving back from overseas in the next couple of months and will be renting initially in the area we hope to buy in. We also own a small flat in the same area but won't now fit into it (family has grown since we left London). Flat has been tenanted for years, if this makes a difference.

I am worried that we will be seen as applying for a reception school place fraudulently due to our move date and the fact we are renting. This isn't the case at all - it's just that we don't have time to organise buying a house by the mid-January deadline and so will rent and then look to buy over the course of the next year. So sorry to hijack - I'd just be interested in Tiggy's and PRH's views. We should be back and installed by December at the latest and intend to buy within walking distance of the school DC gets into.

Based on what I've read above, it seems that people with a genuine need to move/rent short term/buy at the last minute are seen as fraudsters, when sometimes that's how life works out!

I hope you've made some progress OP and again, sorry for the hijack.

It depends on the LA but you may find that they insist on using the address of the flat you own rather than the property you rent. I suggest you ask them about your situation. Make sure you get their answer in writing. If it is a phone call send them an email setting out your understanding of what was said. That way you have evidence you can use if they do something different.

Thank you PRH - that's good advice. Interestingly, the flat falls into a black hole some years - so close to lots of local schools, just not always close enough. Even if we had continued to live there (all squished in!) rather than moving abroad, I imagine we'd have had to move or rent elsewhere anyway to stand a good chance of getting into a local school (we only know this as our tenant has a child and had real trouble). In terms of council tax etc, we haven't paid this on the flat for years (all documented) as the tenant has done so.

I hate the thought that we might have the finger of suspicion pointed at us when all our reasons for moving are absolutely genuine - what a sad old world it is!

Thanks Tiggy.