renting house out but applying for a school place

[waitingforsomething]

Dh, DC and I are off to Singapore for 18months. We will be back in the August before DD starts school and we will need to apply for her place while we are away.
Our house is in the catchment for a very popular school and I am concerned that it will be rented by a family who will want to use the address to apply for the same school.
Who has the rights to use this address? I assume it is me as it is our own home and we will be living in it when she starts. Anyone know?

waitingforsomething I would imagine it will be whoever is residing at that address rather than who owns the property. However, LAs do differ in terms or address requirements so it is worth claifying this with them.

Whoever reside in the property at the time of applying for the school.

Whoever resides however, if you contact the school they will advise you.

At my school we wouldn't enrol your child until you were back in the country though.

Yep, it's whoever is actually living there.

No you would need to be resident in that house when you apply mid January to use the address. If you rented it out your tenants would be able to apply but not you. All you can do is ask LA what their policy is for overseas applications and when the earliest opportunity to apply would be. 10 years ago we were able to use our then empty UK house for an application but rules have changed. It would probably be a late application just prior to or on your return now. You can also then join waiting lists. August can be a very tricky period to have an application processed and get answers.

It wont be your home whilst you live elsewhere and rent it to someone else. It will be your property but someone else's home. Regardless of your intent to return. The only way to ensure no-one used the address would be not to let it.

I deal with admissions at the primary school I work at. In my LA you wouldn't be able to apply from your UK address if you lived overseas unless the council tax bill was still in your name (which it shouldn't be if you're renting it out). You would be counted as a late applicant and you'd only be able to apply on your return in the August. At my school, where there is plenty of turnover so places come up more often than at other local schools, you would be waiting a few months until you got a place.

You are very unlikely to be able to use your UK address. The LEA may allow you to apply, using your overseas address, and then change the address when you return.

For example, Surrey explicitly say -

"If you have a property in the UK you should apply to the local authority for that address. You must apply by the deadline and provide information about where you are living and when you intend to return. We will initially consider the application based on your child's address abroad and any subsequent change will be considered in line with our change of address policy." for those residing abroad.

If you return in August, that is when the address will be used from (possibly up to a few weeks earlier if you can provide concrete proof of the return date and residence, though that depends on LEA), and you'll be placed on waiting lists - though the LEA will have to find you a place somewhere.

Thanks all. I have downloaded the primary admissions booklet for my LEA but there are no details about living abroad. It sounds like the general rule is its not ok.
Thanks for your advice- this puts rather a large spanner in the works...

As unfair as it seems to those of us who are/have been in this position, very rarely will admissions authorities allow applications to be made using a rented out property, even if there is 'proof of intent to return'.

We were in this position last year, were told numerous times (by email and phone) to apply for a high school place using our UK home address, then after applying we were told we couldn't use the address. We went to appeal and the appeal was successful, but it was horribly stressful and uncertain.

We'd acted in good faith on info given to us by the admissions authority (in this case, the schoo itself) only for them to change their minds further down the line.

Yup. What everyone else says. You need to apply from the address at which you are living on deadline day. Owning a house you have rented out gives you no right to use that address.

Is private schooling an option? That is how a friend dealt with a secondment of this sort.

As others have said, the closing date for apps is usually early to mid-Jan and whoever was in residence at the address then would be using it for a place. Paying the council tax (and having the bill to show for it) seems to be a universally acceptable proof of address IME!

We moved before our DD started school and had to apply in the area we were living (almost 200 miles from where she'd be going to school) and make a late application when we had a rental agreement and the all-important council tax bill when we relocated.

When are you leaving - could you rent it out for 12 months instead of 18?

Thanks. We would really like to take up the opportunity to spend 18 months away as I thnk it would be great for everyone, especially while children are so young. But it is very competitive city for primary places and what will be left when we return will be at poorer schools far away from where we live. I don't want to compromise DDs start at education.
Private schooling would be hard, as I wouldn't be in immediate employment on return.

Our authority says this:

Please note that when allocating your child a school/academy we can only use the permanent home address where the child is living at the time of the application. Please see page x for definition. We cannot accept a different address that you hope to move to in the future (except in the case of UK Service personnel and other Crown servants, where we have received confirmation of your move from your employer)

Pretty cut and dried I'm afraid.

Even if you stayed there is no guarantee you would get a place anyway.

It's really frustrating waiting, I totally understand. Even the LA we were dealing with said the rules should be changed for families moving back from overseas, who have evidence of firm intent to return, such as a work contract, flights booked, end of tenancy agreement, proof of ownership and so on. But sadly, it doesn't work that way at the moment. I'd have a chat with the admissions authority anyway, just to check where you stand in their eyes.

Also, having moved overseas with young children for a few years, the experience of being able to show them another part of the world and have the most amazing adventure is something I wouldn't pass up . Good luck with it all!

Why should families relocating from abroad get different treatment to other people relocating or having to move for eg tenancy or relationship breakdown reasons.

Don't get me wrong, I get it is difficult. But it is hard for anyone who moves. Or who has to move during the x years they have children of school age

I'm not saying I should have special treatment- I was just asking the rules!

If you did apply from that address and got a place then it could be taken away from you even after she started school. Is there any way that you could rent it out until Christmas and then you and dd move back then?

Waiting - sorry. I was talking to Wolfie. She said her authority said that there should be special rules if coming back from abroad

It's the system which is unfair for anyone moving in and out of an area, often through no fault of their own. We bought a house years before DCs were born, in a specific area because we hoped to start a family and that eventually they would get places at a certain school. Then we had to move away for work, and we kept the house because we knew we would be returning, and that we would need school places. It's situations like this which I think ought to be treated in a different way.

See that's the bit I disagree with : that someone who owns a house but isn't living in it for some reason should get preferential treatment over others who have to relocate, e.g. those reliant on the rentals market. Those who rent privately often have to relocate frequently. And often at short notice. Those whose relationships break up often have to relocate. I don't think being someone who owns a house and plans to come back to it makes you 'more deserving' of additional consideration.

I do agree that the overall system is shitty. Absolutely.

Well at least these answers have told you what you need to do - rent the house out - c/tax and bills inclusive in the rent, everything stays in your name, and make sure you don't rent it out to a family with a 4 yr old! And apply as normal.

I'm not sure committing fraud is the answer here...

One option would be to go for a year and return in time to be home on 15 January, even if it meant living apart from your husband until the summer?

Tempting though isn't it?! But if you applied from overseas and someone else did apply from your address - wouldn't their application be seen as fraudulent because they know for a fact that their tenancy will end in August and so they know from before they applied that that they won't be living there in September? Whereas you know that although you won't be there at time of applying you will be there I. September because it's your house! It doesn't seem fair does it.