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?

I agree Libraries - sounds like having your cake and eating it to me.

Hi

It might not be as clear cut as everyone is saying. I think it definitely depends on the LEA. We were in a similar situation last year, were totally upfront with the LEA from the outset and they accepted our UK address as our permanent residence even though we were living abroad on applications day and renting the UK property out.

They wouldn't confirm 100% this is how they would treat the application in advance. We had to wait until we actually had submitted it. And we had to provide a lot of back up documents on the application such as proof of house ownership, proof of date we vacated, a letter from my husbands employer showing the return date, copies of rental contracts of uk house and overseas property etc.

They said it was acceptable due to the fact we were only away a short time. In our case it was 1 year.

So definitely speak to the LEA. I also made sure we didn't let the house to people with primary age children as I was worried that might complicate things.

In our LEA booklet it says something along the lines of - if you own a house in the borough it will be considered your primary residence even if you are living somewhere else (to prevent short term renters). I am not sure if this wording helped us.

Anyway, good luck and I wouldn't worry too much. The time abroad will be an amazing experience! Even if they didn't accept the application you would jump the waiting list on distance when you return and there is often movement at the start of the school year even in popular schools.

Hope it works out!

chapca sounds very similar to us, we asked the admissions authority the question about using our UK address before we even accepted the overseas job, and it was their reassurance that made us feel confident about moving away temporarily; unfortunately, the admissions authority then changed its mind.

Don't know if it's helpful or not but we applied from one address miles away from the school, but not overseas, because we planned to buy a house in the same village as the school. The purchase hadn't gone through by application deadline but we included all the details of our intended move and what the new address would be. Shortly before decision day we had an email asking if the move had happened, it had and we supplied prove. We were given a place at the over subscribed school we wanted. Although we moved after application deadline it was before decision day.

Thank you everyone and chapca that is very interesting. Perhaps I will call my LEA and ask what their rules are exactly.
It does feel a bit unfair as I will definitely be back - I will be living in my house when my 4 year old starts school but she won't have a place at her local school.
It is tempting to just keep everything in our name and not let to a family with a 4 year old but I'm sure this isn't the right thing to do...

Potterwolfie how long ago did this happen? Sorry to hear of your frustrations with it. If me and DC move back by January we will be without DH for 7 months which feels like a long time - DC2 is only a baby now and will only be 18 months or so then

It's not just that. It is the disastrous consequences if you are caught. And believe me, in popular areas sometimes the fellow parents are very effective detectives!

Just re read that you have read your lea guidelines and there are no specific rules so your not breaking any rules! Local parents won't have anything to complain about because they won't know anything about how you got a place or where you were when you applied because you'll be living in your address when you start school it's not like your pretending to live there but really your travelling in to school everyday from somewhere else. It's your home and your catchment school,
I think the rules are there to prevent people from renting/buying in a catchment but not actually living there, you don't fall into this catagory your just taking an unfortunately timed long holiday!

I am afraid all of that is simply wrong.

If the rules say it must be your normal residence when you apply,it doesn't need to specifically mention overseas.

And if you don't think parents will be checking where you live, asking when you moved back, subtly asking which pre school the DD was at in the area (and puzzling why Daisy and Matilda never met her...) then the area is less over subscribed than implied by the OP

Are either of you service personnel or Crown servants?

waiting we moved back earlier this year, two weeks before term started. Our LA hadn't published, or mentioned, a cut off date for residence, though we found out it was mid Feb during the appeal process. Like you, it would've been very difficult for three quarters of our family to move home and leave DH overseas, for so many practical, financial and personal reasons.

Yes you could just put your head in the sand and apply as Etak15 says, with the view that your home is your permanent residence and you are just away temporarily. Would this be wrong? We felt we couldn't take the risk though so decided to be upfront.

It would be hard to hide the fact you are away with the school as there will be nursery/home visits, inductions etc but then school admin is typically so bad they might not think to question it.

I did find though that a lot of busy bodies did asked how we managed to get the place despite living away. I think it would be hard to hide.

I feel for you as it did stress me out. We even paid a private school deposit as an insurance.

I would speak to the LEA. I can't see its in their interest not to accept the application. You are clearly planning to return or else you wouldn't be applying for a place and if they refuse you they will just have to deal with a late application and possible appeal further down the line which must be a bit of a hassle for them.

I would say they didn't go to preschool I like to keep them at home with me! No seriously though you and chapca are talking sense, I just feel that it's so unfair for op in her circumstances. I hope it works out for you.

Hmm the usual residence cut off of 15th Jan or whatever it is fair. It would be impossible to legislate for people who are planning a move (or say they are going to move back). It is unfortunate for you I agree, but there are many areas of unfairness about school admissions I'm just not sure in this case if there is a better way. Most of these situations come to light as in you case because of a shortage of school places.

Applications should reflect where you live on application and not admission (though hopefully both) because many things could happen to a family that are beyond their control in the intervening 9 months. Notice to leave, separation, eviction, bankruptcy etc. They can only reflect the current status quo not predict the future.

I just found this on their website after much looking (the area may out me but never mind!)
So it looks as though they might not be as hard-line as other LEAs if I can prove we will return

I've got no intention of trying to pull the wool over their eyes! I know it wouldn't work

Read the small print carefully. As an example the Essex rules have the following paragraph:

"If an applicant meeting the above criteria owns a property in Essex but is not living in it, perhaps
because they are working abroad at the time of application but they intend to take up residency at
the Essex home before the start of the autumn term, the application will be processed using the
Essex address. Any offer of a school place will then be conditional upon receipt of evidence of
taking up residency at that property in Essex"

www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Schools/Admissions/Documents/Final_Determined_Primary.pdf

When you've read them, write to the LEA to check that the paragraph applies to you and get it in writing that you are OK.

Could you rent it for a year as a furnished let? Then all return to spend Christmas at home and move back in.

DH then returns to Singapore.

You stay with the children until late January and then return to Singapore for an extended holiday until June/July.