Renting to get into a school

[twee1]

So by my reckoning I think this is the fourth professional working couple I have heard of who has rented to get their child into a school.

I do not know this latest couple well at all but was introduced to them in passing by some local friends so my sniping is about a true case I am not making this up.

Latest example just seems so blatant, they move to a new road, rent a new place in a street that now locals can not afford, put their home out to rent and voila - right before the school year suddenly they manage to get a place in one of the outstanding primary schools in Greenwich.

I have friends who live further out than where they are, but not by much we are talking about the next street away and for the last two years these existing homeowners just can't get their children into their most local school in part due to the high demand for renters closer to the school. My friends have accepted schools further out.

I fire I just really wonder how do people have the cheek? I don't believe it is a case of their not being a decent choice either but obviously you need enough money and cheek to mobilise and fake moving house for a while without being caught.

Do council rules not apply when schools become academies? It is just that in Greenwich it seems so prevalent.

How do you stop this sort of thing?

Also my children are not impacted so I don't really know why I find it so annoying - I think it is just the injustice and the attitude that goes with it - like the spouting of people along the lines of "oh little johnny or Jill got in thankfully we had to pull some strings otherwise we would have had to pay private etc etc "

Rant over...maybe I just need to accept the inequality and move on ....

Are you annoyed that they didn't sell their home and are renting that out?

We nearly did the same thing but I couldn't face being a landlord so we looked at buying closer.

Then I couldn't face the huge jump in mortgage so we stayed where we are

(although house in on the market now - but not to change schools)

There will also be long term renters who won't get into schools because the catchment shrinks because of people who do this to work the system and yes I am inclined to think they probably are entitled types

should say we are London also. We are in catchment for a Outstanding school but I wanted a faith school for DD1

it happens where we are - sure it happens everywhere, you're always going to have parents that move into catchment just in time to get their children into a decent catchment school.

This is why the idea that you can remove all inequalities is nonsense, people will always do the absolute best they can that's in their means for their kids. I would, if I couldn't afford to buy in the area.

As said, as long as they intend to live there for a year, nothing anyone can do about it.

True, it probably does happen everywhere but to me that doesn't make it right.

I don't really know why it has hit such a nerve but it has. Maybe because so many people seem to do this, maybe it was the manner of the people I met doing this, a kind of selfishness which was not endearing.

I am guessing that I am so annoyed because I just feel very invested where I live and I think primary schools where I live are typically good. In some ways I don't see the fuss, it is the unfairness and working of the system that I think annoys me and what they will be teaching their children and all along they probably could afford private and maybe they will do so after primary.

I am sure lots of people do it but then I am sure there are lots of people who don't do it and there are people who will unfairly miss out on their true local school because of their actions.

I've heard of quite a few people who do this. The thing is, renting a whole house near the nearest primary school here for six months would cost about the same as four years in a pre prep / prep school. It isn't as though they are saving all that much money (although perhaps if you have four children it would make financial sense).

The school round the corner from me have changed their admissions policy so that children on FSM get priority. I don't know whether that will have made a huge impact on their population though - I suppose that it would depend on whether people know that they would get priority.

Changing admissions to allow FSM children priority is I think a good idea and would go some way to redress imbalance

admissions policy so that children on FSM get priority

Is that not just a way to maximise funding rather than being more equitable?

They may find that the address they are renting has already been blacklisted.

Don't know how they could have an address blacklisted though - but it will be top priced rent and lots of real estate advertise the catchment whenever they get a rental.

I guess I need to let this go but I have not felt this annoyed for a long time ... I don't think I can contact the council I think they are entitled enough to look after their family at the expense of others.

Addresses may not be blacklisted as such, but some may be a red flag up to admissions authorities-enough to start a check.

As far as I know the illegal act is renting a property solely to gain a school place WHEN you own a property that had been your main address. Even if you live in the rented accommodation it's still breaking the admissions laws.

Yes people do it, yes people get away with it, but it's still breaking the law. They may get their child a school place with no problems, however they may get a call from the admissions authority during the process to "check" and a reminder that any school they chose will be granted on the distance from their owned home. Or they might get investigated after the school place has been allocated and gave their child withdrawn from the school.

Yes, selling a home to rent oneninnthe catchment of a school is not against the admissions code.

cru around where I live the aim is to tell everyone you're children are state educated. Another reason to game the system is if the local preps are selective and you can't be certain your child or children will get a place.

Anyway OP I can assure you you're not alone in your feelings.

Thanks paperclipmover you sound very knowledgable and no doubt have worked or experience of this type of situation - again I don't know them well but they have not exactly been quiet as to their intentions and it will be so obvious that they are renting to get the school place.

Maybe someone closer to them or the school might do something about their dubious practices.

I wrote 'blacklisted' as I was in a hurry due to the end of my lunch break!

What I mean is, if you have Popular School A surrounded by mostly family homes or owner-occupied flats - but in one of the nearby street is a house that has been converted into two rental flats, that flat might be one of the very few possibilities for this kind of practice. If 22B Nearby Street pops up on applications, year after year, then the LA is going to get wise to it very quickly...

I have even seen these 'tips' as to flats on MN in byegone years...

Yes maybe that's it, sorry wasn't meaning to be pedantic.

Personally I've seen how this is divisive to a community, and has created bad feeling and distrust. It's been an interesting eye opener to the human condition too, both positive and negative.

If it directly affect your child, and you are sure they are cheating, just report them. Or even if you are not affected by it but you are sure they are cheating and you feel strongly against it, report as well. Otherwise, what's the point of getting wound up about it?

Its not just an issue local to you. Its common near us but LA turn a blind eye

*It's been going on for years in the borough of Wandsworth, because the schools have sibling places at the top of the admission criteria
So rent to get your first child in and then the rest are guaranteed...

They changed the rules last year so that in-catchment siblings are still top of the list, but siblings who now live more than 1000m from the school go below in-catchment children*

And they have also introduced a rule that if you own one property locally, but rent another, the one you own will be deemed your address for admissions purposes (even if you can show you are living at the rented one). This is to stop exactly what the OP is describing.

Oh and it's not fraud - but it is definitely playing the system

How would the authorities go about checking that parents didn't won properties elsewhere? Wouldn't that be very time consuming?

I know someone who rented for a year or two and rented theirs out. No one questioned it (outstanding oversubscribed secondary) even when she moved back to her old address 2 weeks before the second child started the same school.

Own properties, not won

reup exactly what you describe is what happens in Greenwich - except now I believe people stay longer in their rental property, while they rent out their main property.

I think previously people probably rented and switched earlier.

I don't think greenwich council are on to this at all. Another couple up the road did this a few years ago and they went around telling people openly about it - so I do not think there are many realistic sanctions.

I think it is divisive too.

tiggytape thanks for your posts - it definitely is the case that people move up the road 2 to 10 minutes away - but they get away with it.

So I wonder if Greenwich council check - or perhaps it is just more prevalent now the school in question is an academy.

It is a total joke.