Difficult situation, two addresses, advice please?

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Looking for some advice for a difficult situation please.

My son is due to start Primary in September, we were not given any of our school choices.
Here is the context.

My dad is terminal (few months) so we have moved into his house. When he passes, he will be leaving the house to me and we will stay here for the next few years.

My house is currently on the market. The two houses are in the same district, about 10 miles away from each other.

Our residential address is still our original (trying to sell) house as changing this would cause issues with the mortgage/ council tax etc until we've sold it. So we had to use this address for school applications and was advised by the LA that not doing this would be fraudulent. For school applications we put the three nearest schools to my dads and were declined them all as obviously distance wise we are too far.

We were given a school near the our original house so we are looking at a 20 mile round trip to get there and back twice a day.

I tried to explain the circumstances to the LA but they really didn't care. I am going to try an appeal but based on the fact our addresses are as they are, is there much chance here? Any advice?

The life circumstances plus the travel each day is going to be tough, especially as we likely won't own that house anymore come September.

Thanks in advance

Can the LA advise of any schools close by with spaces as now onto waiting list you can apply to any school with spaces.

I know it probably comes across that the LA simply 'don't care' but they are simply following a process I'm afraid. They can't change it to suit individual needs. The process has been followed correctly from your current permanent address, therefore you have zero chance of winning an appeal. What you need to do is find out where you are on the waiting list for your preferred schools, and if there are any schools closer to your Dad's house which currently have spaces (regardless of reputation, right now locality needs to be your priority).

I appreciate this is an added stress at an already difficult time but appeals can be stressful themselves and there's absolutely no point putting yourself through a process you simply won't win.

There have been so many similar posts on here since offer day and, whilst it's frustrating for individuals, the places have to be allocated on current address to make the process fair. They simply cannot consider who may or not not move in or out of the area between sending the application and receiving the offer. They can only deal with who definitely lives there at the time of applying.

Hopefully you can find something more suitable soon. Even if he has to start at the school he's been allocated, he will likely rocket up the waiting lists for your new local schools once it's your official residence.

I can definitely ask, however the distance is still going to be about 7 miles + for the next closest school so I'm not sure it would really be worth it

Appreciate your reply, I know it isn't personal but it's hard when the system doesn't have any flex. I didnt ask to be in this situation, I'm trying to do my best in the current circumstances. It's not like I'm trying to 'cheat' the system to get the best school, I'm just trying to look after my family.

It adds more salt to the wound that a friend who got the closest school was not asked for any proof of address, upon accepting the place, so knowing I could have got in to the closest school by using my dad's address is frustrating, as I've tried very hard to ensure I'm following the rules.

Lying wouldn’t have helped. The vast majority of people are checked by looking at council tax records and the electoral roll for the last few years. And so don’t have to provide anything. (Like us - when dd started school we had lived in the same house for many years - did’t have to prove anything.)

But if you are more complex then you will be investigated more carefully. (Like friends of mine who moved just before applications went in - ironically both their old house and their new house were catchment for the school they wanted to go to but they still had a right old hassle having to send details off to prove their new address.)

I'm sorry to hear of your situation.

Have you got your DS added to the waiting list of all the schools reasonably close to your Dad's house? If not, you should try to do that as soon as possible. You might get lucky and get offered a place at one of these schools before September, or shortly afterwards. I believe you can be added to the waiting list for as many schools as you wish.

As soon as you sell your house, you should inform the LA of your change of residence. This will immediately push your DS up the waiting list for the schools closer to your Dad's house.

You've done the right thing by being honest. Even though your friend wasn't asked for proof of address, there will have been some checking behind the scenes to see where they pay their council tax etc. It is likely that you'd have been found out if you'd used your Dad's address, even if you didn't know anyone was checking, and even if your DS had managed to start at the local school, it was quite possible that another parent would have reported you to the LA once they discovered that it wasn't your official residence. It would not have been worth the risk.

Best of luck with getting a waiting list place at a school local to your Dad's house.

There are rules LA admissions have to follow. They will disadvantage other parents by being flexible. It’s simply illegal for them to do this for individuals. You will need to get on waiting lists. It’s a difficult situation but the LA have acted correctly.

Thank-you for your empathy 💗

It really is just terrible timing.

I am on all the waiting lists however as we are 10 miles away I know our position will be quite low down, as the positions in the waiting list are ordered by the same criteria. Hopefully we will be near the top once the house is sold and we can officially change our address.

I know the reality is likely DS will have to start at the allocated school and then move when we can. Which really sucks as he will likely get settled and then disrupted. Feels like he is getting punished for an already shit situation, but I don't know what else I can do.

Your friend might not have been asked for proof of address but that doesn’t mean that the LA didn’t run checks on the Council Tax records they hold, or check the voting list. They could also be asked to provide proof of address to the school when they visit for a settling in visit.

I don’t understand what you mean about needing to keep your residential address as a house you don’t live in. If you are living with your dad full time, I would have thought you’d need to be on the electoral roll and paying council tax at that property, since they are focussed on where you live not the house which you own. That would have given you the proof needed. Some councils do use the address of a property you own rather than one you rent or a family address even if you claim not to live there because - generally speaking - people who own a house they don’t live in and then rent another property elsewhere or use an address belonging to family are trying to game the system to access a better school.

I would ask your council what proof they would accept that you are actually living at your dad’s house.

@ClockHolly The reason is that people “move house” to gain advantage to get into a better school. The OP isn’t responsible for her Dad’s house.She has her own house and has not sold it. So that’s her main residence. Neither has she yet inherited her Dads house. So she is, in effect, just sleeping there but not paying the bills, nor got that address on official records, and not registered for anything at that address. So she’s not there for school allocation purposes.

Parents are deemed to have a single pre existing residential address, with bills etc to support it, and sometimes you will need to have been there for at least a year. Otherwise parents rent flats and move in with grandparents to game the system. It’s the same for all applicants. For the OPs dc to have got a place, another dc who lived nearer would be refused. How is that fair to them? What if 10 parents said the same or similar? DC have had places removed when parents cheat.

Even if the LA could take certain circumstances into account, they cannot be sure that your dad will leave you the house and they also cannot be sure that you won’t move back to your current property after his death, or before if he goes into hospice care, say.

I am really sorry for your situation