Buckinghamshire Council Home Visit during Primary Application for Address Check

[Rockclimber67]

Hello -
We think we will be in a position where we own a property and are renting another at the same time (in Amersham)

We are hoping to get into Chestnut Lane school. In these circumstances would Bucks council do a home visit to check the 'main address'?

Thanks!

Are you applying from the address you are living at?

We will be living between the two

As far as I’m aware, you can only apply from one address.

They didn’t with me when we moved into the area. However, they did require official bills (including council tax) for the address.

is the rented house closest to the school or the one you own? Which is on the electoral roll?

What is the situation with your owned property? How long have you been renting?

The owned property is the one you have to apply from. From what I recall this is very difficult to have disregarded, if you intend to apply from a rental in a more favourable location.

They won't necessarily do a visit if the paper trail backs up an application that doesn't appear fraudulent.

How old is your child?
Bucks try and visit the house for children going into primary / pre school as a combined safeguarding / address check. If you live between the 2 properties, they will take the owned one.
The council website lists what is required...
Rental Agreement: A formal lease showing you reside in the catchment area.
Disposal of Previous Property: Proof that any prior property you own is sold, or that a previous lease has ended.
Utility Bills & Documentation: Current Council Tax bill, utility bills showing usage, and a doctor’s registration or driver's license reflecting your new address. 1, 2, 3]

Thank you, he will be applying for reception The rental will be much closer to the school.

We would be generally living in the owned house and would move to the rented temporarily to get in to Chestnut Lne School Amersham

We would have council tax for the rental.

Has anyone done this ?

You are very unlikely to pull this off. The issue won’t just be the home visit. It will be the fact that you still own another house, that you will be paying bills in your name there, that your GP, primary school etc are all
ljnked to the owned address. You may not even get as far as a home visit as that implies you would actually have an offer.

Pretty grim behaviour if you’re not actually planning to move

You mean, you are going to try and buy your way into the school of your choice?
I hope the council do realise what is going on.

What you are describing is fraud and is unlikely to succeed. Bucks are very robust in their procedures.

How long is your rental for and is it a worthwhile financial attempt considering you are very likely to fail?

What catchment school is an application from your owned house likely to get?

Lots of people do this. At best you lose the school place when you get caught and in one case at least recently, it ended up in court. You’re not living there at all you’re scamming the system so pack it in with the “we live between two houses” shite.
People like you are the reason that when we legitimately moved in the run up to reception, it triggered a huge load of extra paperwork we had to gather and send to Bucks council. They are especially wise to this nonsense in Amersham for obvious reasons.

The only way to do this is to officially rent out your owed house and be able to show the tenancy agreement

The other school is St Georges although the owned house would only be 0.6miiles from Chesnut Lane so may also end up being in catchment

And even this might not be enough!

Definition of Normal Home Address

www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-admissions/school-admissions-guides-policies-and-statistics/guide-to-starting-school-or-moving-up-to-junior-school/understanding-the-terms-we-use/#normal-home-address

From this link:

In deciding your Normal Home Address we would not usually accept an address if:

• you or your family has a second home elsewhere as a main residence. We expect that you have sold, or leased through an agency, your previous property or that a lease agreement on a property you previously rented has expired and that you have no other residence.
• only part of a family has moved out of the Normal Home Address unless this was part of a divorce or permanent separation arrangement. If this is the case we will ask for evidence.
• ….

We can refuse to accept where you say your child lives if we have any doubts, in which case we will continue to ask for evidence to show that you and your family actually live where you say you live. We may ask our legal team to investigate or ask that you provide legal confirmation of your address.

We may check the evidence you have provided with other agencies including your child’s current school.

If we offer a place at a school and then discover that the offer was made on the basis of fraudulent or misleading information (for example, a false claim to living in a catchment area), and this denied a place to another child, the offer of that place will be withdrawn by the admission authority for the school. This has happened in previous years.

This is a fraudulent application.
It's not the usual address for which the child will be living.

I thought you'd say a different school than St George's. Is your reason for renting near Chestnut Lane solely for the school application? Are you committed and will it be money well spent if/ when you fail?

I know the area fairly well…. And I also know that a few years ago a place was removed from a child who had already started at Elengeni when it was obvious that they’d done this.

I think other parents dobbed them in when a child who had been at Chestnut Lane didn’t get a place at the junior school because of this kind of fraud.

@Rockclimber67 it’s also worth noting that within the last few years, there was at least one year when no child got in on distance (all places went to siblings and other categories)

I so surprised that anyone would risk doing this to their child. At my school an offer was withdrawn the day term started in similar circumstance. It’s so cruel to the child.

What you are describing as your plan is exactly what the system is seeking to prevent.

You are planning to rent a house closer to your school of choice purely to secure a place. It is not your home and you do not intend to live there. Your child will not be attending that school from that address in the future. It is fraud.

What are your fears about your catchment school that makes this seem like a remotely good idea?

So you’re openly admitting to acting fraudulently to get into a specific school?