Renting a 2nd property to get a school place

[Sadmissions]

Parents in my DC's class have just announced they are moving into a rental property while they have some work done to the house they own and usually live in. This happily coincides with the Secondary School Application window and fortuitously puts them in catchment for a previously out-of-reach 'outstanding' school.

Clever things timing the renovations in this way! But a quick look at our County Schools Admissions website reveals: 'Examples of cases that will be fully investigated and applications withdrawn include: renting a property close to a popular school but retaining another property'.

Seems pretty clear but they're confident that a 12 months lease will give the Council all the comfort it needs - and another family pulled off a very similar move last year. Maybe this rule doesn't actually get enforced?

[Clickncollect]

My borough (London Borough of Havering) have a link on their website for whistleblowing and actively encourage reporting.

[Allthecoolkids]

Report them or stop bitching about it. Until you do nothing will change.

[spacecadet48]

Goodluck The thread isn't referring to people moving to areas for a few years and applying for schools. Alot of people rent as they cant afford to buy. It's referring to people moving temporarily,getting a place and returning to their main home. When i was renting a property before I bought we moved to an area where we planned to buy, my children got into the local school and we bought on the same street. I am not sure why it is okay for those who are wealthy enough to beat the system because they can afford to have a main home and move 200 m up the road to rent a flat to get their DC into the school as they are shocked to find themselves on a waiting list is acceptable? We all do our best for our DC but this behaviour is unacceptable and sadly is a common occurence within the middle class who feel entitled.

[GoodluckJonathan76]

Sorry but I won't be reporting them. I feel more strongly about reporting the people who let their dogs crap all over my street every day. The people doing this are just trying to get the best for their kids within an already unfair system. The people who happen to live within catchment are no more entitled to a place at a good school that people who live further away. I know several other families planning to do this and I won't be reporting any of them. Good luck to them.

[BewareOfDragons]

Report them!

[GoodluckJonathan76]

I'm not sure it gets detected that much at all. I've never heard of anyone getting caught. I was talking to an estate agent in the area a couple of years ago when we were thinking of moving and he was extremely open, saying that loads of people rent for 1-2 years to get their kids into this school (there are actually 2 very good schools in the area). It seems to be a very well-trodden path. Given how many people do it, I would be surprised if the LA has the energy and resources to investigate many. A lot of the policies are also not clear cut. The policy for the LA in question talks about an address of convenience. If you have a tenancy for 12 months at least and have rented or "disposed of" of other property by either selling it or renting it out, then it's difficult for them to argue that the property is still available to you.

[prh47bridge]

It clearly goes on a lot

It happens a lot but succeeds less often than you might think. If the LA finds out about it before offers go out they will simply use the correct address for the family involved. The family may never find out what has happened. And if it happens that they get a place at their preferred school anyway, they will attribute their success to cheating the system although the truth is that it made no difference.

Also, a proportion of those who depart from their school during Y7 are cases where the parents cheated and have now been found out. They tend not to advertise the fact that they've lost the place because they got it through cheating. Their children often end up at a worse school than they would have got had the parents been honest.

There are, of course, some who get away with it. And, of course, some LAs are better than others at detecting parents trying to cheat the system. But the number of cheats detected is going up rapidly.

[GoodluckJonathan76]

This "sort" of thing - not "sought"!!!

[GoodluckJonathan76]

I live in an area where this sought of things goes on all the time. I know at least 3 families in DS1''s class (year 5) who will move approx 1-2 miles to rent in the catchment area of a very sought after school in the area. I attended an open day at said school last year and there was one parent who was blatantly questioning the deputy head over their admisisons policy with a clear view to moving to rent in the area for the minimum period. It clearly goes on a lot and I have mixed views about it. It's not fair to deprive someone else of a place but the current system also isn't fair - why should someone who lives in a particular area get into a fantastic school whilst a kid living a mile away has rubbish options?? I don't blame any parent for trying to get the best for their kids - most do this in some way or another. It's also a massive hassle to move - if these families want to go through the hassle and disruption then fair play to them.

[LordWalterTheCourageous]

Report them to the school and LEA teach them a lesson that needs to be taught.

[LizB62A]

You should report them - it's just wrong and should be actively discouraged.

[Grrrrrsnarl]

Report them op
Like all the others have said another kid has lost their place
It's not fair and totally wrong.
You don't need to give your details

[cantkeepawayforever]

Sadadmissions,

Report it. Just contact the admissions office, and say 'I believe that X family owns property in Y, which they are renovating, and have rented a property closer to the school temporarily. Please could you check that this meets the admissions requirements for school Z?'

They may have legitimately obtained a place - there are examples every year where people THINK they have got a place because of system gaming, whereas actually they got a place regardless. However, they may not, and places are often removed between now and September, purely because of decent people reporting those who behave unlawfully.

[notmyredditusername365]

11Nightmare - don't dismiss people's actual experience as "complete rubbish" based on what happened to you and you alone. How incredibly rude.

It still does happen. I live close to a much sought after state comprehensive school with a tiny catchment. At some social event not too long ago I met a woman who had moved her family into a rented house within the catchment area of that school and let out her owned house that was about half a mile outside it. After her first child got in and had been there for a year they all moved back to the owned house with the expectation that the next 2 children would all follow suit on the sibling rules.

What gave me an enormous amount of satisfaction and still does to this day is that her second child decided she didn't want to go to this school! Oh no, she wanted to go to another school in the next borough (where my daughter went) and the mum was wheeled across to talk to me for tips on how to get her dd into this other school. I chatted to her whilst thinking ha ha fucking ha are you going to move house again to shimmy the application process for this child you fucking hypocrite?

[spacecadet48]

Arkestra it was in a London borough that I was referring in my recent message. They did catch on but took a number of years and probably alot of complaints

[Arkestra]

11Nightmare it depends very much on where you live how much checking is done. Most London boroughs will sniff out people who fail to declare owned property - but I understand that this is a comparatively recent development, and that there used to be lots of people lying their arse off and getting away with it!

I think outside London it's more likely to be a crapshoot. I'd be interested to know where OP lives (just the overall area if something precise is too outing).

[TeenTimesTwo]

Heading to church is allowed. Outward conformance is what is required, not checking what is in people's hearts.

Grandparents' address is obviously not permitted.

[spacecadet48]

sadly I know of many parents who were not getting renovations done to their home renting a property in the catchment area of the school. This was after finding out their DC would not be offered a place and low on waiting list. They 'moved' got an offer two weeks before the start of term as they lived closer now. Waited a bit and moved back...they had only moved 500 metres. Shocking TBH and once their eldest was in , with sibling policy the rest of the DC followed suit. The school picked up on this type of behaviour and between them and the council have made it clear about short term tenancy etc. However I still see people using grandparents addresses , heading to church every week until they get their DC in. People play the system sadly

[11Nightmare]

This is complete rubbish. Councils check this sort of thing. We've actually done exactly the same thing, moving out while we're completely renovating our house, and it happened to coincide with secondary school applications for DC3. Not too crucial in our case, as we were always intending to go private, but we did apply for state schools as a backup, and we applied from our rental address as the form clearly asked for where we were living at the time of application.

We received a phone call from the Council as they could see that we're paying council tax on two properties (the one we own and the one we rent). I explained the situation, and they put our permanent address down as the application address and the rental address for communications. Our allocation has been made based on our permanent address.

[greenlanes]

Please do report op. It affects families who haven't played the system.

[HootenannyHouse]

At least in our area this would be legitimate. If they moved out of their house they would need to use the address they are actually living at.

[Viviennemary]

I'd report them to the LA. Don't let these chancers get away with it.

[Smellylittleorange]

Purely out of interest (honest guv i dont have to do school apps anymore) could they have circumvented the system checks by moving to a different LA but dustance nearer or something (overthinking it!)