Seondary applications

[KOakland5]

Hi there, I wonder if anyone can advise? I am going to be making secondary school applications for my son (only child so first time doing so, new to the process!) in October. My partner (sons step dad), my son and I recently moved to a new area, where we are looking to buy a house which has been delayed due to COVID, so we have rented a flat for a year in our new area, while we look for the ideal house to buy. However I own our previous house, which I don't intend to sell, but rather rent out as an income for myself once we have completed some redecoration. (My partner is not father to my son and he does not co-own with me, I bought it before we met, so it is my nest egg for myself and my son)
However I have realised that this may (or may not) cause a problem with school applictions, will they think my application is iffy because I own property in a different cachment? Both cachments are desireable, and have good schools, but obviously we want him to go to the school in the new cachment that we are to be permanently living in!

I hadn't even thought about the potential for problems until I saw a news article relating to people falsely renting second properties. Any advice gratefully received! TIA x

You need to check the schools individual criteria and specifically what they define as the child's address. You are correct though that if the house that you own is within a few miles many admissions authorities (academy or council) will use that address even if you put your rented one down. Clearly if it's at the other end of the country that won't apply though.

Best course of action is to email the admissions authority directly and ask their advice. That creates a paper trail should you need one.

@titchy

You need to check the schools individual criteria and specifically what they define as the child's address. You are correct though that if the house that you own is within a few miles many admissions authorities (academy or council) will use that address even if you put your rented one down. Clearly if it's at the other end of the country that won't apply though.

Best course of action is to email the admissions authority directly and ask their advice. That creates a paper trail should you need one.

Thanks titchy, I did wonder if emailing them directly would be the best idea, I mean we aren't doing anything iffy but I am quite nervous now of it looking that way and had a weird "emailing will call more attention to it!" moment, which is a bit daft. The rented flat is in West Sussex and the house is in East Sussex, so I don't know if far enough apart to be clearly not his home.

How far apart time wise? If it is 5 mins it is much more likely to be looked at closely than if it is 45 mins.

@TeenPlusTwenties

How far apart time wise? If it is 5 mins it is much more likely to be looked at closely than if it is 45 mins.

About 10 miles/25 minutes drive x

There are various dates that are key here and there are two problems not just one. The first date is 31st October 2020 which is the last date for an on-time applications for pupils moving into year 7. The second date is March 1st 2021 when the LA will send out which school you have a place at. You must apply using the address you will be at on the 31st October 2020 and if you are also still resident at the same address on the 1st March 2020 then you in theory have satisfied the admission arrangements.
However this is to some extent where the admission regulation have not kept up with the way too many people have approached getting their child into the desired school. LAs are now very hot on recognising when people are trying to use a second address and tend to take a strong position on it if they have any evidence of a second home. It is always much more difficult to argue your innocence when the LA have taken action. Do not assume that just because you are in West Sussex and the house is in east sussex that the west sussex LA will not know about the house.
Whilst I cannot talk for West Sussex LA, I do know that my Local Council have red flagged flats near desirable schools. If any application comes in naming those flats as the address then it starts to ring alarm bells and the LA starts to wonder whether this might be a fraudulent application.
If you look at the West Sussex LA guidance on school admissions then you will find that the LA are taking a very severe (and probably questionable) approach to anybody moving house.
It says "School places will be prioritised and offered for your child based on the address held by the Pupil Admissions Team and the assumption that your child will still be living at this address at the beginning of the new school year in September." It then goes on to say "If you are moving within West Sussex after school places have been allocated and before the start of the new school year in September, you will need to submit a new application to change your child's preferences and your new address."
That leaves you with some real problems I am afraid. The easiest option is to extend the rental on the flat till sometime after September 2021, so that your child can start at school before you make any attempt to move. However, I recognise that this is not ideal by a long way. The only other way is to have exchanged contracts and moved into your new home by the 31st October 2020, which would allow you to use the new permanent address. There is a little leeway on dates in that West Sussex will allow till the 27th November 2020 to move into your new house but as plenty of others have found there are frequent hold-ups and the date is missed, leaving you with all sorts of problems that mean you will not be an on-time applicant. Time is definitely not on your side here.
Then we have the problem of the other property. Whatever you decide to do about the flat issue, you need to make sure that any child support, dentists, doctors etc documentation refers to the flat address and nothing to do with the East Sussex address. The LA will normally take anything like that as indication that you still have an active interest in the house. The second thing you need to do is make sure that having done the work you want doing on the property this is rented out for a period that comfortably goes past September 2021, so that you can show that you have no intention of re-occupying. This needs to happen ideally before the 1st September 2020 so that it has clearly happened before you could apply for a place in West Sussex. You will have correspondence which is in your name which refers to the East Sussex house and you should try to get as much as possible of this correspondence re-directed to the flat address, so again there is minimal connection to the property.
You are going to have to talk with West Sussex LA but I would only do that once the East Sussex house is on long-term rental, so that it becomes a much stronger case you are putting to the Council that you do own it but that it is on long term rental. You also need to make sure that you get West Sussex LA to confirm in writing that they are happy to accept that you do not intend to occupy the East Sussex house at any time in the next 2 years
Sorry that is a bit of a long one but you do have some issues here.

As others have said you will need to look at the admissions for the schools you are interested in. The following is from the admissions document of of a school and and was upheld as lawful at a Tribunal so if it was this school or one with a similar policy even if you rented out your property ten miles away it would disqualify your DC:

“If a parent of the applicant student still owns a property within 20 miles of the school which has been the main family home, a property closer to the school will not be accepted as the basis for a legitimate residence qualification even if the former property is leased to a third party.”