Changing address between application and offer day

[drfammy]

Hi we have already applied and submitted our school preferences for my son’s grammar school application. Our current tenancy ended in October and we are on a roll over contract atm. Although our landlord has not asked us to vacate the property and we have time until we find the right property to move into. We yave been on house hunt since a month frantically viewing houses so that we can make a good choice within budget and grammar school catchment(on our preferred list).
However through various posts and google searches I came to know that if I move house now which is January(expected) it will impact my child’s offer as I will have to inform the council and submit a new application which will be considered as a ‘late application’. I have another child who will be sitting for grammar test entry in the coming year and we were planning to move house before even her process starts so that her chances of being in the preferred catchment improves early on.
But with the current scenario shall I just wait until the offer has been made and then move house depending on what we have been provided?
Will that also mean that the offer could be withdrawn if they see that the address at the time of acceptance/ admission is different from the one in the original application(made in October)? I am super confused atm.
Any help/guidance/suggestion would be helpful.

Thank you!

Talk to your admissions team rather than on here or Google as local authorities differ in their dates for moving and how they treat lates etc. (Admissions person 😃) The advice you get here may not be correct so speak to your LA who will be able to advise you.

Wouldn't the school know more than people on here?

I really wouldn't rely on the school for the correct advice, schools regularly spout nonsense about admissions. Speak to the admissions team at your local authority.

Thank you! I was planning to call the LA admissions team but thought to ask here if someone had a lived experience or a similar situation recently. Sometimes you get better info from ‘experts by experience’ rather the authority.

Your responses are much appreciated!

Each LA sets its own rules for changes of address before offers are made. However, there are national rules governing what happens after that. Once you have accepted an offer you can move safely. An offer cannot be withdrawn just because you move. Having said that, I know there are at least two LAs that ignore this and do try to withdraw offers in this situation, forcing parents to go to appeal just to get the place back. It should be a straightforward appeal to win if you find yourself in this situation, however, as it is clearly against the rules to withdraw a place just because the parents have moved. The LA can only withdraw the place if there is good reason to believe that the original application was fraudulent or deliberately misleading.

Thank you!

This! Schools are notoriously bad at knowing how admissions work! They often give terrible advice, that we later have to unpick in admissions and appeals.