Would renting in a different catchment for primary admissions be acceptable?

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I have to apply for my DC’s primary place this year. We live in an area where schools are oversubscribed and children have to go to their catchment schools.
I have previously enquired at a great school as to whether we would be accepted and was told that it would be highly unlikely.

Myself and DH are in the process of splitting and I am looking for a short term rental for myself and DC until we are in a position to commit to buy (probably next summer).

It has just occurred to me that I can rent in the good catchment area so that DC can attend the better school that I didn’t think she would be able to attend.

however I’m worried that this will look suspicious to the council and the school, particularly as I have already enquired and told the school our current address.

Do you think this would be ok? Or will the council be unhappy with this as ex husband/pur current address is out of catchment?

I'm a bit confused about your separation. You are splitting up but also living together?

Do you own your property? Is your name on the deeds or tenancy? If you own or rent and pay council tax at another property, the admissions office may consider it to be fraud. The school doesn't have anything to do with admissions if it's a state school.

It is fine as long as you are actually living there I think. I moved to rental accommodation in January (whilst owning a house elsewhere). I used my new address for my son’s school application, with proof of address as the signed tenancy agreement. I am living here and am in the process of selling the house. I’ll buy somewhere in a few years but it may not be within primary catchment.

In some LA owning a property in another area nearby, even if rented out, means the closer rental address is disregarded and in others you may be expected to have move before the applications open.

If you’re genuinely separating and the rental will be yours and DC perimenopause address, it won’t be an issue.

If the school kick up a fuss, give them your lease agreement as evidence. It’s probably worth doing sooner rather than later though so you can provide the school with a new address asap as the earlier you have an address within catchment it’s likely to work in your favour in the highly unlikely situation the school do question it.

Were still living together at the moment.

I’m going to move out with the DC to a rental property. The house we live in at the moment is solely owned by my STBEX-H.

Did they ask for proof of address etc?

I don’t believe you have to provide this as standard for a school application - did they specifically ask you for this?

They don’t ask usually but if they think you’re up to no good, you’ll have to prove you aren’t.

I think you’ll be fine if you’re actually living in it when you apply and when you get given the place. You aren’t renting it as an extra and then moving back into the old one.

Schools ask for proof of address if you accept the place offered - coucil tax, utilities bill, tenancy agreement.

It’s fine as you’ll be living there. Someone I know rented their own home out for 3yrs and rented one near secondary of choice to get both kids in then went back. It’s not lying so it’s ok.

We had to submit proof of our address at application stage - had to be a council tax bill with our names on. And then provide it direct to school before admission. We also had to provide evidence that this was our child's primary residence - we used a hospital letter with their name on it. I think this is to avoid other addresses being used - for example my MIL has same first initial and last name as me, so I could theoretically use council tax bill to her address.

Will you have sole/majority custody of your dc?

Of course you have to provide proof of address. Council tax bill + utility + driving licence or other ID with address on it. You also have to provide child ID.

If you’re living at the address it won’t be a problem? I can 100% guarantee if you do pretend to live somewhere you’re not, one of the other parents will sniff it out, as someone’s friend’s cousin’s kid didn’t get their place. It is perfectly legal to move, so at the time of applying and starting school you are within catchment area. You need to be in the home at the time the offer is made.

It must depend on the LA as I have never provided proof of address for primary or secondary school applications. I assumed they cross check against council tax records.

I applied for DS school place this year and had to enter the council tax bill reference number which I assume was then checked. As long as you're actually living there and thus are paying council tax, have genuine bills etc, you'll be fine, but you need to get it sorted asap. Applications in our area were open November to January, no idea if it's the same everywhere.

I wish I had a “perimenopause address”

I’d happily leave it there 😂

It will depend on the rules in your own authority and you might have to phone up to ask. Where I live, a tenancy would have to be 12 months long to be considered to stop short term rentals being used as a way to get places. We also had to upload the most recent council tax bill as proof of address and I've heard they match address given with address on the child benefit account too. As long as you actually do live there and before January, I can't see there being an issue though, other than possibly length of tenancy.

When I filled in the application on the council website they asked for proof of address. They had council tax bill and rental agreement (plus others I can’t remember) as options to give. No one followed up but although a popular school area not a lot of people pretending they live in catchment I imagine.

I also technically move two days before the deadline and could have looked fishy although was genuine!

Generally speaking, if it is a genuine move and you and the children are really living in the new place you'll be fine. But if the school is heavily over subscribed you may well arouse suspicion and be asked to prove it. It's a fairly common ploy in some areas for families to use a rented address near their desired school and then "move back" to their previous address (which they never really left ) once the place is granted. Of course LEAs where this is a regular thing are wise to it and may ask for further evidence of residence and set additional conditions. For example some may want proof that you have been in the address for a certain length of time and I think I have heard on here of some authorities who will withdraw places if you move out of theb catchment very soon after a place is offered, though I am not 100% certain about that.
But it is very important that you check the specific rules for your area as it does vary from place to place. You need to find out precisely what the residency rules for your area are, what evidence you will need to provide and also how they determine a child's primary residence when the parents live apart. Some posters are speaking with great confidence about the process and they are probably right for where they live, but it might not be the case where you live. (I never had to provide physical proof of address or ID for any of my DC for example but other LEAs clearly do require that.)
If you genuinely need a new house and can get one that is close to a good school then why not? Just make sure that you have done everything correctly and can prove it.

IIRC my councils school admissions form had a bit that required us to consent to the council checking our details against the council records for council tax, electoral register etc.

We weren’t asked to provide any further confirmation of address, although we hadn’t had any recent changes of address. It might have been different if we’d moved shortly before the application.

Your council’s website should have a section on school admissions, and it’s worth checking on there to see what kind of proof of address is needed for your area.

Good luck with this, because in my village, you have to have lived in the village for 5 years before your child(ren) can to go to the village school. So they will virtually need to have been born in the village. If you come with children who are already 6 or 7, they will have to stay at their previous school. I mean if you've moved 100 miles this is untenable of course, but you will need to enrol them in one of the other (few) primary schools in the area. (There are another 4 within 7 miles.)

There is no public transport here, but you can't make the excuse that you can't get them to another school, because you must have your own transport to live here! NO-ONE would move here with no transport. The closest shops, the GP, dentists and opticians and pharmacies, and pretty much everything is 4 miles away.

My village school is an excellent and highly rated school - only 43 pupils go there, 2 classes (age 4 to 7, and 8 to 11,) and people were coming to the village around January to March of any given year with their soon-to-be-starting-school child and private renting a place for 6 months to a year, getting their child into the school, and then moving back out to where they actually live.

Some got granny to move in for a bit and said little Harry and Lucy were living there... Some people moved back to where they lived (10 miles away) and still wanted their child in our school. So if they were happy to travel 10 miles from where they actually lived, then they can travel 4 to 7 miles to another school if they move into the village and find out they can't get their child into the village school. Some people might be moving here because they actually want to live here, so they're in for a nasty shock when they find out they aren't allowed to register their child(ren) for the school.

Harsh action, but was necessary, as people took the piss.

This is very unusual. I've known of some popular grammar schools requiring residency for around 2 years before secondary, but never known anywhere expecting it for 5 years!

They will check addresses. Where we live, it is via council tax records mainly. If you are genuinely splitting up and remaining primary carer I.e. having your DC over 50% of the time, then you can do this. You might get questioned, particularly if you move on again quickly, so may need to evidence it is a genuine split.

It may look suspicious, but it would like you’re moving because of the split so this is fine.