Trending:

Country houses for sale

More than a quarter of parents ‘bend rules or even lie’ to get their children into the right school

Annabel Dixon Annabel Dixon

A survey by Zoopla reveals just how far parents are prepared to go to get their child into a top school. So, what would you do?

You may have heard rumours about the extraordinary lengths that some parents will go to get their child a place at a top school. Perhaps you are one of those parents.

Now a survey by Zoopla has revealed the unvarnished truth about parents bending or breaking rules, ‘playing the system’, or even lying to get their child a prized school place. And, spoiler alert here, the results are not pretty.

More than one in four (27%) parents flout rules to get their child into their preferred school — and the figure rises to 38% in London, where there’s particularly hot competition for school places.

So what on earth are parents who are flouting rules doing? Some bend the rules. Others lie outright.

The most common tactic — used by 30% of those who admitted to circumventing the system — is registering their child at the address of relatives or friends who live in their preferred school catchment area.

Recommended videos for you

Some 25% of parents ‘exaggerated their religious beliefs’, which quite possibly means fabricating those beliefs entirely, to get children into schools that use faith as part of their admissions criteria.

For parents who don’t have those options, getting to the top of the list can be expensive. 9% admitted to temporarily renting a home in a school catchment area — and with rents outpacing growth in average earnings over the last three years, according to Zoopla, this is no mean feat.

Incredibly, 7% of parents went one step further and bought a house in a school catchment area in time for the school application process, then moved back out once they’d bagged a place.

Zoopla found that the number of parents who admit to a spot of skulduggery is up from 24% in 2022, suggesting that Labour’s proposal to add VAT on private schools could be having a knock-on effect — although it’s a fairly modest rise, and not what you’d expect if you real all the scare stories in the newspapers.

And we shouldn’t tar all parents with the same brush. Some 17% of them moved house to be within their preferred school’s catchment area, but they made the move permanently rather than just for a while.

This can still hit families in the pocket, with parents typically forking out on average £65,333 premium to buy a house in the ‘right’ catchment area. And in London, the cost is even higher, at £115,750. Ouch.

‘Record’ number of sellers as 2025 starts ‘with a bang’

Just a few weeks into 2025 and signs point to a busier year in the housing market, according to Rightmove.

A ‘record’ number of homes have hit the market since Boxing Day, giving buyers the greatest choice at the start of a year since 2015, says the property portal. The volume is up 11% on the same time last year.

Meanwhile, the number of buyers getting in touch with estate agents is 9% ahead of last year. And the number of sales agreed is 11% higher than the same time in 2024.

Even the average price of property being put up for sale has risen by 1.7% this month – the largest jump in prices at the start of the year since 2020. So far, so good, you might think.

But don’t get ahead of yourself. The property portal warns of uncertainties on the horizon, including the pace and number of potential interest rate drops as well as the impact of higher stamp duty from 1 April.

On a side note, if you’re planning to join the ranks of sellers this year, one of the most important things to do is…a good tidy up.

According to a report in SomersetLive, Wickes has teamed up with TV property expert Phil Spencer’s Move iQ to reveal how to boost the value of your property.

Phil’s top tip? First impressions count. Yes, that means giving your home a thorough clean and clear. Other top tips include making your home more energy efficient, refreshing your kitchen and bathroom, adding storage space, installing smart tech, as well as rewiring, replumbing, and redecorating.

Borrowers paying off mortgages into retirement jumps by 156%

Where there’s a will there’s a way, right? With household budgets squeezed, the number of borrowers taking out long-term mortgages that they will be paying off ‘well into their 70s’ has climbed by 156% in five years.

In the first nine months of 2024, 22,100 mortgages with a term of 35 years or more were sold to borrowers aged over 36. That’s more than any full year since 2018, according to Quilter.

‘The continued rise in property prices has made it increasingly difficult for buyers, particularly those entering the market later in life, to afford homes without significantly extending the repayment term,’ says Karen Noye, mortgage expert at Quilter.

‘At the same time, higher interest rates have pushed up monthly payments, prompting many borrowers to stretch their mortgages to 35 years in an effort to reduce these costs.’