Moving Into a New Multiplex Mid-Year: How School Catchments Work in Vancouver and Burnaby

The completion date on your pre-sale multiplex home is November. Your daughter is in grade four at a school across the city, your son starts kindergarten next September, and the building you are buying is in a different catchment from the one you live in now. Somewhere in the pile of things to sort out before you move is a question that can wait until the last week and then cannot: what happens to the kids' schools?

This post walks through how school placement works when a family moves into a brand new multiplex home in Vancouver or Burnaby, the two districts where most of our buyers land. The rules are written by each school board, they are precise, and they have dates. Read this before you sign, because the timing of a completion date and the timing of a school year do not always agree.

The one rule everything else follows

In both districts, your child's school is set by where the family lives. The Vancouver School Board's admission procedure defines residency as the address "in which the parent(s)/guardian(s) maintains their home", and states that "a person's residency is the residency of the person as of the date of submission of the application for enrolment". Burnaby Schools' registration page requires that "parents/legal guardians and children must be residing in Burnaby, British Columbia at the time of registration."

Two consequences follow for a multiplex buyer. First, the address that counts is the one where the child's parent or guardian lives. If grandparents will live in the ground-floor home and the children with their parents upstairs, the children's catchment is set by the parents' home, which in a fourplex is the same street anyway. Second, you become a resident on the day you live there, so a home that completes in November gives you a November address and a November registration.

Vancouver: the calendar

The Vancouver School Board runs on a calendar that its admission procedure sets out in full. The dates that matter to a family moving house:

• November 1. Registration for the next school year opens. A child can register at the catchment school of the address where the family lives on that date.
• January 31. The deadline for kindergarten registration to be included in any draw for a full catchment school, and the deadline for the district to declare a school full.
• February, first to last school day. The cross-boundary application window, for a child who wants to attend a school outside their catchment. The procedure says "no late or early applications will be accepted."
• By March 31. The district tells families whether a cross-boundary application was accepted, denied or waitlisted.
• First Monday in March to the second Friday in June. The late cross-boundary window. Applications are date-stamped and go on a waitlist behind the February applicants.
• Second Friday in June. The deadline for a newly arrived family to have priority enrolment at their catchment school. Arrive after it and the child is a "late catchment applicant."
• September 30. All waitlists for the current year dissolve.

Now set a completion date against that calendar. A family completing in July on a home in a new catchment has missed the second Friday in June, so the children are late catchment applicants for September. Late catchment applicants are still placed. The procedure says the district "will place newly arrived students who cannot be accommodated at their catchment school at another school with sufficient space", and puts them on the catchment school's waitlist until a seat opens. A family completing in November has moved mid-year, which is the case the next section covers.

Vancouver: moving mid-year

The procedure is explicit that a child who lives in Vancouver must "first be registered at their English Catchment School" before asking for anything else. When you move, you register at the new catchment school and the child is placed there if there is space.

If you want the child to stay at the old school for the rest of the year, ask the principal. The procedure treats a request to stay at a school outside your catchment as a cross-boundary matter, and for the following school year the family "will apply to remain through the cross boundary application process", in February, with the same priority order as everyone else. That order is set out in the procedure: first, a child with a sibling already at the school; second, for kindergarten to grade seven, a child whose child care is in the catchment; third, any other Vancouver resident; fourth, a BC resident from outside Vancouver. Within each group an electronic draw sets the sequence.

Our reading, and our advice: for a child in grade six or seven, or grade eleven or twelve, ask to finish at the current school and apply in February to stay. For a child in kindergarten to grade three, move them with the house, because the new school is where their neighbours will be.

Burnaby: the calendar

Burnaby's registration page is shorter and the calendar is simpler. Registration is online, catchment is by address, and the district's rule for applications to schools outside the catchment is that "all registrations received in February, regardless of what date they are received during the month, will receive equal priority." French immersion and other choice programs also take applications in February for the following September.

The Burnaby rule that catches movers is the residency rule quoted above: you must be living in Burnaby at the time of registration. The district's page also asks families who are out of the country to wait until they are back in Burnaby before registering. There is no provision for registering from a purchase contract.

Burnaby: proof of address

Burnaby asks for two documents proving where you live, at least one from what it calls Category A. Its registration page lists Category A as "proof of ownership of dwelling or long-term lease or rental of dwelling; legal documents indicating BC residence; parent or guardian government issued tax statement." Category B includes an employment pay slip, an insurance statement, a utility bill, a BC cable bill, a provincial driver's licence, a vehicle registration, or a Canadian bank or credit card statement showing the address. A rental agreement has to be the complete document, signed by landlord and tenant.

For a family who has just completed on a brand new multiplex home, the fastest Category A document is usually the completion statement or the transfer document from your lawyer showing you as owner, followed within a few weeks by the first property tax or utility notice. Ask your lawyer for a copy of the registered transfer on completion day. For Category B, change the address on your driver's licence the week you move, because it is the document most families reach for.

Vancouver asks for proof of BC residency, the child's original birth certificate, immigration or citizenship documents where they apply, immunization records and the most recent report card, and the district verifies documents by appointment at its Newcomer Welcome Centre during the summer.

What this means for a pre-sale timeline

A brand new multiplex home is often bought a year or more before it is finished, and completion dates move. Our guide to delays in a pre-sale explains why. For a family with school-age children, the moving date has a second cost that the contract does not mention.

• Completion between mid-June and August. You have missed Vancouver's priority deadline for newly arrived catchment students and Burnaby's February window for anything outside the catchment. The children will be placed, at the catchment school if there is room. Register the day you have keys.
• Completion between September and December. A mid-year move. Register at the new catchment school on arrival, and if an older child should finish the year where they are, ask the principal in the first week.
• Completion between January and May. Awkward for the current year, ideal for the next one. Register at the new address before the second Friday in June, and if the child will need a cross-boundary place, note that February has already passed.

If you are still choosing between two buildings, and one completes in May while the other completes in August, the May one is worth something to a family with a kindergarten child.

Two generations, one building, one address

Multiplex buyers often ask whether a child can use a grandparent's address in the same building. In a fourplex the question is moot, because every home in the building shares a catchment. Where it matters is a family in which the parents keep a home elsewhere and the child spends weekdays with grandparents in the multiplex. Both districts set residency by where the parent or guardian maintains their home, and Vancouver's procedure requires documents in the guardian's name. If the grandparents are to be the registering guardians, that is a legal question for your lawyer before it is a school question.

What this comes down to

• In Vancouver and Burnaby, the school is set by the address where the child's parent or guardian lives, on the date you apply. The address on a purchase contract counts once you live there.
• Vancouver's calendar: registration opens November 1, cross-boundary applications run the month of February, late applications run to the second Friday in June, and waitlists dissolve September 30.
• Burnaby's calendar: you must live in Burnaby when you register, and every February application for a school outside your catchment has equal priority.
• Proof of address means an ownership or lease document plus a second document. Ask your lawyer for the registered transfer on completion day and change your driver's licence address that week.
• A completion date after mid-June means the children are late catchment applicants in Vancouver for that September. A May completion is worth something to a family with a kindergarten child.

Questions buyers ask about schools and moving

Can I register my child at the new school before we complete on the home?

No. Both districts set residency by where the family lives when the application is made, and Burnaby says outright that families must be living in Burnaby at the time of registration. Register the day you have keys and a document showing the address.

What counts as proof of address for a home I have just bought?

In Burnaby, proof of ownership from Category A plus one Category B document such as a driver's licence or a utility bill. The registered transfer from your lawyer is the earliest ownership document you will have. Vancouver asks for proof of BC residency and the child's birth certificate, and verifies documents by appointment.

My daughter is in grade seven. Can she finish the year at her old school after we move?

Ask the principal as soon as you have a completion date. The Vancouver procedure treats staying at a school outside your catchment as a cross-boundary matter, and it is decided at the school. For the following year the family applies in February to remain.

We complete in July. Will my son get into the catchment school for September?

He will be placed, and at the catchment school if there is space. In Vancouver a family arriving after the second Friday in June is a late catchment applicant, which means the district places the child at another school with space if the catchment school is full, and keeps the child on the catchment waitlist. In Burnaby, register as soon as you are living at the address.

What is a cross-boundary application?

A request to attend a Vancouver public school outside your catchment. Applications run for the month of February, the district answers by March 31, and priority goes first to siblings, then to children whose child care is in the catchment, then to other Vancouver residents, with a draw within each group.

Does moving three streets change the elementary school?

It can. Elementary catchments in both cities are small, and a new multiplex on one side of an arterial road can be in a different catchment from the block across it. Check the exact address in the district's catchment finder before you offer.

Can my child use their grandparents' address in the same building?

In the same building it makes no difference, because every home in a fourplex shares a catchment. Where the parents live elsewhere, residency follows the parent or guardian, and registering a grandparent as guardian is a legal question for your lawyer.

When does kindergarten registration open in Vancouver?

November 1 for the following September, with a January 31 deadline to be included in any draw at a full school. If your completion date is after January 31, register at your current address first and update it when you move.

Are French immersion places affected by moving?

In Burnaby, French immersion and other choice programs take applications in February for the following September. In Vancouver, district choice programs have their own application in the same window. Ask the program's school how a mid-year move between catchments is handled, and expect any new application to follow the February calendar.

What happens to a waitlist place when the school year starts?

In Vancouver, cross-boundary and late transfer waitlists dissolve on September 30. If your child has not been offered a place by then, the application has ended and a new one is needed for the following year.

Should the completion date change which building we buy?

For a family with a child entering kindergarten or moving into secondary school, yes, it can. A completion before the second Friday in June puts the child in the priority group for September. A completion in July or August does not. Ask the seller how firm the date is, and read our guide to delays.

Where do I check a catchment?

Each district publishes a catchment finder on its website that takes an address and returns the elementary and secondary school. Use it for the exact civic address of the home you are buying, because a new multiplex on a corner lot can carry a different address from the house it replaced.

Ask us about the schools near any building

We know which of the brand new multiplex homes we list sit in which catchments, and we can tell you a building's expected completion date so you can set it against the school calendar. Browse the homes listed now, or tell us your children's grades and your target move date and we will point you toward the buildings that fit.