Enrollment for BUSD - Proof of Residency
Hello! New parent here, enrolling my daughter for TK in the fall. I am hoping someone can provide some advice on proof of residency.
Currently there are 4 options to provide proof of residency:
- Rental property contract or lease, and proof of payment dated within 45 days
- Renter or homeowner insurance policy for the current year (no bill, declarations or policy page only)
- Current property tax statement
- Property deed dated within the last 12 months
I live in a duplex, which is owned by my mother, which I co-own (my name was added to the deed April 2019). To get a copy of the recorded deed I need to pay $63 which I want to avoid, and my name is not on the homeowner insurance policy or property tax statement. Has anyone successfully submitted a proof of residency that doesn't fall within these categories?
Jan 5, 2021
Parent Replies
They are really strict. If it isn't listed, they will reject it. My guess is, you'll have to cough up the $63, but you can email Admissions. I found them to be very responsive last month when I registered my 8th grader for BHS.
You should update the homeowner's policy and assessor's records to reflect that you also own the property--that's important to do anyway and will also solve your paperwork problem. You may well need to get the recorded deed to do those, though.
Call the school and explain. Many families have similar issues (think undocumented families staying in a friend's house or renting a room under the table). I used to work for a different school district and they had a residency declaration you could fill out. Not sure what BUSD calls theirs, but I'm sure they have something.
Hi there,
It should be very easy to add you name as an owner to the insurance policy. Simply have your mom (other owner) add you. In fact, If fact, if you don't add your name, there could be problems if something ever happened to the duplex. You can try to also submit other location IDs like EBMUD, PG&E, or other bills with your name.
I understand your reluctance to pay for an endorsed copy of the deed, but there are any number of reasons that you may need one, so if you don't have access to the original, I'd suggest going ahead and paying the $3.50 per page to the County Recorder to get one. But I think for school purposes, you should use the homeowner's insurance policy, which you definitely should get your name on! You don't want to be left with uninsured liability if someone gets hurt on the property, or uninsured losses if there's a fire or similar disaster and your insurance company refuses to cover you because you aren't named on the policy. I suggest contacting the insurance company and asking if THEY need a copy of the deed in order to add you, or if they can just do it by your request. As for the deed, where was the original sent after recording? All recorded documents have an address in the upper left hand corner of the first page showing where the recorder's office should return the document after it's processed. If the address on your deed was a title company or an attorney, you should contact them and ask for a copy, or for the original to be sent to you. There should not be any charge for that. If it was returned to your mom or to you, but has since been lost or is for some other reason not accessible, go ahead and pay the county recorder for a copy. It's an important legal and financial record to have.
I had similar issues when I registered my kids a few years ago. I provided a statement from my mom saying that we live with her, and are not either owners or renters. We also put the utility bill in our name. It was enough documentation to get us into school but it triggered a home visit, because it wasn't really enough documentation, basically. So they came to our house, saw our kid's bedrooms and the general state of the house, and that was it. No issues since.