A new school due to admit its first children this year has cancelled its opening because it cannot find a building to move into.
About 200 10-year-old boys had already taken an entrance test for the Fulham Boys School, but have been told none of them will be offered a place in September.
It is the latest London free school to postpone opening because of problems finding a suitable site in the city.
Alex Wade, chairman of the school’s governing body, said that finding a building was a “challenge” in a densely populated borough with limited space and high costs.
There are fears that increasing numbers of new free schools in London are being held up because suitable buildings are so scarce.
New rules will allow free schools to open in offices, hotels and warehouses without planning permission, but they will not come into effect until June.
Fulham Boys School will now open in 2014 rather than this year as was planned.
The school will open with just one year group — year seven. It means the boys who applied this year will not be able to reapply for 2014 because they will be too old.
Mr Wade said: “This decision has not been taken lightly. Many families will be affected by a year’s delay and we know that the boys who were due to start in September will be disappointed. However, we are confident that we are now well on the path to delivering a much needed and desired boys’ school for Fulham for September 2014.”
Oliver Adelman’s 10-year-old son was due to start in September. He said: “It was one of our first choices and the decision has really disappointed us.
“We had a lot of contact with the school for two years and the school was very active in the media. I am surprised they didn’t call a halt to this earlier. My son took a day off school to sit the banding test, along with about 200 others.”
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Mr Adelman said he would be prepared to move abroad with his son for a year, and reapply for a place in 2014, but he is not allowed.
A spokeswoman for the school said: “It is incredibly frustrating. The school is ready to open but we just do not have a suitable site. Parents have been so supportive and worked very hard on it.”
