FHA loan on rental prop transferred to new servicer - issues w/ non-owner-occupancy?

[Patrick William]

I have an FHA 3% down loan on a property from 2022. Balance is approximately $145k, 5.0% interest. My loan was just transferred to a new servicer.

The property is a duplex that needed a lot of rehab, much of which was done prior to closing in order to get FHA approval. I lived in one unit beyond the required period of occupancy, and eventually left the property and rented my unit out.

The new servicer is asking me if I live at the property or not, seemingly as part of the normal client intake process (though I am over 30 days past due because I wasn't able to make an online payment during the loan transfer process; so maybe that triggered the question; they waive late fees and credit reporting for 60 days as part of the loan transfer process).

If I say no I'm not occupying, could that cause issues with this lender such as 'denying the transfer' or something and if so, would I just go back to my old servicer? I complied with the occupancy requirements of the original loan note and as far as I'm concerned I owe no explanation for that to the new servicer, now that the required occupancy period is long expired.

My main concern is that my insurance policy is from when I was occupying, and I'd rather not have to get a new policy, one reason being that they made a huge stink about the downstairs tenant's 20-25 lb dog having minority pitbull DNA, which I eventually won the argument on after sending them photos, vet records, etc. My understanding is that I was not required to inform my insurer that I left the property.

To buy myself time I was considering just mailing in payment for the next two months and maybe just do that indefinitely unless/until they force the issue, which I'm guessing will never happen if loan is current.