Questions about renting owner occupied home

[Tiara R.]

I purchased my home in 2016 after my grandmother passed away. I refinanced in December 2020. My boyfriend and I both own our homes and would like to move in together. I would like to rent my house and we would live in his (plus children from previous relationships). I've been doing research about starting this process and found out that I need my lenders approval to rent my home. I submitted the request and it was denied because my mortgage is owner occupied. I had read that most owner occupied homes need to be lived in by the owner for 12 months after the mortgage is finalized. I was hopeful that my lender would see that I had a previous mortgage for 5 years and make an exception but that was not the case. I have been asking around and most people just recommend to just move and rent it since the chances of them finding out are low but the thought of doing that makes me nervous. I did not refinance with the intent to rent my home and do not want to be accused of mortgage fraud. My mortgage paperwork says that the property needs to be owner occupied for one year after the date of occupancy but I've technically lived there for 9 years (lived there before I purchased it). The paperwork also says that consent cannot be unreasonably withheld but I'm not sure the reason I have for wanting to move is an acceptable reason. A lot of what I read list reasons as relocating for a job, job loss, having more children and the like. From what I've been told, I can not leave it vacant either. My questions are: what are my options? I'd prefer not to put my life on hold because of this. Do I really have to live there for another 7 months and then request permission again to rent it? I've also been told that if I lived there longer than 12 months, I do not need their permission. Is that the case? I had planned to call and speak with the person who handled my case to get more information but have been told to stop making my intention to move obvious. If anyone has any input it would be greatly appreciated!