Renting Out Primary Residence in Year 1 - Help Me Avoid Fraud!

[Austin Lynk]

First, thank you for taking the time read this snipped and consider providing advice.

Situation:

I purchased a home as a primary residence this year. The lender requires me to live in the home for 6 months and 1 day (majority of the year) to satisfy the primary residence requirement. They assume this is the first 6 months and 1 day, but it's generally considered a grey area as far as 6 months and 1 day at any point in the first year - I'm okay with taking this risk.

Question: 

Can I rent out the home the other 5 months, as long as I'm satisfying the primary mortgage requirement from the lender? Given I will have the report rental income to the IRS (since it will be more than 14 days), will they have any concern seeing this is year 1 of a primary mortgage and it is being rented? Could this trigger an audit / flag for mortgage fraud?

Ultimately, I want to get this home on the rental market ASAP which avoiding prison. 

Thank you for your thoughts, feedback, questions and advice. Sincerely. 

Austin

[Ryan Kelly]

We don't have enough information to accurately answer your question. For example, what was your closing date? I'm not an attorney, so this is how other attorneys have explained it to me. To answer this question in the eyes of the court, they would want to know your "intent" at the time of closing. Was your intent to live in the home as a primary residence for the foreseeable future, or was your intent to secretly plan on renting it all along and trying to pass it off as a primary home purchase? Homeowners have the right to change their minds after purchase, so it will all come down to your intent when you purchased the home. You signed a ton of documents with your lender stating this intent at closing. Has your situation changed? Do you need to move? Or were you planning to rent it out the whole time before the 6-month deadline? This is what they would try to determine IF the lender decides to pursue it. Hope this helps.