Mortgage Occupancy Fraud for not being home?

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Mortgage Occupancy Fraud for not being home?

Brooke Villanyi
New to Real Estate · 90034 · Member since 2019 · 14 posts · 1 vote

Hi all, was hoping to get some clarification because i can't seem to find info anywhere about my specific issue. I have a mortgage that requires one of my units to be my primary residence. I work far across town, and honestly just like the neighborhood of my old apartment better. So I've kept my old apartment as part office / crash space and stay there the majority of the time still. I might rent out the extra room in my primary residence, and keep my room with some of my stuff for when i come and go. is there any reason i should be worried about mortgage fraud?

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JD MartinBusiness Member
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Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
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Quote from @Brooke Villanyi:

Hi all, was hoping to get some clarification because i can't seem to find info anywhere about my specific issue. I have a mortgage that requires one of my units to be my primary residence. I work far across town, and honestly just like the neighborhood of my old apartment better. So I've kept my old apartment as part office / crash space and stay there the majority of the time still. I might rent out the extra room in my primary residence, and keep my room with some of my stuff for when i come and go. is there any reason i should be worried about mortgage fraud?


 As long as you maintain that house as your primary residence, no. That means your driver's license address should be at that house. That's where you should vote. That's where you should get your mail. That's where you should register your car. If you do all of that, there's no law that says you can't sleep anywhere you want 7 nights a week. You could stay at your friend's house. You could stay at your girlfriend's house. You could sleep in your car for that matter. Plenty of people legally maintain a primary residence and stay somewhere else almost all the time. Think about people that travel for months on end. 

What you can't do is rent out the whole house to someone else. You can get a roommate. But if you rent out the whole house, you will be committing mortgage fraud because it will be obvious it's not your residence. 

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  • Kevin Woodard
    Lender · Nationwide · Member since 2021 · 220 posts · 105 votes
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    If your intent is to live there then this shouldn’t be an issue. If your intent from the onset was to rent out all units then I am sure this meets some definition of fraud. 

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