FHA loan temporary vacancy question

[Anonymous]

Hi, hope someone can help me with this question. I'm in a lease purchase agreement right now, and waiting for my previous home to sell (which was financed with an FHA loan) to close on the lease-purchase property. Of course with FHA loans you have to occupy the home, with some exceptions. I received an exception, a temporary approval to vacate the property for 6 months based on my circumstances (FHA loan was for small townhouse, got married and moving to larger, single-family dwelling which is the lease-purchase property, put townhouse on the market), which was subsequently approved for another 6-month period. Now I've received a letter saying that the temporary approval has expired and I have to prove that I have taken the necessary steps to re-occupy the property, refinance the loan, or sell the property. Of course I haven't done any of those, though I wish it would have sold by now!

I've heard that you can only vacate the property for one year. Is that true? I ask because I called the bank and they said to send in a letter explaining the circumstances, yada yada yada like I have done in the past. But when I asked if it was true that I could only vacate for one year, and now that one year is up, they did not know the answer and just said that what they will do is contact HUD and HUD is the one who makes the decision.

I'm of course worried now because I don't obviously want to move back in and I don't want to refinance because I don't want to incurr those closing costs and besides as soon as I get it sold I will be taking out a mortgage on the lease-purchase property and I don't need anything affecting my or my wife's credit scores. The only other option is prove i have taken the necessary steps to sell the property, which I have as it is for sale, but that all seems mute if you can only vacate it for one year any way?!

Any advice? I'm hoping HUD is lenient these days for people trying to sell a property, and i'm hoping that i've never been late on a payment despite having vacated it for a year now proves i'm not trying the abandonment trick, but if it is one year, and one year only, then I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks in advance!

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

Did you ever live in the home that has an FHA mortgage on it?  If so, how long did you initially live in it?

[Anonymous]

Yes, it was my primary residence for almost 4 years, from the time I took out the FHA mortgage until mid-2008.

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

FHA guidelines just state you must live in the home for 1 year, anything after that you are free to move out and the terms of the mortgage on the old home do not change.

PRINCIPAL RESIDENCES. A principal residence is a property that will be occupied by the borrower for the majority of the calendar year. At least one borrower must occupy the property and sign the security instrument and the mortgage note for the property to be considered owner-occupied. Our security instruments require a borrower to establish bona fide occupancy in the home as the borrower's principal residence within 60 days after signing the security instrument with continued occupancy for at least one year. 

http://www.nls.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/handbooks/hsgh/4155.1/index.cfm (Chapter 1) 

I find it odd that your old mortgage lender is requiring you sell, refinance or re-occupy the home... I'd carefully go through all of the documents you signed to state where there is a required time you must occupy the property, each lender may have additional requirements but most lenders are fine for you to leave the property once you've lived there for 1 year.