Jquery validate is not working on boolean value

Question

Hi so I have a modal with a bool value from my Model for site occupied, for reason it is causing my validate form to be ignored and I cant work out why. if I remove the code block for Occupied When Visited the validation works fine. I dont need to validate this check box so is there any way I can ignore it in validate? I have tried using ignore: siteOccupied, no luck, tried giving it its own class ignore: ".ignore", no luck either. any help would be appreciated

 <div class="modal fade" id="submitRecordModal" tabindex="-1" aria-labelledby="submitRecordModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
    <div class="modal-dialog">
        <div class="modal-content">
            <div class="alert alert-danger" id="invalidModel">
                <span>
                    Please fill out all fields marked with a *
                </span>
            </div>
            <div class="modal-header">
                <h5 class="modal-title" id="submitRecordModalLabel">Site Visit Check</h5>
                <button type="button" class="btn-close" data-bs-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"></button>
            </div>
            <div class="modal-body">
                <form method="post" id="submitRecordForm">
                    <div>
                        <label class="form-label fw-bolder">Debt</label>

                        <div class="form-check mb-3 ignore">
                            <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="siteOccupied" name="siteOccupied" asp-for="@Model.Account.OccupiedWhenVisited">
                            <label class="form-check-label" for="siteOccupied">
                                Occupied When Visited
                            </label>
                        </div>

                        <div class="form-check mb-3">
                            <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="loiLeft" asp-for="@Model.Account.DebtChecks["LoiLeft"]">
                            <label class="form-check-label" for="loiLeft">
                                LOI Left
                            </label>
                        </div>
                                                
                        <div class="row gy-2 gx-3 align-items-center mb-3">
                            <div class="col-auto">
                                <div class="form-check">
                                    <input class="form-check-input" type="checkbox" id="contactCustomer" asp-for="@Model.Account.DebtChecks["ContactWithCustomer"]">
                                    <label class="form-check-label">
                                        Contact With Customer
                                    </label>
                                </div>
                            </div>
                            <div class="col-auto">
                                <input type="text" class="form-control" id="contactName" name="contactName" asp-for="Account.ContactName">
                            </div>
                        </div>

                    </div>
                </form>
            </div>
            <div class="modal-footer">
                <button type="button" class="btn btn-danger" data-bs-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
                <button type="submit" form="submitRecordForm" asp-page-handler="SavetoDB" class="btn btn-primary">Submit Changes</button>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validate/1.19.3/jquery.validate.min.js"></script>
    <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validation-unobtrusive/3.2.12/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.min.js"></script>
    <script>
        $(document).ready(function () {
            $("#submitRecordForm").validate({
                ignore: ".ignore",
                rules: {
                    contactName: {
                        required: "#contactCustomer:checked"
                    },
                },
                messages: {
                    contactName: {
                        required: "Please enter some data",
                    }
                }
            });
        });
    </script>