Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Is my landlord breaking the law?

Telling a prospective lender that you live at the property being refinanced when in fact it is rented out, in order to get a lower interest rate, is deceit (a civil fraud) and when the lender acts upon the misrepresentation it can result in civil liability. See Civil Code sections 1709 and 1710. It could be a crime under Penal Code sections 532 or 532a, but this is not the kind of fraud that interests police and prosecuters, so most likely an action, if any, would be civil in nature.

You are probably not at risk for fraud or conspiracy in receiving and/or signing for mail and other deliveries addressed to the landlord. Your risk might be greater in refusing it, with the possibility that it would later go astray and you could be blamed. Of course, you are at risk if you accept mail or packages and later lose it/them.

There is no one perfect answer for dealing with the mail and other deliveries, but caring for it pursuant to the landlord's directions does not seem to implicate you in the fraud nor otherwise be a worse alternative than declining receipt.

You can hardly be accused of complicity in fraud if you marely receive the mail and do not study the return addresses, know the contents, etc., so merely act as a temporary repository and keep your noses out of the particulars. Further, if anyone asks questions (such as an appraiser), then answer questions truthfully, including "I don't know" whenever you are in fact less that sure about a matter.