Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Is sublet against a lease a crime?

First, fraud is a very broad and rather poorly defined concept that includes some activity that may be criminal, but more often is only a civil wrong, as are defamation and negligence.

A civil wrong is something for which an ordinary citizen can sue, whereas a criminal prosecution can be brought only by the People, acting through the district attorney.

Living in an apartment where you are not on the lease is probably only a brech of the lease, i.e. a breach of contract, but perhaps not even that. Unless the lease limits the number of occupants, having an additional dweller may not even be a breach of the lease. Read the lease!!!

Excess occupants could be civil fraud if someone lied to the landlord. In other words, breaching a contract is a relatively mild wrong, but breaching it while misrepresenting something is potentially more serious.

If the lease is silent about extra occupants, you risk little except possibly non-renewal or higher rent when the term of the lease is up. If the lease limits the number of occupants, the tenant could lose the lease and be evicted if, upon notice, the excess occupant(s) did not depart.

What will happen in real life depends on the landlord's attitude as well as the lease terms. If the landlord is unhappy with the occupants, (s)he is much more likely to force the issue toward eviction. Only those of you 'on the scene' can evaluate and predict this.