Location: GA
When I was 19 years old I signed a lease on a house for my family, who had credit issues and could not get a place for themselves. I didn't qualify on my own, so my grandfather cosigned. I was only in this house with them for a few months and I moved out with a roommate to be closer to work and my girlfriend.
When it came time to renew they renewed with just my grandfather on the lease. I trusted that was the case and that the lease could not be renewed without me signing a new lease, which I did not. I did take a look at the renewal request and it has only my grandfather's signature on it.
The pandemic happened, and the eviction moratorium went into place. And then my grandfather passed. When the moratorium ended my family was evicted from this home owing nearly 40k. Because my grandfather has passed the company owning the house has placed this 40k in debt on my credit, even though the balance at the end of the the 1 year lease I signed was 0. And I did not sign any renewal paperwork or live in the home anymore. The company owning the house says that doesn't matter and I am still responsible because I didn't sign a roommate release form, even though the lease I signed had ended.
I'm not sure what to do or if there's any ways to fix this that don't include sending my father to jail for fraud, since that's not exactly what happened and my signature was not forged for the renewal because my signature is not on the renewal paperwork at all. Am I really still responsible for this?
Even though the debt was from during the pandemic it didn't appear on my credit until 2023, so it will not fall off any time soon. This debt has prevented me from being able to move out of my sucky apartment and has tanked my credit score. Any advice at all is appreciated. And yes, I've learned my lesson about signing anything for my parents.