Presently I am living independly in a one bedroom apartment. I met with the apartment manager and she advised that I must continue my lease. I explained that I am unable to live alone. I live South Carolina and the she advised that my contract with the apartment complex cannot be broken.
Honestly, I gotta believe the manager is trying to bully you a bit. People have to break leases all the time - job transfers, illness, divorce etc.
Do you have a copy of your lease? If not, ask for one from the manager and read it throughly. I would think there would have to be something in writing regarding broken leases - otherwise they'd have no means of enforcing any repercussions.
Do you have anyone who can stand up to the manager to advocate for you?
Got this online for S. Carolina from http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/tenants-right-break-rental-lease-south-carolina.html
Tenants are legally bound to pay rent for the full lease term, typically one year, whether or not you continue to live in the rental unit—with some exceptions, as follows.
1) You Are Starting Active Military Duty
2) The Rental Unit Is Unsafe or Violates South Carolina Health or Safety Codes
3) Your Landlord Harasses You or Violates Your Privacy Rights
If you don’t have a legal justification to break your lease, the good news is that you may still be off the hook for paying all the rent due for the remaining lease term. This is because under South Carolina law (S.C. Code Ann. § 27-40-730 (c)), your landlord must make reasonable efforts to re-rent your unit—no matter what your reason for leaving—rather than charge you for the total remaining rent due under the lease. So you may not have to pay much, if any additional rent, if you break your lease.
If your landlord rerents the property quickly (more likely in college towns and similar markets), all you’ll be responsible for is the (hopefully brief) amount of time the unit was vacant.
The bad news is that if the landlord tries to rerent your unit, and can’t find an acceptable tenant, you will be liable for paying rent for the remainder of your lease term. This could be a substantial amount of money if you leave several months before your lease ends. Your landlord will probably first use your security deposit to cover the amount you owe. But if your deposit is not sufficient, your landlord may sue you, probably in small claims court where the limit is $7,500 in South Carolina.
If you want to leave early, and you don’t have legal justification to do so, there are better options than just moving out and hoping your landlord gets a new tenant quickly. There’s a lot you can do to limit the amount of money you need to pay your landlord—and help ensure a good reference from the landlord when you’re looking for your next place to live.
You can help the situation a lot by providing as much notice as possible and writing a sincere letter to your landlord explaining why you need to leave early. Ideally you can offer your landlord a qualified replacement tenant, someone with good credit and excellent references, to sign a new lease with your landlord.