I currently moved into a 2 bedroom apartment with my sister, I am 18 and she is 21. We just got into a 14 month lease which I basically did for my mother to make her happy because my sister and I never got along. There are some issues already in this first week we just moved in. I am more of the common sense type while my sister is the selfish type which is her way or she will throw a fit. She basically took the master bedroom, the one parking space they give us, and also the card to get Into the apartment that way she won't punch in the button to get in, then she has the walk in closet in her room and yet she's putting her clothes into the closet next to my room which I wanted to occupy since my room and closet is smaller compared to the 2000+ square foot home we used to live in, so more like space issues on this one. These are just the minor things which I try to just let go of. Now the big issues are; I work one day out of the week as a Nurse's assistant, but try to pick up as many days as I can from the people who don't want to work. My job is about 30-40 min away from my apartment which it varies due to how awake I am at 5 in the morning to get there at 6. I work 12 hours and this week I have worked 4 days (when I wasn't home on those days I would come home from work and find pee almost everywhere) so on Saturday I was exhausted and my mother lives close to my job so I visited her at her husbands home and spent the night because I knew I couldn't drive home. The next day I woke up at 10 in the morning and my sister was calling me and telling me to get home because the dogs probably wanted to get out, I thought she was at work, but later found out she was put with friends. I got ready and Got to the apartment around noon. (Now I had told her many times to stop leaving the dogs in the kitchen, that's why they have a cage) when I get there the dogs are at the window barking. I walk in and there was pee and poop everywhere more then before. I go to see where they were out at and there was this fence which you block the babies from getting up the stairs (which she had bought them), and it was made of wood which they had bitten through, I didn't care about that, but I saw they scratched up the carpet trying to dig themselves out of there so the kitchen has tile and the dinning area has the carpet. I am just thinking how idiotic this is to have the dogs in the kitchen when we had tried before to put 20lb boxes blocking them from getting out of the kitchen at the beginning and they bit through that and she thought that this fence would hold them. Not only is the place trashed, but she is making her boyfriend "repair" that part of the carpet which obviously she shouldn't do that, she should assume responsibility and tell the woman, but like I said she has no common sense. This is only the first week and I am already thinking about breaking this lease. How can I do this the right way without hurting my credit as much?

Are you and your sister both on the lease?

If you are not, you can leave without any reprocussions since you are not on the lease.

If only your name is on the lease (not hers), you can force her to leave. If you don't want to confront her, then make sure a little birdie tells the apartment manager that another person is staying in your apartment that is not on the lease. The apartment manager will post a notice on your door telling you the person not on the lease needs to leave immediately.

If you are both on the lease, you should talk to the manager of the complex. Sometimes apartment complex's will allow one person to remove themselves from the lease without any reprecussions if there is still someone staying in the apartment that will cover the remainder of the lease.

If your name is on the lease, do NOT just leave without removing yourself from the lease. If you leave without pulling your name off the lease, you can be held responsible for any damage that she, or the dogs, do to the apartment.

Whether your name is on the lease or not, there will still be repercussions. If you aren't on the lease your sister is your landlord and she can hold you responsible for your share of the rental.

There is really no easy way out unless you can find a replacement roommate. And that will be difficult with the dogs. I have to wonder why two young girls, just starting on their have dogs in an apartment.

Are you and your sister both on the lease?

If you are not, you can leave without any reprocussions since you are not on the lease.

If only your name is on the lease (not hers), you can force her to leave. If you don't want to confront her, then make sure a little birdie tells the apartment manager that another person is staying in your apartment that is not on the lease. The apartment manager will post a notice on your door telling you the person not on the lease needs to leave immediately.

If you are both on the lease, you should talk to the manager of the complex. Sometimes apartment complex's will allow one person to remove themselves from the lease without any reprecussions if there is still someone staying in the apartment that will cover the remainder of the lease.

If your name is on the lease, do NOT just leave without removing yourself from the lease. If you leave without pulling your name off the lease, you can be held responsible for any damage that she, or the dogs, do to the apartment.

We are both on the lease, and that means I can ask for a statement saying that she can pay it on her own?

Whether your name is on the lease or not, there will still be repercussions. If you aren't on the lease your sister is your landlord and she can hold you responsible for your share of the rental.

There is really no easy way out unless you can find a replacement roommate. And that will be difficult with the dogs. I have to wonder why two young girls, just starting out on their have dogs in an apartment.

We are both on the lease.
We had lived with my mom and dad in a house for more then 10 years (that's why we have those dogs). When they got divorced my sister wanted to keep the dogs although she was out partying and never really did anything for them. My mom tried to get rid of them several times but my sister kept arguing with her.
She's really difficult to deal with and that's how the dogs ended up here.
She's very careless which we thought it would help her mature a bit more, but we thought wrong.

You are each jointly and individually responsible for the rent. So if either of your moves out the other must pay the rent. The one who stays can then sue the other for their share.

So your only real alternative here is to get a roommate who will take over your share. And that may be difficult, so you may be stuck.

I would get mom to mediate. I would then set up a set of rules for BOTH to adhere to with a fine system. For example:

Not letting the other know they will be someplace overnight-$2
Not properly locking up the dogs-$3
Not replenishing common supplies (toilet paper, cleaning supplies etc.)-$1

Make a chart and post it prominently. Get a piggy bank for you both to deposit the fines.

Maybe that will help her grow up a bit.