Rude neighbour

Yesterday Night around 11.15 when we were sleeping at our apartment our downstairs neighbourrang our bell and when I open the gate he and his partner both start screamingabout noise from apartment , then I politely told him that it may be somewhereelse as we are sleeping then he start shouting in German and start making some inappropriate hand sign and try to threaten me ,Aftera while I told themthat if they are not going to downstairsI will call to police ...then only they went to their apartment ..... but now iam thinking to complaint about them as my wife got really scared with all thisincident and she is not able to sleep whole night ....can anyone suggest mewhat to do in such situation .....

First contact other neighbours and say hello. If there's a nutter in the house it's likely others have had experiences of his behaviour. Then ask your landlord if there's any history with him; again, they're likely to know.

Then - language permitting - contact Angry Neighbour in the sober light of day. Not too early though, first thing can be a bit brutal. If it was late at night it's likely he was under the influence. Kill with kindness and ask if everything is ok. If you get a similar reaction, contact the landlord again and complain.

It's ok for you to tell him his behaviour wasn't welcome.

I had a chap like this once who went violent and it was only once the landlord had received a few complaints could they reasonably intervene.

Good luck.

Previous tenant also update about his behaviour & alsowarn us about him and his crankiness ... however the previous tenant wasstaying with his 3 kids (age between 12-16 years) , and maybe that’s why myneighbour feel noise so while taking apartment I ignored his information ... As we are staying only two person (me & mywife ) and not even think that that it can be an issue for us ever .... HoweverI will now consult with other occupant in building ... Thanks for your suggestion.....Btwcan I complaint to police regarding his behaviour or should I inform to ourAgency (privera)

I think, you should complain to who ever you want!!

That is crazy, he cannot come roaring and shouting to your door. Who does that... if there is noise you knock and ask people to quieten down. If they dont then OK next time you talk to them you can be mad.

If your wife felt threatened and you have kids in the house then you should complain to all necessary. They should be able ot feel safe in their home!

When i was in my late teens i lived in an apartment with my friend, We had 4 big polish men living underneath us. Maybe the floors were made of paper but even when we would be sleeping they would bang on our door, saying we were making too much noise. The were very intimidating. the would barge their way into our apartment and stand over is. I owuld literally have to scream for them to get out!

Anyways, they managed to get us kicked out by saying we were making noise all the time. complained 3 times to our land lord and we got booted! Nothing we could do!

Looking back i realise we should have complained to our landlord from the start. Made him aware of what was happening.

That way we could have covered our backs.

Make sure you cover yours!!

Did they say "schnarchen" repeatedly?

Complain to the landlord immediately. It would be better if you got in a complaint before the neighbour does. Also you need to join the Mieterverband to get their advice on how to deal with the kind of bullying you describe. If you want to stay on in the flat it would be sensible to try to nip the behaviour in the bud. From what you describe it doesn't sound as if a polite chat will be much help.You could try I suppose if your German is up to it. If it isn't a well crafted letter might do some good and unless your German is pretty good it might be worth getting some help. Something along the lines of how shocked and horrified by this quite unwarranted attack etc. and how you hope never again to be subjected to abuse based on ficitious assertions etc. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Pour a beer on him next time!

Tom

It could be easy to explain. You are from India, and in Switzerland many people will attribute any unconvenience to foreigners. Maybe the swiss youth across the door are partying, but the swiss guy downstairs will usually consider you main suspect. This is in direct relation to how exotic you are: foreign western europeans are more tolerated, southern europeans less, non europeans are definitely dubious. Maybe after they get to know you it will improve, deppending on the neighbour.
Anyway, the best way is to contact him and friendly but clearly tell him: you did not make any noise. Did you by the way hear anyhthing that night? If he is friendly, he will probably think it twice about a second aggresive visit. If he is a nutter write your landlord a complaint letter, and if he ever shows up again violently call the police.
He may have a bad experience with the former family's children, and tries to prevent a repetition. Children are in my experience a nuisance to some older swiss people or couples with no children.

If you make the other one feel that you really think of him that crap,

than of course he has some heavy suspects of you and your family. But not as a result of your origin, passport, hair colour, clothes or language,

but as one of brains (yours).



Cheers

Some call this prejudice. It exists in all the world.

The man who lives above us snores so loudly that we can hear him. I thought about anonymously slipping some of those nasal strip things in his mailbox.

Alas, I don't live in ZH (but I could send you my address)!

Tom

Learning the ways of the Swiss...I have studied my Father-in-law intently. (RIP)

The only true way to handle this is to yell in the exact same tone and don't back down, in any language.

I have witnessed this a few times at his apartment...and while driving in fact.

Thanks a lot for your advices, we sent a letter to our agency on 7 July andafter that Agency People called us and confirmed us they will take appropriateaction against them. It seems agency has warned them because from last one month he has not disturbedus ... Hope it will continue....

I wonder what inapppropriate hand signs he made

Go to the police and make a formal complaint of harassment and/or racial abuse. If you're lucky they'll follow up. Worse case, it's still on record.

If he ever does it again.. (hopefully you have a door peep hole).. get a camera and just stand there filming him.

To be fair, the OP hasn't mentioned once that race was a factor in the issue. If he starts inventing stuff, it will weaken his case. Best if he sticks to the facts.