After living in multiple apartments in CH since 2016, I've moved into a new apartment 3 months ago. I recently received a letter from my landlord (rental agency) that they have received "numerous" noise complaints for "immense noise" coming from my apartment from 22:00-07:00. The letter is titled with "Ruhestorung".

I am very very quiet. I live alone, without pets and don't make any noise or throw parties. All the neighbours adjacent to me have said they do not hear any noise from me at all.

There is however a neighbour one floor below me who came up to me last month early evening (way before 22:00) who said she can hear me close the blinds and hears me walk loudly on the floor. When she initially came up, I apologized for any noise and asked her to knock on my door if she hears it again so we can solve the issue together. It seems however, she contacted the landlord who decided to send me a registered letter warning me of my "actions".

I now feel like I'm walking on eggshells in my own apartment. It also doesn't make sense because even if the window blinds make a lot of noise (they honestly don't) when I put them down, I only put them down when the sun sets - and not past 22:00 when it has been dark for many hours. I'm not showering or making any excess noise during quiet hours. I'm either sleeping or simply walking in my flat during quiet hours. The flat is also modern, so it's not the case where the walls/floors are very thin.

How do I continue living here? I'm scared that she will continue complaining for noise that I'm not causing. I don't want to be evicted or harassed within my own home. What can I do and how is the best way to respond to the landlord's warning letter? I don't want the rental agency to evict me or terminate my lease.

Send a letter back to Landlord suggesting she is over sensitive and that nobody else has heard any noises and that you have made every effort to be quiet.



Mention you have suggested she calls you in case of any noise to try and find a solution but evidently this has been rebuffed for whatever reasons.

Send the letter registered.

I believe that you have taken all the right actions until now:

Once being made aware of the situation, you also contacted your adjacent neighbours, and showed an absolute willingness to try to solve the situation together. Did the complaining neighbour experience neighbours in your apartment previous to you? It is my guess that she did, and any measures to resolve the situation brought no improvement. So, regardless of the time that she hears the noise, she is able to make a complaint to the landlord as a breach of the rental agreement only when occurring between 10pm and 7am.

Having a new apartment unfortunately is no protection against poor sound insulation when floor-heating is also present.

I am in exactly the same situation currently. Moved in March as the first tenant in a new building of high building standard, noticed I could hear the footsteps above me (but absolutely nothing else like TV, voices etc.), but it was bearable. After returning from a 3 month trip away however, I noticed the footstep noise had massively increased. So much so that it often caused my furniture to vibrate!

It was also impossible to go to bed before they did - which was often not until 00:30. It totally screwed up my natural sleep routine.

I approached all the adjacent neighbours, including the ones above and below, having already concluded that it was noise-transfer through the flooring. All were extremely friendly and helpful - we developed an system where they offered I could text them when I heard something, and they would do the same. We made several ‚walking tests‘ to determine at which level of footsteps the disturbance began to occur, and I kept a calendar of when it occurred over a period of 2 weeks. After which point it became clear which apartment the disturbance emanated from, after having recognised a distinct pattern in the routine.

Wanting to retain an already excellent relationship with those neighbours, I approached them in a non-confrontational way, and they recognised immediately their pattern (family with 2 young kids).

Since then, they make best efforts to adjust their walk - and the disturbance has reduced considerably. However, there is a clear „problematic“ in the sound insulation between all the apartments when it comes to footsteps. As mentioned - there is no transfer of any other types of noise whatsoever.

At one point I considered what my options were. I fully accept the normal childrens noise, and it doesn‘t bother me. However I could not think of anyway of being able to complain in such a way that would force the building management to examine the underlying issue, except than stating a breach of „Hausruhe“ rules. Luckily, I did not have to do that. Anyway, long-story-short:

In your position I would personally first write a factual (non-confrontational email) to the Hausverwaltung, stating your situation. Also stating that the complaining neighbour below has been un-willing to try to resolve the situation so that you may have an understanding of the problem.

And then request that they advise on the best steps to resolve the situation, with your full cooperation.

Good luck, and please let us know how it goes!

This.

OP: I once had an issue with my neighbor above. I contacted the mieterverband, they told me noise complains by individuals matter, but don't matter that much. They have to be supported by several neighbors or reports from police visits. I went to talk to the local police and they said "no one has ever called to come to your apartment building".

So, I just replied to the rental company that I respected 22h00 to 6h00 no-noise hours. Also that there was more sounds because I switched to home office and that I sometimes smoked alone and in my balcony because I faced difficulties to sleep. That was like 2 years ago and I have never received any answer or further complain. In the meantime, the neighbor that complained about me has argued and fought with more people in the building. So, it' literally people looking for trouble. You may ask directly what their problem is or let it pass and within a few weeks another issue may have caught their hyperactive attention.

Does the flat have a high turnover rate? A lack of noise insulation may be the reason why.

Arrange a meeting with the neighbour and invite a friend.

Stand in your neighbour's apartment with the neighbour while your friend walks up and down in your apartment - and confirm whether any noise actually does come from your apartment by someone walking up and down. Ditto the blinds. Get the friend to walk up-and-down in socks, shoes etc to see what makes the difference.

It might be there is no noise at all coming from your apartment and it is some other source. Or maybe there is a creaky floorboard or similar.

Rgds,
Nick

I believe they already tried to resolve it but the neighbour didn't want to know.

Yes there may be a floor insulation problem but it's also possible that this neighbour is possibly:

A racist
Anti-foreigner
Mentally ill
Just a horrible person

It may be worth the OP speaking to other neighbours to see if this one is a serial complainer.

Might be worth going to have a chat with her, armed with the letter from the landlord and ask her why she didn't take up your offer to speak with you directly. Ask her to detail exactly what kind of noise she thinks you are making.

Sometimes when people are presented with their own pettiness they back down.

Or a BOB (Bothersome Old Bag).

Otherwise OP can make the same invitation to the Verwaltung for the same action.

I'm saying this, as one guy I know from Basel had similar from a neighbour. My friend also happened to be the appointed Hauswart. So he got the neighbour to stand in her apartment while he walked up and down. The noise was not him.

Don't try to deny the disturbance that the neighbour is experiencing by suggesting she's "too sensitive" etc. No need to walk on eggshells, a rug or wearing slippers might be sufficient. Some people walk like elephants and don't realise it. One of my neighbours used to walk around in loud high heels very early in the morning and it's annoying at any time. Rollerblind noises before 10pm people just have to live with but maybe there's something wrong with them.

I would write to the landlord to say you don't make excessive noise if you believe that to be true.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I will write a polite and non-confrontational letter to the agency stating that I am not making any noise. I'll state that I've talked to all the neighbours on my floor and they have all offered to vouch for me and give me glowing reviews. I'll also offer my phone number to be passed down so anyone with noise complaints can promptly call me to investigate rather than escalating.

My remaining concern is my standing with the landlord. I'm hoping that they cannot terminate my tenancy due to these claims. What if she keeps complaining? Should I become a member of the Mieterverband and get them involved at this stage?

Just thinking of ways I can protect myself. I really like where I live and can't fathom having to move.

If you follow my suggestion: so to tell them that the complaining neighbour is unwilling to cooperate in giving you anymore information, and ask them to provide instructions on what your next steps should be, then this should not be necessary.

By then you have opened up a dialogue with them. As they are responsible for ensuring that the terms of your rental agreement are not compromised, they are obligated to provide you with a response. You also have a contract, not just the ‚complainer‘. Depending on their response (I would give them a maximum of 2 days to reply, and then follow-up with a registered letter if none is forth-coming) you will know more about the general situation.

Addendum to above: it is never a bad idea to join the MV, however they will only be able to provide you with advice and examples. Personally, I would put that CHF100.- or so towards a legal insurance (although you would of course not yet be covered in the event of a claim in this pre-existing problem).

Yes, you should join the Mieterverband, anyway, as it is always a good idea. They provide legal advice. It is free for members but won't be free, of course, for a matter that started before your membership did. But you could still get their help for their fee. I think you're unlikely to need it in this case, however.

I think your standing with the landlord is likely to be fine, precisely because you're showing yourself to be both polite and willing to resolve the issue. With this attitude, and with the positive reports from the other neighbours, and most especially because you are not ignoring the landlord's letter, you are highly unlikely to be given notice to leave the apartment.

Lets assume you walk around in your socks (no shoes) then its very hard to imagine that as disturbing a neighbour. And that with the complaint about the blinds is really ridiculous. Maybe invite her for a cup of tea and try to win her over.

Not true whatsoever! Especially on an anhydrite floor, which is common in many new, modern apartments.

The blinds thing sounds pretty ridiculous to me to. Our building was new in 2018 and we have the electric type, you hear them being raised, lowered and closed but it's not intrusive noise, same at our last place. Our flat is on the 1st floor, but it's like a mezzanine level above the entrance so underneath is basement storage and the drying room, nobody hears the giant fan in there.

We don't go to bed that early and our TV has speakers, we said to neighbours above if they hear anything just to tell us but they said it was fine. They have a little boy running around. I never knew the girl next door to me was having a noisy party until I opened my front door one Saturday night.

Some people just get annoyed and for no real reason take a dislike to you, a noise thing happened to me when I had my first flat in London back in 1985. It was first floor above a retired couple, the wife used to complain about us walking across the kitchen floor so to appease her we put mats down and didn't wear shoes.
Next it was a knock on the door one Saturday to tell us their 15 year old granddaughter was staying and she complained she had been kept awake by the headboard from our bed banging against the wall all night (neighbour was insinuating hot sex, but my OH disappointed her when he said I had the flu ). Things went on like this and we eventually found out through another retired neighbour they were creating all this fuss because they didn't approve of us cohabiting!

Me too.

That made me think that the neighbour may have issues.

What is the OP supposed to do - leave the shutters up all night?

If you live in an apartment, you're going to get a bit of noise - it can be the same in a semi-detached or terraced house.

Agree - the complaint with the shutters must have no value to the Verwaltung in their complaint. I also hear my neighbours external shutters. We all have electric ones, which are pre-programmed to automatically rise when there is a stronger wind, or even when it rains - so it can often be in the middle of the night when they suddenly start to ascend. So, this cannot be viewed as a valid ground for complaint. This makes me think that the Verwaltung has not taken the complaint seriously, if it was named in the complaint, and that the complaints have been received also for a previous tenant. This is why it would be of interest to open a dialogue with them.