I've already had a little problem with my neighbor (who lives beneath my apartment) regarding noise.
Now it's sunday morning, me and my son are home alone and my son is playing, he sometimes runs.
I already put carpets, I already wrote a letter of apoligies to my neighbor. Now he knocked the ceiling (I don't know how to write it in English, sorry... you know when you use a broom stick to knock on the ceiling).
What are the rules for Sunday? Complete silence? Outside is raining, my son is only playing (not shouting, not jumping, not taking down the house). I tell him to be quiet, but only to some extent I'm successful: he's alive and 3 years old. And I cannot tie him.
My husband is away, I'm not having an easy time. I just would like to be prepared in case he comes up to tell me something, what are the rules for sunday?
You'll know when your child is being too noisy. As long as there's no stomping, throwing stuff or screaming, your neighbour can't fairly complain. If someone has an issue with your noise and can't be bothered coming up to complain to your face, I wouldn't be bothered making too much of an effort to be silent.
If the banging continues, perhaps go down and complain about the noise
Some vague cultural note: there are times of day when one may expect a bit of peace and quiet, usually between 12.00 and 14.00, but this is more concerned with using power tools and the like. Don't worry, let your little fellow play away...
A child is allowed to make sounds and even noise to a certain extent. So try to ignore the guy as difficult as it may seem. He doesn't have any grounds for complaints as long as your child is just being a child.
If he comes to talk to you directly, just be polite and say sorry and that you'll try to keep him more quiet and then just get on with you life.
The babe is 3, they all run and climb and chase the cats and let things fall out of their little hands. Tough for the neighbor, he's over the top.
If he wants complete silence versus the giggling and playing of a child, maybe he should move to the countryside.
I've lived beside noisy kids and never ever have the parents made an effort to curb the noise level and I've never complained either.
Only once was I concerned when the teenager in the family above us had an incredible party when his parents were out of town and the noise was so high, my chandelier in the living down was shaking
I have lived on both sides of this particular fence.
Our 2 year old loves to play a drum and xylophone at full blast - luckily our apartment is at the top of the building and there are thick concrete walls and floors. He likes to run about and jump and now and again I will get him to quieten down just in case the neighbours do hear it. Having said that, we live in the middle of Basel and I daresay the trams rumbling by make far more racket.
When we first came to Basel we spent the first few months in a small apartment where upstairs there lived an extended Algerian family who occupied a few of the apartments. They were lovely people however their evening socialising would consist of the kids being put in one of the apartments to play while the adults would drink tea etc in another apartment. The kids had a football and we would be treated to the thud-thud-thud of the ball bouncing in the floor - until way after the 10pm "Nachtruhe" time.
It being early on in our stay in CH, we didn't know the full "Basler Hausordnung" at that point, and in the end we found a new place and moved out anyway. Had we stayed we probably would have complained a bit more about it.
The written rules aside, I think when you are living cheek-by-jowl with people in an apartment building, there is a certain amount of give-and-take. Now and again somebody on a lower floor will hold a noisy party - there was a group of Africans who would regularly have their mates round and we would now and again hear a bit of their conversation if the window was open. Myself, I play Fasnacht piccolo and I regularly ask our neighbour if he is disturbed at all - he takes the attitude that if you don't like Fasnacht and all that goes with it, then don't live in the middle of Basel.
If I remember correctly, you have a legal right to enjoy your place of residence (I will try to dig out the written rule) and things like a child playing constitute normal use of your home. Even after the "Nachtruhe" (evening quiet) comes in to effect, you can still do stuff like watch TV, cook, shower etc provided that the noise is not excessive. In a building with thin walls, as much as you try, there will be occasions when your activity is audible to those in other apartments.
If your neighbour continues to make a fuss - and keeps banging the ceiling etc - I would suggest having a word with your "Hauswart" (caretaker) to get it sorted out. You may even find that other residents in the building find this man a pain too.
I read somewhere that kids can make anytime any sound, but not sounds of playing ball and cannot play in the stairs. So, I would complain about the neighbore knocking the ceiling.
You can explain agency the situation and ask to explain rules to this person. Usually it works.
Actually, my son always gets scared by my neighbor's bangs.
I always tend to take the blame, but this old guy who leaves beneath me is banging on the ceiling as soon as there's a noise, even at lunch time, like 7 in the afternoon.