i came home really late today ( about 3 am) from work
and i found a note on the floor from my neighbor (in german) that basically warned that if i play loud music after 22.00, they will call the police
i don’t play any music in my apartment and i only listen to music through earphones
i wrote on the backside of the note that i don’t play any music and i only use earphones to listen to music - and that they can talk to me if to clear any confusions
the only sources of sound from my room can be;
[list][*]my mechanical keyboard with blue switches - highly doubt it can be heard across the wall?
my electric toothbrush - which i use sometimes late at night (say 3 or 4 in the morning)
[/list]
and that’s it
i don’t speak or talk loudly … except when i am home in the day and even then, i don’t scream - i talk normally
i ask here because i am really scared of any legal consequences - i am already suffering from multiple health issues and stress is already killing me
the last thing i need is police called on me - i am also not fluent in german, so i am super scared because of that as well
so my question is - what should i do ? how should i proceed in this situation ?
P.S : please note, i am very badly scared right now - i will appreciate your help in this!
EDIT : it could be my phone alarm - but if it rings after 7 am in the morning, is that considered to be loud music outside the quiet times? AGAIN - i am not sure, i hope to clear it up with the nachbar … i am just very scared and stressed!
Firstly, welcome to the Forum.
Secondly, try not to panic too much. You are not the first to be in this situation and I guess you will not be the last.
More later…
As someone who is prepared to fight when necessary but much prefers living in peace with her neighbours, I can only say what I would do, I cannot really give advice to others.
I try to avoid sounding agressive. Not being fluent in the language is a disadvantage, so I try to make sure that what I say is what I meant. I might write it in my native tongue and then put it through DeepL (a good translation programme).
I would try to find out where the noise is coming from myself.
Do you ever hear music from another flat. (In summer it can be from a flat opposite!)
Sound can carry in odd ways.
If you have contact with others in the building, you could ask if they hear anything.
If the writer of the message gets in touch, accept that they might be quite a pleasant person but have been driven bananas by the ‚racket‘.
Maybe suggest that they come to your flat when they hear it again so that they hear fro themselves that it isn‘t your music or they could writte down the times when it occurs. (Maybe you are at work then!) That they go out into the corridor and try to locate it.
Mothers of young children are often very conscious of an unexpected sound in the night. Not that this is the problem here but it is worth remembering. Some people might indeed hear the electric toothbrush at three in the morning. Bathrooms (especially those with air vents which go upwards from one flat to another) are like loudspeakers!
Probably others will come up with better ideas but please do not let it get you down. Good luck.
Neighbor complains about noise, you don’t make noise, that means the neighbor is somewhere between wrong and crazy.
Worst thing can happen is the police shows up and find the right people. But, the chances of that happening are low. Police has more important issues to deal with. And then person leaving the note lacks the will or courage to talk to you, so probably even more scared than you. So, don’t worry.
Having re-read the first post, it occurred to me that you are not actually being accused of playing loud music at all. Maybe the writer has no idea where the noise is coming from, but has sent the same message to other residents too.
Happened to my parents. Below neighbour was convinced they were making noise and called the police on them several times. Also at times when my parents were away abroad… They never found out the source of the noise but was highly stressful for my parents especially as once the police showed up when they were looking after my kids (my kids are older and were not th source of noise )
In the end had to go via legal insurance to write a cease and desist letter.
I have not read the other replies but if I were you I would approach the neighbor very calmly and explain your concern - i.e. that you don’t play music and that you understand he is upset but he needs to figure out where it really comes from. If he does not stop, contact your agency.
My neighbour from below also called police on me, wrote several complaints letters to management, management also came to check on me hhahaha and to everyone the storyline was the same that he is a lying nut job, and that was it. So given that you didn’t even violate anything, you replied and it is enough, sneaking and writing and doing smth behind the back is the definition of neighbours here, they will never say anything in person. If it will start feeling as harassment, file complaint with the police yourself.
Don’t worry about it, if you’re not actually making the noise sooner or later the truth will come out. At some point it’s bound to be noisy while you’re there, so even if the police arrives you can invite them in the apartment and they can see firsthand that the noise is coming from somewhere else.
I’m with Longbyt on this one. The note was sent to all neighbours, because they don’t know the source of the noise.
If you were to be playing loud music and the police were called, they’d knock on your door and tell you to turn it down. And that would be the end of it. So long as you’re not a repeat offender.
Since you’ve not been, there’s nothing to fear.
It reminds me of the story of someone sending a letter to all his friends “All is known! Run!!!”, and half of them left town…
The consequences of taking things into your own hands.
From WRS this morning.
A Geneva man has been fined for throwing stones into a neighbour’s garden in an effort to disrupt an autonomous mowing machine.
The 60-year-old who lives in Cartigny complained that his neighbour used the machine too often and wrote a letter saying if it ran more than twice a week at more than an hour at a time - he would throw stones onto his lawn.
He made good with his threat.
The dispute has rumbled on since 2021.
The man has been found guilty of attempted coercion and ordered to pay nearly CHF 1,000 on costs and has been given a suspended CHF 4,800 fine.
I often here noise in my building and have no idea where it’s coming from at times. There is an air circulation system to all of the apartments with vents in the ceilings so I can only assume it comes via the vents.
)