Looking for some help here to our rights?
Our upstairs neighbor honestly has been making our lives miserable.
I have started tracking all the noise disturbances since December which has amassed 18 noise disturbances.
Sometimes during the day and sometimes after 10pm.
The latest is guitar playing!
This now seems to go off exactly during my German lessons and not only disturbs me but wakes up our baby. We called the landlord yesterday who basically said tough he can play for up to 2 hours a day. We would be fine if it was atleast after 5 or a Saturday as my partner is also working from home with because of the covid restrictions.
We own our apartment and are now actively looking to sell and buy a house but in the meantime is there anything we can do or are we stuck with this guy?
He actively does not want to engage being amicable with us and actually plays more often now since we complained about the guitar playing 🙈
Do I just invest in headphones for myself and the baby 🙈🙈🙈
Have you ever called the Police about this?
Well this sucks.
I can’t help you with a lot of the questions you ask, but for your little one, may I advise investing in an adaptive white noise machine? They work wonders and when we lived in a noisy area of Jakarta, or when there was nearby construction and the other (incredibly) noisy activities that took place in (shockingly noisy) Japan, the kid slept well after using it. Hers usually was of a babbling brook which would increase gently when a jackhammer went off.
I used it while we were on a noisy street in Geneva. Fairly affordable too.
Good luck. I hope you reach a better permanent solution soon.
If he plays before 7am or after 10pm then this is pretty much the only thing you can reasonably complain about. Also if he plays for more than 2 hours too I guess.
Otherwise it sounds like you live in an apartment with terrible soundproofing and if that really bothers you then it makes sense to find another quieter apartment because people still have to live their lives and can't realistically be spending the next few years tiptoeing around during the day for the sake of your baby.
When you live in an apartment, expect to hear your neighbours. I'm sure they get annoyed with your noise (especially a crying baby and soon to be noisy toddler) too.
As long as the noise is within normal hours, just let it be. Shouldn't a guitar player be entitled to play their instrument in their own home? I live next door to a poor bassoon player, but I deal with it as life is noisy. If you want quiet, buy a house in the middle of nowhere - but even farm tractors make noise in the early hours.
We don't know whether the upstairs neighbour can hear this. It's not always the case.
One solution is to buy or rent on the top floor, - this could mean you hear much less noise from any neighbours, especially if it the only dwelling on the floor.
No we never did - we are planning on selling now so we were hoping to sort it amicably as we don’t really want a feud going on when we being in prospective buyers.
Thanks so much - that is super helpful. I’ll try that
Believe it or not I talked my partner out of buying the top floor as ground would be more accessible with a stroller 🙈 I think I deserve the I told you so 😅😊
1. between 12h-13h and 22h-06h is rest time when one should not make disturbing noises. Similar is on Sundays and holidays. It's a valid point to complain.
2. maybe talk with your neighbour? if you are disturbed by his guitar, is it possible that s/he is disturbed by your baby? I know the second one is as it is,
but it can still annoy others. I guess you live in a house with a very bad noise isolation? Sometimes people do some petty revenges just to vent themselves, but if you approach them in a way that they can see that you care and are able of empathy to them, they will do the same? De-escalation?
We have the sound+sleep one mentioned in the article. Look for similar features if not available here. I recommend adaptive first, then a variety of different sounds (brook, rain, train, crickets, white noise, yoga). Good luck.
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/r...e-machine/amp/
Did you speak to him before you called the landlord.?
What kind of guitar is it?
If its an electric guitar maybe he could agree to use headphones if his setup allows.
Ya, I hear you and we don’t want to be unreasonable either - sometimes getting it like this directly helps perspective. Thanks 😊
You can still play a musical instrument on a Sunday.
We approached them twice in the past but it was for disturbances after 10 when they were having some let’s call it loud moments. Now the landlord has told us to go to him directly as they were not happy that we did that. (It was basically a knock on the door and asking to keep it down - not a particularly confrontational situation.)
I love the advice and we have tried this approach. We have asked for us all to meet and see if we can come to a solution but they appear reluctant and keep putting it off. I’m sure they may be able to hear us too - the insulation is terrible! Luckily our baby is generally quiet and sleeps through the night but she’s a baby of course she makes noise sometimes. We are happy to talk it through - even if it just clears the air.
And your neighbor is a human and makes noise sometimes too ... imagine if you were sitting in your home and someone came to complain to you about your baby? How would you feel? Would you warmly accept that invasion into your personal space? Especially if it was escalated over their head to the landlord?
There is no solution here ... he will continue on with his life as it is permitted by law and you will just have to deal with it, or move to a place where you will not be disturbed by the potential of noise.
The first thing you need to do is go to your cômmune and ask them for a copy of the communal rules.
Everything will be based on this
As I think someone else mentioned here, some cantons and villages have afternoon noise laws ("ruhezeit" or something like that) during the day, such that people are not supposed to make loud noise between noon and 14:00 (for example). So you might want to look into that to see what kind of afternoon noise laws might apply there, where you live. It's been my experience that some people aren't aware of those afternoon noise laws (and of course, some just don't abide by them).
I second the advice about the white noise machine as well. We used one with our son when he was a baby and it really seemed to help soothe him to sleep. We still use it in his room now sometimes (he's 10) because it helps drown out our noise when he goes to bed at 8:30 pm.
I know all too well how nice it is when your baby can sleep during the day so you can get some things done (cleaning, your German lessons, etc.) and just how crucial those naps are to your baby's well-being. So I hope you can find a solution and that your neighbor will be decent enough to realize that not everyone cares to hear his guitar. (Just be thankful it's not a tuba! ).
I live on a top (4th) floor, I still hear the dog barking,, whining and scratching downstairs. I hear the piano player on the 1st floor. I hear others telephones and alarm clocks. I hear the neighbour blowing his nose each morning. I hear the guitar player and the sax player who live down the street. This is a concrete built building.
Have you tried engaging? Often situations change when there's face to face (calm) discussion. Does your baby cry?