I moved into my fabulous new apartment in Kilchberg in August and this time was very upfront about the dog, he is a French Bulldog for what its worth. I have a dog I declared, was quizzed on breed etc and all was good. There was a dog contract, you know obvious stuff, dogs not allowed to roam building, any damage caused by dog etc etc. I was so excited,this apartment has amazing lake views, a 65m2 terrace, conveniently located to a bus stop etc. Now, I was pre-warned that the prior tenants had issues regarding their dog with the neighbours so my first task was to befriend the neighbours. They seemed perfectly fine, I asked every lunchtime when I popped home to walk the dog if there were any issues,” no issues” they said,”everything is ok dog was good”. Perfect I thought. I continued this way for a week, ensuring all was ok, and even asked what was the issue with the prior tenants dog, “Oh, he was this strange long haired breed, very smelly and left an awful lingering odor, this wont be an issue with your Louix though we can tell”. Ahhhh fantastic I thought. I soon stopped asking about how he was so not to annoy them.
Well, after two weeks, things started to change. Note, I feel it is important to state, whilst I am 25, English, a bit of a lad to say the truth, I have still not yet had a party. I do not have lots of people round if any, I am not out everynight returning late, and evenings consist of chilling with the dog watching English TV 95% of the week or going with the dog to friends houses. Well, th enext door neighbours I had been trying to befriend knocked at the door. They were very distressed by the dog going a toilet on the balcony, a number 2 at that. This is odd, as he is used to his routine and prefers grass and normally waits for his walks, but I guess having an outside area now and being new to the apartment and being a puppy these things can happen. Plus, there was a way he could access their balcony so I was a bit embarrassed he had done this and gone a toilet. I apologized for this and said I would block of that area where our balconies are linked and there’s a gap. They then said, “no, Louix did not go on our side, on your side, this is not possible”. I am slightly confused at this point, my dog has gone a toilet on my balcony and this offends you?? How bizarre. I didn’t see the issue here and admittedly got angry when they indicated they will be contacting the landlord. I asked is this a normal way of behaving, trying to cause trouble when we could resolve the issue sensibly. I said I prefer him not to do this, and he never normally does, and to this day has still been the only occasion. Well ,I received a letter from the property company which read like my balcony was being converted to be a pig sty, and a large collection of excretion was accumulating. I took a picture and forwarded it to them, wrote a long passionate email much like this post to the landlord direct, explaining how baffled I was at this extreme exaggeration of events. After reading my note, he called me and said I can tell from the detail of what you have written that this does seem an exaggeration, and that he doesn’t see an issue, but did explain to me due to the dynamics of the under tile drainage system the dog couldn’ tuse it as a toilet out there. Fine I said, he doesn’t normally and I do not encourage, and his desire to go on grass means he tends to wait, but I will deny his access to the balcony whilst I am not there. This was the start of theneighbours from hell........................
A shortwhile after it became apparent they had an issue with the dog being left alone for 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the afternoon. They conceded it wasn’t a noise or disturbance issue, and more to do with the health of the dog.Dogs need hours of exercise they said. I tried to explain a French Bulldog actually needs very little, but they were a bit ignorant about it and a dog was a dog which meant need fields and hours of exercise on a daily basis. To keep it short, essentially I agreed, as I wanted to do this half the week anyway to relieve of me travelling home every day. I agreed to ensure the dog was in daycare every day Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm. 700CHF a month, but less stress for me, happy neighbours, happy dog. GREAAAAT
Then,seemingly every week since;
- Complaints about my canopy usage, I am not allowed to leave them out when they don’t want them out
- Complaint sabout weeds on the balcony, I counted three
- Complaints about 1cm circle black mark on exterior building wall by post boxes. “this hasn’t happened in 30 years” they said. I have no idea where this came from but wiped away easily when brushed with my finger in an effort to demonstrate how petty this was
- Complaints about the hallway being “sooooooooooooooo dirty because of dog”, the hallway where me and my neighbour have to walk to the main building entrance or exit. My dog spends 30 secs in total there a day, it is not dirty at all.
- Complaints about hanging my washing to dry on the balcony on an airer
- Complaints about leaving my clothes to dry in the drying room longer than my allocated day. Guess I just have to have wet clothes if they do not dry.
- Complaints I never answered my door when they buzzed for me, I don’t recall ever ignoring them but could you blame me. My buzzer is very quiet though.
Eventually, one Saturday morning two weeks ago I lost my temper after realizing being polite, respectful and accommodating was not working and they were only proceeding to harass me about ridiculous issues. I could understand if these issues were noise levels, parties etc but this is ridiculous. I told her, I do not like her tree, I do not like her flowers, I do not like she has her rubbishbag outside attracting flies. I don’t really care about any of these things but felt this is the only way to be seeing as being nice wasn’t working. I finished with, stop harassing me, stop looking at my balcony, I pay a lot of money to live here, leave me alone you will not force me out.
Well, yesterday I went to visit the neighbour above me, she is responsible for charging our wash cards with credit. She proceeded to give me a dressing down, telling me we do not tell people to shut up in this building and if I am left a note on my door I must respond immediately. Not wanting to get involved, I said please just charge my wash cards you do not know what you are talking about. There is no language barrier with this neighbour, she is british, and the ex-wife of my landlord, and the relationship there is not rosey, they hate each other. After a strong exchange of me explaining she has no business in getting involved in another dispute and that the reason this dispute happened was because of non-stop harassment. She threw my money and wash cards on the floorand refused to charge them, and told me, “we have got people like you outbefore”. I said is this because I am a young guy, I have done nothing wrong.
I called my landlord, who has been kept up to date on every single issue, and there is n oissue between us. He has no issue with me at all and knows how challenging these people are. He has asked them to leave me alone, that I am allowed to do what I have been doing and their complaints have no grounds. He advised it maybe best to communicate via letter to explain to the neighbour above why I am feeling stressed with this nonstop harassment and to apologize for losing mytemper but explain you want to get on. I did this and she wants a chat we are yet to have, maybe tonight.
Where does one turn in this situation?
I won’t lett hem force me out, but surely I have rights as a paying tenant to stop this mobbing. I know it can sound like I am holding some truths back here but I am genuinely not.
Does anyonehave any advice??
To summarize my typical week, my dog is picked up at 9am, I leave for work, my dog is dropped off at 6-7pm, I get back at 7.30. We watch TV, we go for a walk, we have dinner, we watch TV, we go to bed. My dog does not bark. Am I really the neighbour from hell???
Note, we have all heard of the stereotypical swiss neighbour, but these are Croatian and british, go figure. I get on very well with the irish and swiss couples below me.