Renting an apartment next to church bells

has anyone lived or does anyone live in an apartment that is next to a church? i just saw a great place, but it's right across the street from a church. i was there at 12 when the bells went off and they went on and on and on and since the windows were open, i could hardly hear the guy talking to me. okay, the apartment is also on the top floor and the bells are about at the same level.

when do they ring? ever quarter hour? on the hour? otherwise the apartment (aside from being on the 5th floor without a lift) was great and newly renovated!

I've heard people say they get used to it, but it was pretty annoying.

Should be laws against that sort of noise pollution.

If it annoyed you when you briefly visited the apartment, just imagine what it would be like living there. I once viewed an apartment across the street from a church and discounted it because of that.

I lived in such a place for 2 years and the bells only started at 8 am, and it kinda bothered me, but it was ok. They stopped ringing at 7 pm. Civilized really. My neighbor was always up before me and it didn't bother him at all... it's just if you like to sleep late that it can be annoying. What was way more annoying was the child who lived downstairs from us who started running back and forth beneath our bedroom every morning at 8. It literally shook our bed. Scheiss Neubau.

Get an exact bell schedule. If you're unlucky and they ring all night, I wouldn't go there. But it depends on how heavy a sleeper you are and what time you get up in the morning.

I live near a church that rings every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day. At first I thought it was really going to annoy me, but I barely notice them now. But I'm a good hundred metres away; if they're right outside your window, that's something different.

the church and bells are literally across the street, so maybe (from window to bell) 50 m.

The bells... the bells. I wouldn't take that flat on.

I have lived across from this church, and 4 others within 250 meters for 25 years. The weddings, the ringing every 15 minutes and the long calling for the twice daily mass. I LOVE it!!! Never bothered me at all, because i am fortunate to live in a great country. When we go to France to stay at our other house out in the middle of nowhere it is way too quiet...lol...Bottom line if bells bother you don't take the apartment.

Man: I wish those bloody bells would stop.
Wife: Oh, it's quite nice dear, it's Sunday, it's the church.
M: What about us atheists? Why should we 'ave to listen to that
sectarian turmoil?
W: You're a lapsed atheist, dear.
M: The principle's the same. The Mohmedans don't come 'round here
wavin' bells at us! We don't get Buddhists playing bagpipes in our
bathroom! Or Hindus harmonizing in the hall! The Shintus don't
come here shattering sheet glass in the shithouse, shouting slogans-
W: All right, don't practice your alliteration on me.
M: Anyway, when I membership card and blazer badge back from the
League of Agnostics, I shall urge the executive to lodge a protest
against that religious racket! Pass the butter knife!
W: WHAT??
M: PASS THE BUTTER KNIFE!! (pause) THANK YOU! IF ONLY WE HAD SOME
KIND OF MISSILE!
W: 'OLD ON, I'LL CLOSE THE WINDOW.
M: WHAT?!
W: I SAID, I'LL CLOSE THE WINDOW!

(Sound: Window closing, bells get faint, but are still there)

M: If only we had some kind of missile, we could take the steam out
of those bells.
W: Well, you could always use the number 14-St. Joseph-the-somewhat-
divine-on-the-hill ballistic missile. It's in the attic.
M: What ballistic missile would this be, then?

(Sound: Bells begin to get increasingly louder)

W: I made it for you, it's your birthday present!
M: Just what I wanted, 'ow nice of you to remember, my pet.
'ERE!
W: WHAT?
M: THOSE BELLS ARE GETTING LOUDER!
W: WHAT?
M: THOSE BELLS ARE GETTING LOUDER!!
W: THE BELLS ARE GETTING LOUDER! OOOH, LOOK!
M: WHAT?
W: THE CHURCH, IT.. ITS COMING CLOSER! ITS COMING DOWN THE 'ILL!
M: WHAT A LIBERTY!
W: ITS TURNING INTO OUR LANE! WELL, YOU BETTER GO PUT IT OUT OF
IT'S MISERY.
M: WHERE'S THIS MISSILE, THEN?
W: IT'S IN THE ATTIC. PRESS THE BUTTON MARKED CHURCH!
M: 'OW DO I AIM IT?
W: IT AUTOMATICALLY HOMES IN ON THE NEAREST PLACE OF WORSHIP!
M: BUT THAT'S ST. MARKS!
W: IT ISN'T NOW, LOOK!! OH, ITS OP'NING THE GATE.
M: WHAT? USE THE MEGAPHONE!
W: IT'S OP'NING THE GATE!! 'HURRY UP, ITS TRAMPLING OVER THE AZALIAS!

(Sound: Missle launch, explosion, bells diminish)

M: Did I 'it it?
W: Yes, right up the aisle.
M: Well I've always said, There's nothing an agnostic can't do if
he really doesn't know whether he believes in anything or not.

For the last seven years I've lived within 50m of the church (Kloster actually) with the most and loudest bells in Munich (near Candidplatz). The 50m is measured from my pillow to the bell, direct line of sight. The bells are loud, aggressive, and not at all tuneful. In the beginning it pissed me off no end, but the flat is great in every other way, and when the bells are not ringing I hear birds singing and water rippling.

The bells ring for seven minutes solid at 8am, 12pm, and 7pm. Almost every day they ring for 12 minutes at 3pm. They sometimes ring during bad storms to frighten bad gods away, they ring at midnight 31st Dec and on some other special occaisions. Sunday mornings they ring various 'tunes' every 45 minutes starting 8am. The time ringing starts 06:30 and they ring every half hour until 10pm, but this is done with a relatively quiet bell and does not disturb. These times vary from church to church so check them out for yours. Sunday morning pisses me off the most, there's zero chance of a lie in.

You have absolutely NO recourse to complain about noise pollution to the council. It appears that, for some reason, the Hermanns are a bit sensitive about being seen to limit religious freedoms... Only for the time ringing do you have a glimmer of a chance of complaining as this is a service the church provides to the town, but all the other noise is religious and protected. Oh, and your legal insurance certainly won't cover it.

So, in short, my advice would be if you love the flat then take it. You know when the church will ring and it isn't 24 hour noise like a motorway, and you may get used to it.

PS: I'm moving out so if anyone wants to experience this, just come round...

thanks for that. i guess i won't take it. i was there at 6 p.m. and nearly went deaf. the bells are simply too loud. even a couple walking by said "oh, it must be 6". i got used to the strassenbahn driving by, waking me up at 5 a.m. flat is great. newly renovated. but i am afraid it will annoy me and i will regret it.

I think you would actually get used to it, but if you have any doubts don't take it.
We live right by the S-Bahn tracks and I barely notice it, even though I am not home for more than 2 months a year now (and never at a time). I have never woken up from the S-Bahn either, but whenever people come to visit, they ask how come it doesn't bother us... well it just doesn't. I guess church bells would be a little louder though.

We live right next door to a church, whose bells ring every morning at 7, every evening at 7, the bells strike the hour and half hour, and sometimes ring for no known reason. Believe it or not, I hardly notice it anymore. I even manage to sleep through the 7 a.m. bells when I don't have to be up early. Maybe some people might be more sensitive to the noise, but it may very well be that you just get used to it and stop noticing it.

I live by a church, and the bells ring often, but I don't notice it anymore, and I hardly notice the helicopters flying to the Krankenhause Trauma Center on the other side of the street anymore.
You grow used to it. I was talking to a friend on the phone, and she asked what the hell was that, and it was a helicopter flying by, and I didn't notice it, then about 20min later the church bells rang, and she said again, what's that, bizarre, when you are around it all the time you don't really notice.

i said no to the apartment. i want to be happy there and if i move in and get annoyed by the bells, then i'm reminding myself why i had to get the apartment in the first place and would get ever more ticked off.

Maybe it is a better idea. Mannheim is relatively cheap to live anyway, so you should be able to find something nice and affordable.

For what it's worth, Elfi, I lived right, and I mean right!, next door to a church tower for 7 years. 10m to the church tower, 15m up to the belfry from my bedroom window. When they rang for 4pm bell for five minutes it would take me 3 minutes to even hear them. They rang all night at the quarter hour and I slept all through it. The Freiwillige Feuerwehr tearing down the Hochzeitsbaum and peeing against the graveyard wall were more bothersome - they threw gravel at my window.
But of course it's your choice. I hope you find something just as nice and not so clerically involved.

I've lived next to a cathedral for a few years and it rang every 15 minutes at all hours. It was actually quite useful to know the time. The noise bothers some people and not others. If you're asking about it now, I suspect it would bother you. Then again, I've lived next to an airport, next to an ambulance station, next to a railway and above a late licence pub, so maybe I'm just used to noise now.

they called me today and said they would even reduce the rent if it would get me to move in! i mean, i may get used to it, but what about the visitors i bring over

just tell them if they come home with you the bells will be aringing

Sounds like they are desperate. Probably they always have this trouble to rent the apartment.

As one who keeps the window closed whenever possible to avoid the remote sound of 1km-distant bells... I think you made the right choice!!

I didn't get used to the sun coming into my bedroom windows in the morning. Looks like I have to get some expensive blackout shades.

Wouldn't you have better things to do than sleep anyway?

thing is, it's newly renovated. compared to what it looked like before. the apt. is sweet.

We live right next to a church, and I would agree with the people who said you get used to them. Reading this, I found myself trying to remember if they ring during the night, and can't, because I really don't hear them anymore. They just become part of the background noise, like trams, bird song, traffic, whatever. If you love the apartment otherwise, I would say go for it, with the usual disclaimer about "only you can know", "your decision" blablabla

We also got used to it (12 years at distances of 50m to 100m), every 15 minutes. In fact I came to like waking in the morning and not knowing the time. The 4 bells signalling an hour would go then followed by the actual number of hours... Oh the joy of it stopping at 5 when I had to get up at 6 and being able to turn over and sleep on...

We however have had visitors who have appeared in the morning looking like death and saying they couldn't sleep because of the bells...

We now have no church and I can faintly hear the motorway in the distance (if weather and wind are in a certain combination - like last night!) and it really annoys me. We've been in the house 9 months but because it is so intermittant (maybe once a month) I haven't got used to it...

Church 30 metres away. Bells ring at 12 and 7pm. and at 8:45 and 9 on a Sunday. Bloody annoying, especialy when on the phone. Will I get used to it, no. Does it bother me. Yes, but only in I need to talk to someone for like that exact 5 minutes a week. If its a good flat go for it.

I always hear church bells near my place in Düsseldorf. But I hear it all over the place. All in all, Germany is a BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. Most of my previous images of Europe came from Classical Destinations, the real Germany looks like an inner city American Ghetto with Arab and Turkish hoodlums.

I live right next to three churches... the bells go off all at the same time. It doesn't bother me except when I am trying to make an audio recording and have to wait for the bells to stop. I always know what time it is and I know how much longer I have to sleep in the morning.

At the present time, the birds seem to be louder than the bells and start a lot earlier.

I live across the street from one too and I hate that they ring 24 hours a day, don't see the need for that. The only one that REALLY bothers me is the early Sunday morning call to worship church bell extravaganza. This extended play version of bells gone wild is just plain evil. I prefer to sleep in late on Sundays, after all it is the day of rest especially after Saturday nights out-on-the-town. Nothing like nursing a hangover with bells vibrating your skull.

Otherwise its great