woken up by neighbors alarm

[AntarcticLemonade 9]

Hello everyone,

 

I have a neighbor who sets their alarm to 7am and sometimes 6am, which is way earlier than my usual waking time.

The problem is that the alarm is so loud that it blows right through my earplugs, so there is no way of avoiding/blocking it.

I tried to talk to the neighbor, but they would never answer the door. 

 

According to the previous tenant, there is an old lady living upstairs (I've never seen her personally though), so I assume she's hard of hearing, and that's why her alarm is so loud.

Another indicator of that is her loud TV that is often on until 1am.

My question is what legal/administrative options I have. I've seen advice on this forum to send the landlord a letter demanding rent reduction. But I don't think this would help in my case as my landlord doesn't own my neighbor's apartment. Beyond that I was thinking of dropping a letter into her mailbox, but I was wondering what exactly I should write for it to have maximal effect. I suppose there must be some administrative body that deals with complaints of this nature. It would be great to know what organization it is, and how to best indicate to my neighbor that if she doesn't stop with the alarm nonsense, I will take matters there.

In case different places have different rules, I would like to add that I live in Munich.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[optimista 5,839]

Gebäudeverwaltung.

Mietverein.

Search function top right of the screen. (Been done before...)

[AntarcticLemonade 9]

ok, thanks

[franklan 6,023]

[snowingagain 5,186]

10 hours ago, AntarcticLemonade said:

The problem is that the alarm is so loud that it blows right through my earplugs

I find the wax ones better.

[fraufruit 41,928]

Himself picked up some earplugs in the pharmacy for a trip we recently made because we had to share a hotel room. We usually get separate ones. They are called WellNoise and are silicone. The best ever even though I despise wearing earplugs. Hate hearing myself breathe.

 

The foam ones never worked for me and wouldn't stay in my ears. Everyone's ears are different.

 

[HH_Sailor 3,529]

My half bottle of vodka will beat your earplugs, any day...

[john g. 37,682]

2 minutes ago, HH_Sailor said:

My half bottle of vodka will beat your earplugs, any day...

That's tomorrow organised then!😂

[jeba 4,341]

What about noise cancelling headphones?

[MikeMelga 7,240]

1 hour ago, jeba said:

What about noise cancelling headphones?

Only works for stable isolated frequencies.

[AntarcticLemonade 9]

I actually use high quality silicon earplugs. They have been effective at blocking out unwanted sounds in general, but this alarm has a lot of low frequencies and is accompanied by vibrations. I guess the alarm is hooked to a speaker - it definitely isn't a phone alarm. 

[LukeSkywalker 7,595]

Reminds me of a Japanese student who lived on the same floor in my hall

of residence in Manchester. He had like 5 alarm clocks in his room set at different times. He really had difficulty in getting up. Thank God I was far away enough not to hear them. 

[Keleth 9,279]

Yet another reason why I would never buy an apartment.

 

Also in regards to this "old lady" WTF is she doing setting an alarm for that time of the morning because if she´s old she is probably not working and if she is of working age and working then she´s not old.

[LeonG 14,795]

On 2/6/2023, 9:19:01, AntarcticLemonade said:

I actually use high quality silicon earplugs. They have been effective at blocking out unwanted sounds in general, but this alarm has a lot of low frequencies and is accompanied by vibrations. I guess the alarm is hooked to a speaker - it definitely isn't a phone alarm. 

 

If you can't get in touch with the neighbour by knocking, probably because they can't hear you, you could write them a letter.  They may not realize that they are disturbing you with their loud alarm and loud TV.  You could suggest that they look into an alarm that turns on the lights or vibrates under their pillow.  You could suggest a headset for the TV.  I always use a headset after 10 pm.

 

If you are not successful, you could talk to the hausverwaltung to find out what noise rules they have and what they can do, if anything.  You can also talk to umweltamt and/or join the mieterverein.  I'm not sure that a rent reduction would be appropriate because as you said, your landlord is not your neighbours landlord and hence your landlord can not control your neighbours actions.

[fraufruit 41,928]

How would a rent reduction help one sleep anyway? Sleep is very important and you can't put a price on it. At least for me it is.

[scook17 247]

On 2/7/2023, 11:43:07 AM, LeonG said:

 

If you can't get in touch with the neighbour by knocking, probably because they can't hear you, you could write them a letter.  They may not realize that they are disturbing you with their loud alarm and loud TV.  You could suggest that they look into an alarm that turns on the lights or vibrates under their pillow.  You could suggest a headset for the TV.  I always use a headset after 10 pm.

 

If you are not successful, you could talk to the hausverwaltung to find out what noise rules they have and what they can do, if anything.  You can also talk to umweltamt and/or join the mieterverein.  I'm not sure that a rent reduction would be appropriate because as you said, your landlord is not your neighbours landlord and hence your landlord can not control your neighbours actions.

 

Maybe you make a present of a 'quiet' alarm clock, one you have already put on the other room so have tried out.

[AntarcticLemonade 9]

On 2/5/2023, 12:10:56, optimista said:

Then I'm wondering about these two things:

1) Is Mietverien really worth it? How can they practically apply pressure on the neighbor. One caveat here is that the alarm turned out not to be that loud. I assumed it was that because I could hear it clearly when wearing earplugs, but it turned out to be not because of the loudness, but because it uses very low frequencies. The result is that I hear it almost equally whether I'm wearing earplugs or not. But if someone comes over to check it, then it does seem that extreme (unless you try to sleep through it).

 

2) Does this situation give me sufficient grounds for an immediate termination of my lease? In the contract it says that I should inform the landlord about moving out at least three months in advance, and my landlosd also clearly has no control over the neighbor in question.

On 2/5/2023, 12:10:56, optimista said:

 

[fraufruit 41,928]

1 hour ago, AntarcticLemonade said:

2) Does this situation give me sufficient grounds for an immediate termination of my lease? In the contract it says that I should inform the landlord about moving out at least three months in advance, and my landlosd also clearly has no control over the neighbor in question.

 

Join the Mietverein and find out. 

[LeonG 14,795]

1 hour ago, AntarcticLemonade said:

1) Is Mietverien really worth it? How can they practically apply pressure on the neighbor. 

 

2) Does this situation give me sufficient grounds for an immediate termination of my lease? In the contract it says that I should inform the landlord about moving out at least three months in advance, and my landlosd also clearly has no control over the neighbor in question.

 

 

1. They can not apply pressure on the neighbour but they can give you advice on what you can do and inform you of your rights such as 2. whether it gives you sufficient grounds for an immediate termination of your lease. 

 

2.  I don't think so because as you said, the landlord can do nothing about your neighbour.  I would rather advise you to give proper notice to avoid problems with the landlord but you can also talk to him about the possibility of getting out sooner, maybe by finding a new tenant who will move in and take over.  

[AntarcticLemonade 9]

I talked to a Mietverein, but it seems like they won't be able to help much regarding the neighbors. They said that they generally don't take noise complaints cases because the neighbor in question could also be a member of the Verein, which would lead to a conflict of interest.

 

Is there an Amt that handles things like that? Something like a wellbeing or environment Amt, if such a thing exist.