The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Noise and laundry cause most conflict with neighbours

washing hangs to dry
Collective laundries are common in Swiss buildings, but sometimes a cause of conflict. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Noise, dirt and the use of collective laundry facilities are the main sources of conflict between neighbours in Switzerland, a survey has found. 

Half of all Swiss people have been annoyed by noise caused by others living in their building, according to the survey by Swiss real estate portal homegate.ch. 51% of French-speaking Swiss and 49% of German-speaking Swiss complain about noise but only 32% of Italian speakers. 

The survey was conducted online among 1,871 people aged 18 to 74 in the country’s three main language regions. 

Second cause of conflict with neighbours is use of the collective laundry (18%), with a third (32%) of Swiss people becoming annoyed about this at least once a month. Failure to clean after use, leaving laundry behind and failure to respect the sharing schedule are the most common complaints.  

Collective laundries are common in many Swiss apartment blocks. But the survey found nearly a quarter of those who use a collective laundry do not have clear regulations on washing slots.  

Other areas of conflict include lack of cleanliness (15%) and pets (14%). Most conflicts are between neighbours but more than one in five Swiss (22%) have experienced conflicts with their landlord or building manager over small repairs.  

Popular Stories

News

The Swiss want to be able to choose when to retire

More

Future of Work

Swiss workers want to choose when to retire

This content was published on Almost two-thirds of the Swiss population would like more freedom to choose their retirement age, according to a survey by Deloitte Switzerland.

Read more: Swiss workers want to choose when to retire
Myclimate cuts around ten per cent of jobs

More

Emissions reduction

Swiss carbon offset foundation to cut 10% of staff

This content was published on Myclimate will cut around 10% of its jobs by the end of the year. At the end of 2024, almost 200 employees were working for the foundation.

Read more: Swiss carbon offset foundation to cut 10% of staff

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR