Noise and laundry cause most conflict with neighbours

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.