Neighbours: quiet hours, parcels and the shared stairwell

Newcomers in rented flats commonly mention:

• Quiet times are taken seriously. In Berlin, for example, state law protects night rest from 22:00 to 6:00 and rest on Sundays and public holidays; motorised lawnmowers may not be used on Sundays and holidays at all. The Berlin environment administration calls it a widespread myth that you may hold one loud party a year at home.
• House rules (Hausordnung). Most buildings have written rules, usually part of the rental contract, covering the stairwell, courtyard, bins and sometimes cleaning duties.
• Parcels for each other. If you are not at home, a parcel carrier may leave your parcel with a neighbour, and neighbours routinely accept parcels for one another. DHL lets you name a preferred neighbour (Wunschnachbar); senders can also exclude delivery to neighbours.
• A clear stairwell. Berlin's tenants' association explains that a doormat is fine and shoes outside the door after rain are generally tolerated, but storing shoes there permanently can be a trip hazard; prams are generally allowed if they do not block escape routes, while bicycles are less clearly protected and courts have tended to expect them to be kept elsewhere.
• Rubbish is visible. deutschland.de's etiquette guide warns that neighbours who see you throwing recyclables into the general waste may not forget it quickly.

Apartment living in Germany is regulated in layers: state noise laws (in Berlin, the Landes-Immissionsschutzgesetz), federal rules for machines such as lawnmowers and leaf blowers, and the house rules in your contract. Together they create a shared baseline that most neighbours know.

Some things are deliberately tolerated. Federal law states that noise from children at day-care centres, playgrounds and similar facilities is, as a rule, not a harmful environmental effect. And a party is not banned: Berlin's guidance recommends telling neighbours in advance and asking for understanding, while stressing that the announcement does not permit excessive noise after 22:00.

If there is a problem, a calm word with the neighbour is the obvious first step. Berlin's guidance names the district office (Bezirksamt) as responsible for noise complaints, but suggests you can first turn to your landlord or property management.

• State rules differ. Quiet hours are set by each federal state and by individual house rules; Berlin's rules are one example, not a national standard.
• Cleaning duties. In south-west Germany, the Swabian Kehrwoche (a weekly rota for cleaning the stairwell and the pavement in front of the building) dates back to municipal cleaning orders for Stuttgart in 1492 and is still written into many rental contracts and house rules, according to Baden-Württemberg's civic education agency.
• Building to building. How much contact neighbours expect can vary a lot, from a nod in the stairwell to shared courtyard gatherings. Watch what is usual in your building and adjust.