You should know that the Germans take the “Quiet Time” (Ruhezeit, which includes all day Sunday) very seriously. You must conform to these regulations, and you are within your rights to ask your neighbors to conform to them. It is our responsibility as the apartment owners to assure that you are aware of these rules.
Below is a summary of Quiet Time regulations from Berlin.de, translated into English. (Note: the exact hours for Quiet Time seem to vary from region to region. )
House and neighborhood noise
In contrast to commercial noise , house and neighborhood noise is so-called behavioral noise because it is directly caused by human behavior.
In addition to loud conversations, this also includes playing instruments or singing (house music) or playing loud music using sound reproduction devices or animal noise.
According to the regulations of the State Immission Control Act Berlin ( LImSchG Bln ) everyone has to behave in such a way that harmful environmental effects are avoided, insofar as this is possible and reasonable according to the circumstances of the individual case.
The night’s rest is from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily. On Sundays and holidays, rest must be observed all day.
The owner of the apartment has a special duty of care to ensure that there is no disturbing noise in his apartment. If other house residents can be unreasonably disturbed, music may only be heard at room volume during the day.
It is a widespread but erroneous opinion that Berlin is allowed to hold a loud celebration at least once a year in your own four walls. The view that there is a legally regulated lunch break is also wrong. However, there are often agreements with the landlord or within a community of owners.
The regulatory office is responsible for processing notifications and complaints . No noise level measurement is carried out in the case of an announcement due to neighborhood noise, because the question of whether there is a disturbance of silence can be answered by any sensible person who is not particularly sensitive to noise in the case of behavioral noise immissions.
The disturbance of rest can be proven by testimony. According to settled case law in Berlin, the testimony of the one disturbed by the noise and confirmation by another independent witness is sufficient. In individual cases, the testimony of a single witness can provide sufficient evidence (for example, in the case of police perception).
The administrative offense procedure takes into account not only the properties of the disorder (e.g. volume, duration, information or tonality), but also the frequency and, where applicable, previous similar disruptions by the person who caused it.
The Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection uses examples to illustrate problems related to neighborhood noise.