In Switzerland, there is something for which there is no exact equivalent in Spain: the building’s rules of coexistence, which in most properties stipulate that noise must be kept to a minimum from 10 pm onwards, and sometimes also from 12 noon to 1 pm on weekdays, and practically all day on Sundays. This isn’t just a custom. It’s a document you signed when you moved in, even though nobody specifically pointed it out to you at the time.
Noise regulations are the first major source of conflict with neighbours for many people arriving from Spain. Not because the Swiss are particularly sensitive, but because there is a written policy behind them. If a neighbour reports you to the régie or the Hausverwaltung (the property management company), a case file will be opened against you. If you reoffend, proceedings may be initiated which, in extreme cases, give the landlord the right to terminate the tenancy agreement. Yes, you can lose your flat because of repeated noise. It’s not an urban myth.
What’s most surprising at first is what counts as noise. The washing machine spinning after 10 pm. A long shower at midnight. Dragging a noisy chair across the parquet floor. The clatter of heels. It sounds ridiculous until the neighbour rings. And when that happens, you realise that the person on the other side of the wall also has the house rules to hand and knows full well that they’re in the right.
Adaptation is the most curious aspect of all this. Many people who’ve been here for five or ten years no longer notice the Sunday silence. They see it as a rest, as something normal. And when a new neighbour moves in and plays music at 11 pm, they react in exactly the same way as the Swiss neighbour who once called them out. Switzerland has that effect: in the end, you find yourself following its rules without having made a conscious decision to adopt them.