Collections
Article collections
Each collection strings several pages of the guide into a short path for one everyday task. If you want to make the yard cozier, help out a neighbor who's away or set up a book-swap shelf in the entrance, start with the first article and work your way through in order.
A flower bed planted together survives any dry spell: the whole entrance keeps an eye on it.
Collections are put together only from finished articles in this guide. There are no links to shops, contractors or outside websites, and no advice to buy anything in particular — just a reading order and hints about what to agree on with your neighbors in advance.
A yard you improve yourselves
For anyone who wants to tidy up a flower bed, invite neighbors to a clean-up day or put in a bench. The main rule: agree first, then pick up the shovel.
- What counts as common propertyStart here
A short explanation of why the yard and the entrance are discussed by the whole building before anything is changed.
- How to put an idea up for discussionStart here
Answers about the general meeting and the building council: who to agree a clean-up day or a new flower bed with.
- How to propose something without a fightOnce you're settled
A step-by-step article on having a calm conversation; its techniques work just as well for talking about the yard.
A neighbor is away: how to help
For anyone who's been asked to water plants, collect the mail or just keep an eye on the door while the owner is away. The more precisely you agree on the help, the more it's worth.
- A contact in case of a leakStart here
The fifth step to getting to know your building: how to swap phone numbers so you can reach each other in time.
- Be careful with posts about being awayStart here
Why you shouldn't post in the shared chat that an apartment is empty, and how to recognize a fake “utility worker.”
- Topics on help and safetyOnce you're settled
A map of articles on helping older neighbors, families with children and people who are away for a long time.
A book shelf and swaps in the building
For anyone who wants to put a book shelf by the mailboxes or arrange swaps of children's clothes and toys in the chat. A simple idea that needs clear rules.
- Building chat rulesStart here
Answers on how to post swap offers without turning the shared chat into a bulletin board.
- A notice in the entranceStart here
A glossary entry on how to write a notice that people read instead of tearing down.
- What's new in the guideOnce you're settled
A feed of recent pages, where articles about neighborhood shelves and swaps will appear.
Read next
- Topics
Four topics: talking and the chat, noise and parking, the yard and shared spaces, help and safety.
- Guides
A step-by-step article on calmly working things out with a neighbor about noise, plus the article catalogue.
- Glossary
A resident's glossary: common property, the owners' meeting, the building council, chat moderator, phishing and the emergency number.
Sources
- Rules for using a building's common property (in general terms)
- Ikmebo editorial materials
This information is current as of the date the page was prepared. Every building, yard and neighbor is different, so the advice here is general and is no substitute for talking to a lawyer. If money, documents or someone's rights are involved, consult a professional, and if life, health or property is at risk, call 112 (or your local emergency number) right away.