Topics
Guide topics
The guide's articles are sorted into four topics that almost every resident knows well. The first is about how neighbors talk to each other, including in the shared chat. The second covers sounds, renovations and cars in the yard. The third is about the yard, the entrance and other spaces everyone uses. The fourth is about helping one another and protecting yourself and your neighbors from being deceived.
A building is like a big shared kitchen: the clearer the agreements, the less often someone slams a door.
We chose the topics based on questions every apartment-building resident runs into sooner or later: how to behave in a shared chat, what to do about noise through the wall, who keeps the yard tidy, and how not to be taken in by a call from someone claiming to work for a utility.
Talking and the chat
Good relations in a building start with simple things: a greeting, an introduction and clear rules for the shared chat. Here's how to make the chat helpful rather than irritating.
- Five steps to get to know your building
What to do in your first weeks after moving in: say hello, find the chat, give notice of renovations and leave your contact with neighbors.
- Answers about the building chat
Who can be a moderator, which rules are worth pinning, and how to keep things free of insults and other people's personal data.
- Words for talking about the chat
Short explanations: moderator, chat rules, a notice in the entrance, and how they differ from one another.
Noise, renovations, parking
Sounds through the wall and cars under the windows are the most common reasons neighbors fall out. We explain how to talk about them so that you're actually heard.
- How to calmly agree on noise
A step-by-step article: from noticing the problem and a first conversation to a polite note and a group discussion.
- Answers about renovations and shared spaces
How to give notice of noisy work, what to do about a stroller on the landing, and how to discuss parking without trading accusations.
- Recent articles about quiet
A feed of new pages, showing which articles about noise and renovations were added recently.
The yard and shared spaces
The stairs, the elevator, the playground and the flower bed don't belong to any one person. Here's how to make them nicer together and what to agree on in advance.
- A yard you improve yourselves
A collection about clean-up days, flowers by the entrance and small improvements neighbors can make themselves once everyone has agreed.
- What common property means
A short explanation of why the entrance and other shared spaces don't belong to any one person, and why changes to them are discussed together.
- Answers about the meeting and the council
How the general meeting of owners works and where the apartment building council comes from, in general terms.
Help and safety
A good neighbor notices when an older person is struggling with heavy bags, and doesn't open the door to a stranger who shows up unannounced. Both habits are equally useful.
- A neighbor is away: how to help
A collection on keeping an eye on an absent neighbor's apartment, plants and mailbox, and what to discuss with them beforehand.
- Fake “utility workers” and phishing
Explanations of words that help you spot deception in time — at the door, on the phone and in the shared chat.
- The complete list of articles
An archive of every finished page in the guide, with preparation dates and topic tags, including the pages about safety.
Read next
- Guides
A step-by-step article on calmly working things out with a neighbor about noise, plus the article catalogue.
- Questions
Short answers about the building chat, quiet, renovations, shared spaces, the owners' meeting and the building council.
- 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.