I bought a property near a church, about 30 meters. When I bought it and years before the bells were “off” and it’s barely used.
Since a year they fixed the bell and clock and now it starts at 05:30 in the morning, 08:00, 11:00, 12:00, 01:00 and 18:00
For each 5 minutes very loud.
I talked with the people who work at the church and said it is a huge issue for me, especially cause I work nights.
They don’t care and refuse to make it quieter and won’t reduce the length of each time it starts the bells.
Long story short: I am in therapy since a year because I have a huge debt, I can’t move away and I can’t sleep anymore. I have no idea what I can do with my life I am afraid I am going to get even more mentally ill than I am now. Selling is also now no more option, who would buy a place where you can’t fall asleep or if you fall asleep you wake up by massive bell noise.
The only time I sleep is when I can afford vacation twice a year…
My therapist wrote my insurance and they are thinking of giving me the oppertunity to sleep somewhere else for one to two weeks every three months. They will pay for it, but this can’t be the solution?!
Germany.
No legal options… the church bells don’t count as “Lärm” (Noise Pollution) here.
Tried everything. The neighbours love it and missed the bells. They are all older than 80+… Only one other neighbor has the same opinion as I do and is annoyed.
Sometimes I wish it would just burn down randomly.
This is incorrect. Church bells are protected by the constitutional right to freedom of religion if they are used in a sacred function, say for a call to holy mass during a Christian holiday. Regular use, e.g. to indicate the time, isn’t sacred and thus isn’t protected.
See: https://www.juraforum.de/news/glockengelaeut-ruhestoerung-was-tun-gegen-kirchenglocken-laerm_247349
So check your noise levels and if they exceed the ones given in that article you have a good chance of suing.
I don’t wanna hijack this thread to make it political, but I find it insane how sk many people are opposed to the “noise” of mosques, but then don’t mind the constant ringing of bells.
I’ve also lived near a church in Germany for some time and it rang every 15 minutes. Granted I wasn’t bothered as much as you are, but it is still really annoying and I can totally understand your point.
I think religious sites should just not make any noise like this, whether it be a church or mosque.
Well, bells only ring shortly, the muezzin sings for a long time and sounds… not good, let’s say.
Churches ring their bells for a long time too when calling for mass. or when there is a wedding, or any event like that. Whether it sounds good or not is in the ear of the beholder
Churches ring bells for just a few minutes when calling for mass. It’s never very long.
I guess I’d see your point if you lived near a tower that still did bell concerts, but i always loved that. A friend of mine had a chimesmaster connection to learn to play and I was so jealous! But if you didn’t appreciate it, those can easily stretch half an hour or much more
Yeah, ‘randomly’ …