Some of these rules may be different depending on where you live in Germany, but they should give you an idea of what it can be like to live here.
Mowing the Lawn and Gardening
If you live in a residential area (Wohngebiet) you can only mow the lawn from Monday to Saturday, from 7 in the morning to 8 at night. You aren't allowed to mow the lawn on Sundays or public holidays. This also applies to using a strimmer or other noisy electronic gardening tools.
Oh and if the tools you are using don't have the European Environmentally Friendly label, you can only use them from Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am till 1pm and 3pm to 5pm.
Parties
If you're having a party you should turn the music down at 10pm. If you're playing music in the garden you should turn it right down.
Between the hours of 8pm and 7am and all day Sundays and public holidays there are strong laws against noise, (Lärmschutz)
Barbecues
You can have a barbecue in your garden as long as you are careful about not causing too much smoke. If you only have a balcony you might want to think twice before starting to grill though. There's no limit to the number of barbecues you can have.
Barking
If your dog barks incessantly you could have a problem. If at least 2 neighbours complain you might get a visit from the community officers (Ordnungsamt).
Noisy Children
Nowadays if you have young children you're not going to get into any serious trouble, previously noisy kids (Kinderlärm) was considered a disturbance, but recent rulings have found in favour of the child, it's a fact of life and unavoidable, you might still get a moany neighbour from the older generation, if you do the best thing to do is try to be as politic as possible, but the good news is that the police won't come to take you away. However older kids and teenagers have to watch out and adhere to the rules, especially when it comes to playing loud music, so it might be worth investing in some headphones. .
