Resident infuriated by ceiling leakage that has been persisting for years

Singapore — A member of the public has taken to Facebook to speak up about the ceiling leakage that had been persisting in her unit for years.

According to the netizen’s post, the leakage had started in 2017 after the unit above hers underwent some renovations. Due to the leakage, the netizen had to carry out ceiling hacking and painting on a yearly basis.

The last time the ceiling was painted was during the Chinese New Year festivities near the start of 2021. Apparently, the leakage worsened in 2019 and 2020. Before May 2021, two rounds of flood tests were carried out and failed.

A flood test was conducted by the Home Improvement Programme (HIP) team at the upper-floor unit in Apr 2021. The flood test failed, but the residents belonging to the upper-floor unit allegedly refused to respond to the HIP’s suggestion to waterproof the unit.

In May 2021, the HIP team renovated the netizen’s own unit. Two months later on Jul 1, HDB carried out a flood test using leak detection dyes on the upper-floor unit without first obtaining the permission of the netizen and her family.

While the HIP team secured evidence of the leakage on Jul 9, HDB replied on Jul 13 that it was discussing the issue with the residents on the upper-floor unit.

Several employees from HDB then visited the netizen’s unit but did not comment on the extent of the leakage and damage, saying they needed to assess the upper-floor unit first.

“It is puzzling that the leakage is to my unit, yet their professional engineer cannot comment on the bad state of leakage,” the netizen wrote.

Those residing in the upper-floor unit stated that they were unavailable on the day. However, on the same day that the HDB employees visited the netizen’s unit, they actually met the residents from the upper-floor unit, according to the netizen’s post. They allegedly noted that his car was parked in the area and also met the resident at the lift.

The netizen shared that she and her family have called and written letters to members of parliament, HD, several ministries, as well as the Prime Minister’s office. However, there was no response from any of the recipients.

The netizen also alleges that HDB has been delaying visiting its visit to the upper-floor unit since the 2nd flood test that was performed on Jul 1 2021. While HDB informed her that it would be carrying out a check on 13 Jul, it was delayed several times. Calls to the Ministry of National Development (MND) and HDB went unheeded.

According to the netizen, all the units within the same column opted into the HIP scheme, except for the residents living in the unit above hers. She adds that the flooring is thin to the point where her family can hear what the residents above are doing. The residents above also walk loudly in the middle of the night and shower between 11:30 pm to 5:30 am.

“Under HIP requirement, isn’t the upper-floor unit required to opt in and address the problem of their poor water proofing when all their so-called infusion have failed repeatedly so many times?” the netizen questioned.

She calls the stains caused by the leakage heartbreaking, especially since the leakage started just a few days after her unit was renovated.

Having felt angry without a way to address the issue, she took to Facebook to request help and advice from other netizens.

The netizen had several questions in mind:

1. Are residents allowed to refuse to opt into the HIP scheme when the flood test has already failed?
2. When can HDB help to address the leakage issue? Can a letter not be given to the residents living in the upper-floor unit so that HDB can view their unit?
3. The resident previously split costs with the upper-floor unit for waterproofing. However, the flooring in the upper-floor unit was removed in 2017 during renovations works which resulted in the leakage. Will the netizen then have to split costs with the upper-floor unit again when those living there decided not to opt into the HIP scheme and failed to solve the leakage problem? 

She hopes that other netizens can offer help and advice so that she can solve this issue, which has persisted for several years now.

You Zi Xuan is an intern at The Independent SG. /TISG