SINGAPORE: After it was reported that a man living in Holland Village allegedly spent $800 to gather evidence against his upstairs neighbours who made loud noises at different times of the day and night, commenters expressed sympathy, and many shared similar experiences, as this problem seems to be not at all uncommon.
The man, 47, has lived with his mum, 85, for more than four decades at Jalan Merah Saga. However, over the past six years, they have reportedly been subjected to different kinds of noise from the unit on the floor above them, where two elderly sisters reside. These include the sound of chairs being dragged, objects smashed, and the heavy tread of footsteps.
According to a Mustshare News report, the loud sounds bother him and his mum during the day and wake him up at night.
The man has resorted to messaging the sisters to remind them not to make so much noise. While there was a mediation session between the neighbours in an attempt to resolve the problem, the elderly women refuted the allegation that they were responsible for the loud sounds.
As a concession, the women accepted the man’s suggestion that they wear slippers in their unit to minimise the noise their footsteps make, but Mustshare News says they’ve done “little” to resolve the issue overall.
Three years ago, the man took steps to soundproof his flat, but says that this has not been effective in sufficiently muffling the sounds from his neighbours.
Unfortunately, the noises have even bothered his mum in the middle of the night, causing her to wake up screaming, not just once but twice. The man has also taken to going on walks when the noise prevents him from sleeping, but he has grown easily irritable due to the situation.
The report added that he has since hired a company for the specific purpose of gathering evidence of the noises they make, spending $800 on having the company record the noises that he and his mum have been subjected to. It also says he has no desire to take legal action against the elderly women, who are acquaintances of his mother. But during the pandemic, when as many as 500 footsteps could be heard in his flat, he called the authorities.
Taken from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m., the recording is said to have caught the sounds of footsteps, knocking, moving chairs, and heavy objects, which took place at least two times per hour of recording. The loudest noise registered at 57 decibels.
For comparison’s sake, 50 decibels is what a moderate rainfall sounds like, and 57 decibels is loud enough to be bothersome to someone who wants to sleep.
Sympathetic commenters acknowledged that the problems the man and his mother face are common in Singapore.
“In a dense living (HDB), public housing consisting of small units with basic amenities environment like Singapore, extremely experiencing noise may be inevitable, which can lead to conflicts and disputes among residents,” wrote one.
Another told his own story, “Noise is a very difficult issue. My neighbour below confronted me for making noise, dragging chairs. A few weeks later, he came to apologise and said he had found the source. It is the unit below him making the noise.”
“It’s true, if you really want to buy an HDB, you better be the one at the roof, so you won’t encounter too many problems,” a Facebook user advised.
“Same as my upstairs neighbour. Consistent knocking (dragging of furniture, dropping heavy objects like hammers, etc) and some days of drilling,” wrote another. /TISG
Read also: ‘Help, my neighbour blasts music at 3 am, wakes up my toddlers!’