‘My HDB neighbour keeps complaining we’re making stomping noises in the bedroom every night… but no one is in that room’ — Resident asks for advice

SINGAPORE: If there’s one thing scarier than ghosts in an HDB flat, it’s the accusation that you are the ghost.

A Singapore resident turned to Reddit in exasperation after their downstairs neighbours knocked on their door—again—to complain about mysterious stomping sounds coming from their upstairs neighbour’s master bedroom between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. every night.

Except for one small problem: No one was in that room at the time.

Neighbours thinks noise is coming from my unit
byu/Hot_Construction3722 inaskSingapore

“I went down to speak to them a few times, and the sound has never stopped even since they came up to complain,” the resident wrote on Reddit. “So I told them, ‘Wouldn’t it make more sense for the sound to stop after you complain to us?’ But they were so adamant that it’s from my unit.”

All of a sudden, this everyday Singaporean family was living in what might be the world’s quietest haunted house—or the loudest wrongly-accused one.

“But no one hangs out [in the master bedroom]…”

The Reddit post gained traction because many Singaporeans could relate. If you’ve ever lived in an HDB flat, you’ll know: noise complaints are as common as kopi orders at 4 p.m.

However, this wasn’t just a one-off knock-and-go scenario. The neighbours had gone as far as lodging a police report against the family in a case of potential paranormal pounding.

“The thing is the noise does not come from us (me and my siblings + my parents), as during that time we’re mostly winding down in our beds or on the couch just doing our own thing,” the resident clarified.

“They claimed the sound is coming from the master bedroom, but no one hangs out there,” the resident explained further.

The only regular visitor to that room? Dad—after midnight, when everyone else is already deep in slumber.

“HDB walls are full of pipes and beams…”

Commenters were quick to back the resident up, many having experienced the acoustic tricks of HDB life themselves.

“HDB walls are full of pipes and beams,” one wrote. “It’s very easy for sound to travel through those and make it seem like it’s coming from somewhere it’s not.”

Another said they once chased a mysterious drilling sound for hours, only to discover it was coming from a unit diagonally below them, and in a delightfully bizarre twist, one resident’s mystery noises turned out to be from a malfunctioning lift.

“Town council fixed it for us,” they said. “It sounded exactly as if our upstairs neighbour were dragging furniture the entire day.”

“Tough to talk sense to illogical people…”

The resident noted that the complaints were starting to affect their elderly parents, who were understandably distressed by the constant accusations.

Many Redditors advised a more direct approach—one that’s surprisingly Singaporean in its logic: WhatsApp (WA) and video calls.

“I solved this issue by going down to my neighbour’s and exchanging WA numbers,” one shared. “I told him to message me when he heard the loud noises. When he did, I just video-called him and showed him how quiet my house was.”

The community also suggested reaching out to the Residents’ Committee (RC) or grassroots leaders for mediation.

“Only mediation by a 3rd party will work,” one commenter noted. “Tough to talk sense to illogical people.”

You can also find guidance on neighbourly etiquette on the HDB website.

“Neighbour disputes are rarely one-sided and straightforward…”

One insightful Redditor dropped a stat that made everyone pause: Singapore sees about 85 noise complaints a day, based on data from 2023 to 2024. That’s more than three complaints every hour—and those are just the reported ones.

And the plot thickens: “Neighbour disputes are rarely one-sided and straightforward,” the same commenter wrote. “It can range from differences in lifestyle (such as a family with small kids versus an elderly person who wants to sleep early) or unintentional actions… that affect everyone else.”

Translation? Life in an HDB flat is essentially a game of sonic pinball—where sound bounces, echoes, and ricochets until everyone’s confused and a little grumpy.

“Has anyone thought of calling the Ghostbusters?”

And then there were the jokes.

“Has anyone thought of calling the Ghostbusters?” one Redditor deadpanned.

Another recommended the resident to watch the Korean mystery thriller film called Wall to Wall on Netflix—a cheerfully irrelevant nod to the frustrating mystery of where all the noises are really coming from.

But perhaps the best advice came from a Redditor who had been through a very similar situation, where even their dustbin came under suspicion. “We even bought socks for all the chairs at home,” they said. “And put a cloth under the dustbins.”

And yet, even then, the complaints rolled in.

The verdict: Don’t stomp to conclusions

Whether it’s footsteps, furniture, or phantom noise, it’s clear that HDB life requires more than just good walls—it calls for goodwill.

As one commenter wisely put it: “Ultimately, it’s not your fault, and you don’t need to help them, but when they realise that you are well-intentioned, the rationality will start to kick in.”

So before you start soundproofing your entire flat or accusing your neighbour of training elephants, take a breath. Exchange contacts. Invite them over. Pour a cup of teh and have a chat.

Because in Singapore, we may not always have space, but we can make room for a little grace.

In other news, a Singapore bus driver didn’t stop his bus at the bus stop because he could not see a waving passenger who insisted he was right in front of the bus.

Was it just a case of poor visibility… or another paranormal case of a ghost commuter?

You can read about the encounter, or rather commotion, that happened next over here: ‘Passenger is rude to the driver… So entitled!’ — Netizens say after passenger scolded driver for driving off despite him waving ‘in front of the bus’