SINGAPORE: A local Reddit user at their wits’ end appealed for help on the platform, asking what legal recourse they have because one of their neighbours at the condominium where they live repeatedly blasts music at 3:00 a.m. The noise is loud enough to wake their toddlers, forcing them to move their kids to the sofa in their living room so they can go back to sleep.
In a recent r/askSingapore post, a Redditor wrote that they live in a low-rise condo, and the neighbour, who plays loud music early in the morning, has their window facing the direction of their unit, specifically their bedroom. While the neighbour lives a few floors above them, the distance between the units is only four to five meters.
The post author also wrote that they’ve called the non-emergency police hotline five times, but nothing has changed.
The situation is particularly difficult and “ruins” the post-author’s day because when their young children wake up because of the loud music, it takes a while to settle them down again on the couch, which means they all have fewer sleeping hours.
The “whole next day is wasted because we only slept a few hours,” they added.
The police have been unable to help, even if the post author calls in real-time and records the windows of the noise. Neither have they been able to get help from the security guards at the condo.
The post author asked, “What kind of legal action can I take against this person?”
When a commenter wrote that this is an issue for the MCST (Management Corporation Strata Title) to settle, others said that, in their experience, they are also not able to intervene.
One condominium dweller wrote that the biggest problem is that the post author doesn’t even live in the building where the music blaster lives. As for the police, they don’t step in either, and at best, they knock on the door of noisy neighbours and ask them to tone down.
They then offered this advice: “My suggestion would be (to) try soundproofing as much as possible your own house. Buy those seal gap/window thingys to really seal out sound.”
Another agreed that it would be a good idea for the post author to invest in double-glazed windows and soundproofing curtains. They also jokingly suggested that they make loud noises in the morning when the noisy neighbours are likely to be asleep.
“Having faced similar experiences, I can absolutely understand your frustrations. Reading this makes my blood boil. Why can’t Singapore have laws to deal with noise issues?
In Germany, they have (the) Ruhezeit law. You can’t even vacuum on a Sunday (or) else risk neighbours’ complaints and eventually fines. In Singapore, where the population density is so high that people are living so close to each other, having enforceable quiet laws is a must!” another wrote sympathetically.
The featured image above is from Depositphotos and is for illustration purposes only. /TISG
Read also: Help! We have ‘HDB neighbours from hell’ who make noise from 8pm to 7am
