Cases of disputes between neighbours have risen steadily in the past few years
By Mavis Toh 05 September 2009
When housewife Christine Chua celebrated her 47th birthday last month, her wish was for her neighbour upstairs to move out.
She has never had a good night’s sleep since her neighbour’s family of five moved in last year, she said.
‘The kids would stomp around in the day and at night I hear them dragging furniture,’ said Mrs Chua, who lives in a four-room flat in the north with her husband and two teenage children.
She once called in the police but while the din stopped for the night, it returned a few days later.
When her husband approached their neighbour, the response was to deny that they had created the disturbance.
‘I’ve been advised by my friends to go for mediation, but what’s the point, I don’t think they’re reasonable people,’ she said. ‘I just hope they move out soon.’
Mrs Chua is far from being the only one at war with her neighbour. Last year, the Community Mediation Centre (CMC), which deals with social, community and family disputes, handled 324 disputes between neighbours, up from 264 in 2007 and 268 in 2006. In the first six months of this year alone, there have been 190 such cases.
These neighbourly disputes make up close to half of CMC’s case load.
Magistrates complaints on relational disputes, which includes quarrels between neighbours, have also risen steadily from 2,367 in 2004 and 3,716 in 2007 to 4,087 last year.
Magistrates complaints are filed by those who wish to seek redress for an offence that they believe has been committed against them.
The increasing number of such disputes was one reason a specialised court, the Neighbourhood Court, was set up in July last year at the Subordinate Court.
Over the past year, it has heard 29 neighbourhood disputes.
Disputes that end up here have often escalated into threats, harassments and even physical abuse.
Several cases stemming from the infamous Everitt Road feud were also heard at this court in the past year.
The 16-year-long feud between the Chan family and its neighbours resulted in the Chans lodging about 25 complaints against various neighbours.
The court, presided over by five legally qualified Justices of Peace (JPs), adopts a problem-solving approach.
A spokesman said: ‘JPs bring with them their wealth of experience in dealing with community matters, which comes in useful handling the neighbourhood court cases; majority of which are essentially emotional disputes.’
Though reconciliation among parties is encouraged, if all else fails, JPs have the power to impose fines or jail terms on an offender.
But warring parties are first advised to sort out their differences at the CMC before heading to court.
Besides the court, warring neighbours are also often referred to the CMC by the police, housing board and town council.
The cases are typically quarrels over noise, common corridor obstruction and dripping laundry.
Members of Parliament interviewed said that they see between one and eight cases of neighbourhood disputes a month during their Meet-The-People sessions.
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Liang Eng Hwa said there is a six-year-long dispute in his ward where two warring neighbours kept photographic evidence of each others’ inconsiderate acts.
Most disputes he has seen involve cluttering of corridors and noise disturbances.
When he does his rounds, an average of five out of the 100 units he visits would complain to him about their neighbour.
‘It usually starts with something minor but their tit-for-tat action escalates, often leading to quarrels,’ he said.
MP Cynthia Phua recalled a recent case in Aljunied where a couple complained that their neighbour, an elderly pair in their 60s, would hang their laundry, including their underwear, along the common corridor.
The elderly couple refused to budge, claiming that they were too weak to hang their laundry out the window. The two parties were sent to the mediation centre.
MPs say complaints against foreigners or new citizens are also common. Many of them, unfamiliar with Singaporeans’ habits, would throw rubbish out their windows or leave bags of trash by the common chute.
MPs blame a lack of tolerance and socialising among neighbours for the disputes.
Said Jurong GRC MP Halimah Yacob: ‘The level of tolerance has gone down as people are too busy to spend time to get to know each other and therefore directly sort out differences quickly.’
She sees about three cases of neighbourhood disputes monthly and said such complaints have gone up over the last few years.
The close physical proximity between flats adds to the tension, MPs added.
To promote better social behaviour among residents in housing board estates, details about a system of warnings and fines for recalcitrant residents who display ‘un-neighbourly and anti-social behaviour’ will be announced later this year, said the Ministry of National Development.
A spokesman added: ‘HDB will make use of mediation and issue warning letters, before eventually imposing fines should the inconsiderate resident refuse to amend his ways.’
Mr. Liang believes the framework will be helpful.
‘There will always be a minority who can be a pain to a lot of people, so penalties may be needed.’
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High-Rise Bickering
Cases of disputes between neighbours have risen steadily in the past few years
By Mavis Toh
05 September 2009
When housewife Christine Chua celebrated her 47th birthday last month, her wish was for her neighbour upstairs to move out.
She has never had a good night’s sleep since her neighbour’s family of five moved in last year, she said.
‘The kids would stomp around in the day and at night I hear them dragging furniture,’ said Mrs Chua, who lives in a four-room flat in the north with her husband and two teenage children.
She once called in the police but while the din stopped for the night, it returned a few days later.
When her husband approached their neighbour, the response was to deny that they had created the disturbance.
‘I’ve been advised by my friends to go for mediation, but what’s the point, I don’t think they’re reasonable people,’ she said. ‘I just hope they move out soon.’
Mrs Chua is far from being the only one at war with her neighbour. Last year, the Community Mediation Centre (CMC), which deals with social, community and family disputes, handled 324 disputes between neighbours, up from 264 in 2007 and 268 in 2006. In the first six months of this year alone, there have been 190 such cases.
These neighbourly disputes make up close to half of CMC’s case load.
Magistrates complaints on relational disputes, which includes quarrels between neighbours, have also risen steadily from 2,367 in 2004 and 3,716 in 2007 to 4,087 last year.
Magistrates complaints are filed by those who wish to seek redress for an offence that they believe has been committed against them.
The increasing number of such disputes was one reason a specialised court, the Neighbourhood Court, was set up in July last year at the Subordinate Court.
Over the past year, it has heard 29 neighbourhood disputes.
Disputes that end up here have often escalated into threats, harassments and even physical abuse.
Several cases stemming from the infamous Everitt Road feud were also heard at this court in the past year.
The 16-year-long feud between the Chan family and its neighbours resulted in the Chans lodging about 25 complaints against various neighbours.
The court, presided over by five legally qualified Justices of Peace (JPs), adopts a problem-solving approach.
A spokesman said: ‘JPs bring with them their wealth of experience in dealing with community matters, which comes in useful handling the neighbourhood court cases; majority of which are essentially emotional disputes.’
Though reconciliation among parties is encouraged, if all else fails, JPs have the power to impose fines or jail terms on an offender.
But warring parties are first advised to sort out their differences at the CMC before heading to court.
Besides the court, warring neighbours are also often referred to the CMC by the police, housing board and town council.
The cases are typically quarrels over noise, common corridor obstruction and dripping laundry.
Members of Parliament interviewed said that they see between one and eight cases of neighbourhood disputes a month during their Meet-The-People sessions.
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC MP Liang Eng Hwa said there is a six-year-long dispute in his ward where two warring neighbours kept photographic evidence of each others’ inconsiderate acts.
Most disputes he has seen involve cluttering of corridors and noise disturbances.
When he does his rounds, an average of five out of the 100 units he visits would complain to him about their neighbour.
‘It usually starts with something minor but their tit-for-tat action escalates, often leading to quarrels,’ he said.
MP Cynthia Phua recalled a recent case in Aljunied where a couple complained that their neighbour, an elderly pair in their 60s, would hang their laundry, including their underwear, along the common corridor.
The elderly couple refused to budge, claiming that they were too weak to hang their laundry out the window. The two parties were sent to the mediation centre.
MPs say complaints against foreigners or new citizens are also common. Many of them, unfamiliar with Singaporeans’ habits, would throw rubbish out their windows or leave bags of trash by the common chute.
MPs blame a lack of tolerance and socialising among neighbours for the disputes.
Said Jurong GRC MP Halimah Yacob: ‘The level of tolerance has gone down as people are too busy to spend time to get to know each other and therefore directly sort out differences quickly.’
She sees about three cases of neighbourhood disputes monthly and said such complaints have gone up over the last few years.
The close physical proximity between flats adds to the tension, MPs added.
To promote better social behaviour among residents in housing board estates, details about a system of warnings and fines for recalcitrant residents who display ‘un-neighbourly and anti-social behaviour’ will be announced later this year, said the Ministry of National Development.
A spokesman added: ‘HDB will make use of mediation and issue warning letters, before eventually imposing fines should the inconsiderate resident refuse to amend his ways.’
Mr. Liang believes the framework will be helpful.
‘There will always be a minority who can be a pain to a lot of people, so penalties may be needed.’
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