‘He’s acting like a victim’: Pregnant HDB resident says ‘neighbour from hell’ reported her to police after she played loud music in retaliation
HDB flats in the evening light in Singapore's China Town
SINGAPORE: A pregnant HDB resident who claims to have spent the past few months putting up with her noisy neighbours has found herself in a rather frustrating situation after the father of the family reported her to the police for blasting music in retaliation.
The woman was particularly taken aback by the complaint, given that she claimed his children's near-daily screaming, loud music practice, and general household commotion had been making life difficult for her family for weeks.
Posting on the r/SingaporeRaw forum on Thursday (Oct 29), she explained that her family had moved into their new HDB flat around three to four months ago. They occupy a corner unit, with the family in question living in the neighbouring corridor unit.
According to her, the children could be heard making noise almost non-stop between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. The school holidays were particularly difficult, and things were hardly any better once evening came, as the children also practised musical instruments almost every night.
“The cherry on top is they play musical instruments daily at night, and to say they are bad at whatever they are playing is an understatement. It's like a dead dog gasping for air, and when they scream, the high-pitched noise pierces through layers of doors.”
The constant noise had apparently become so familiar that she could recognise much of the family's daily routine without ever having to step inside their home.
“I don't speak the language that they speak, but after 3 months, I feel like I already understand their language. I know when their children wake up, when they go to school, and when they eat lunch, breakfast, or dinner. I know what food their children don't like and how he screams during feeding time. I know the cartoon they watch. I know when they take a sh**. Not by choice, I know everything about them…. They just open all their windows & doors.”
The woman said she had already gone to considerable lengths to make her home more bearable, including installing soundproof windows, soundproofing her main door, and buying two pairs of noise-cancelling headphones.
Yet, none of these measures seemed to do much against the noise.
“I close every door and window and put on headphones; I could still hear them scream.”
She had also tried approaching the family politely to raise the issue. On one occasion, she even gave them a cake before bringing up the noise problem.
Things reportedly improved for a few days, but the peace did not last long before the noise returned to its usual levels.
Eventually, after reaching her breaking point, she decided to fight noise with noise.
“I was really angry, so I turned up the volume and went downstairs, then realised, oh sh*t, my downstairs can really hear me. So I went up and turned it off. It was before 7 pm. The whole music saga (at reasonable volume) lasted around 1 hour. The loud music probably lasted 10 mins. Then he called the police on me. He said I had been blasting music all day. This and that.”
“Police came, I explained to them everything. Police advised both to keep peace because I had already turned off the music way before they came.”
The woman added that she approached the neighbour again after the police had left, hoping to address the issue once more.
However, the father reportedly stood his ground, insisting that his family had done nothing wrong and had every intention of carrying on as usual. He also argued that his children were only noisy between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m.
When she suggested that he could at least close his windows to prevent the noise from travelling into neighbouring flats, he flatly refused.
“He continued to talk to me in a taunting manner. He said he has one more baby, and that baby will scream even louder. I'm not asking for advice; I have read the laws, and the police have also advised me what to do. I'm just really sad and hopeless and desperate,” she wrote.
“I'm in my early pregnancy, and all I wanted is peace and for my baby to be safe. I don't understand why a fellow human could be so horrible. His family is the aggressor, and he taunted me whenever we crossed paths. His wife even lectured me that we all live in HDB and we need to live with each other,” she added.
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‘Move away and rent your unit out’
In the comments, several Reddit users sympathised with the pregnant resident and suggested ways she could handle the ongoing neighbour dispute.
One advised her to document the disturbances and get other neighbours involved: “Gather evidence - record vids, livestream, etc. Gather allies - Rally other neighbours together. Strength in numbers.”
Another recommended that she resort to ‘incense burning’: “Best way to deal with the open window noise is incense burning; constant repeated smelly incense burning as close to their windows as you can get.”
A third suggested looking into soundproofing the shared wall and raising the matter with the relevant authorities: “Probably need to soundproof the shared wall with your neighbour as well. Have you tried logging a case with town council / HDB and speaking with your MP? It might not help immediately, but at least your concerns are being recorded with the authorities.”
A fourth user, meanwhile, felt that moving out might be the best option: “For the sake of the baby, move away and rent your unit out instead.”/TISG