"In a successful application, the CDRT can order your neighbour to pay for damages, to issue an apology, to direct your neighbour to do something or to stop doing something. These cases will be governed under the Community Disputes Resolution Act.Ĭriminal lawyer Josephus Tan, managing director of Invictus Law Corporation, said: "As far as the law is concerned, it is not what you believe in but what you can prove, so it's advisable for applicants to produce evidence such as CCTV footage, appeal letters to government agencies, video and audio recordings, police reports, et cetera to support their applications. "For cases where parties are unable to resolve their disputes by voluntary mediation or other informal means, the aggrieved party can file a case with the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals as a last resort," said the spokesman. In some cases, however, parties see themselves as the victims and are unwilling to negotiate for any type of settlement. Last year, 80 per cent of the cases mediated at the CMC were settled, said the spokesman. The aggrieved party therefore has the option to enforce the agreement through civil proceedings."įrom 1998 to 2017, more than 9,000 cases were mediated, with 70 per cent of them successfully settled.
These contracts are binding on both parties. Mediation sessions are held in a soundproof room at the CMC where the privacy of parties involved is ensured.Ī Ministry of Law spokesman said: "Written settlements reached by parties through mediation at the CMC are private contracts.
Mediation is handled by the Community Mediation Centre (CMC), set up in 1998 by the Ministry of Law to resolve conflicts in the community. Mediation is a voluntary, private and confidential process, where two mediators help to facilitate discussions between parties in a dispute, in an effort to reach a mutually acceptable solution. Related Story Mental health check for Pasir Ris 'neighbour from hell'Īnd if all else fails, some would sell their flats.īut there are other avenues for recourse, like going for mediation, filing a magistrate's complaint or a claim with the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT). The worst was when I saw a pig's ear on my shoe rack," she said. One day it was used cooking oil, another day it was porridge. I would go home after work to find some kind of liquid splashed on my door. She told The Sunday Times that it was "so stressful" that she even appealed to HDB to let her sell her flat before completing the five-year minimum occupation period. The second resident in the Punggol Central HDB block to move out due to the neighbour did so with her husband and two-year-old daughter in February last year, five years after moving into the Build-To-Order block, which has a mix of two-, three-and four-room flats. New families who moved in said they have also made reports to the authorities. Feeling helpless when told by the authorities that what she did was not an arrestable offence, six families to date have sold their flats, with the latest one moving out last November. One neighbour even claimed she had left a bloody pig's ear on a shoe rack. Six households on the same floor moved out - because of one woman.ĭubbed the neighbour from hell, she is accused of splashing oil at others' doors, playing loud music and stomping on the floor. Over the past two years, one Housing Board block in Punggol has seen heavy market activity. Their reaction underscored the apprehension they clearly felt towards their neighbour. They replied softly, at times lowering their voices to a whisper, afraid they would be harassed by their neighbour for speaking to the press. I asked about their experiences living there. It was only when I approached them, saying I was a reporter, that they calmed down. Her husband, who was waiting for her at the gate, jumped in shock when he saw me. As I was about to press the doorbell, the lift door opened.Ī young woman stepped out and made a dash to her flat, avoiding the unit I was standing at. Undeterred, I stood outside the flat people told me was the home of their difficult neighbour. "Be careful when you approach her for an interview," he warned. It showed a woman dragging a metal rod along the HDB flat corridor. He showed me a video of his neighbour on his mobile phone. But I was there to chase a story about neighbour disputes and, within minutes, the tension was palpable. The 17th floor of this block of Housing Board flats in Punggol looked normal and quiet.
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