Trend of Neighbour Dispute Complaints Received by HDB Given Work-from-home Arrangements

5 Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye asked the Minister for National Development (a) in the past five years, what is the annual number of neighbour-dispute cases received by HDB; and (b) whether there has been an increase in such dispute cases due to the COVID-19 pandemic and telecommuting work arrangements.

The Senior Minister of State for National Development (Ms Sim Ann) (for the Minister for National Development): Mr Speaker, Sir, we do not track the number of disputes between neighbours in HDB flats.

From 2015 to 2019, HDB received an average of about 3,400 reports or feedback on social disamenities per year.

In 2020, about 600 cases of such feedback were received per month from January to March 2020. This increased to about 2,100 cases of feedback per month from April to July 2020 as more people worked or studied from home due to the circuit breaker measures.

From August 2020 onwards, likely due to the return of children to school and more employees to workplaces, the number of feedback per month has fallen to about 1,500.

Mr Speaker: Mr Melvin Yong.

Mr Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Radin Mas): Mr Speaker, I thank the Senior Minister of State for her reply. I have two supplementary questions. From the information that Senior Minister of State has just shared, I think it is obvious that the prolonged telecommuting work arrangements have resulted in increased tensions among neighbours. Those who are used to leaving home to go to the workplace during most part of the day are unfamiliar and unaccustomed to the usual activities and noise generated during the day in our HDB estates. There is therefore a need, to look at fostering better relationships among neighbours today, more so than before.

First, I would like to ask if HDB is considering any plans or programmes to help ease tensions and foster better understanding among neighbours. Second, I would like to ask what is the percentage of neighbour dispute cases received by the HDB that had to be escalated to the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunal or CDRT. How many of such cases managed to get resolved when escalated to the CDRT and what are the residents' options if the dispute is not able to be resolved at the tribunal?

Ms Sim Ann: I thank Mr Melvin Yong for his supplementary questions. I should reiterate that the figures that I have cited relate to the cases or feedback with regard to social disamenities. So, it is not specifically neighbour disputes. But it is the closest proxy we have. So, yes, it is a reasonable inference that the changes in the way in which we live and work would have a link to the number of such feedback or such cases.

In terms of the programmes that HDB has in place, HDB does not do it alone because anything that has to do with neighbour disputes involves people and it is also to do with expectations that neighbours have of each other. So, it is something that HDB would work on together with partners. To give an example, HDB has been working with the Singapore Kindness Movement on a "Then How?" series of advisories to HDB residents on how we can all adapt to the new normal with more people working from home or studying at home.

At the same time, HDB has also been doing more to advise households that are undertaking renovations to be more considerate. More advice has been given to flat owners and their contractors, for instance, that they should keep their neighbours informed whenever noisy works are being planned, so that their neighbours can make alternative plans if needed. For those residents who are not able to make alternative arrangements to circumvent this renovation period, HDB will also recommend alternative spaces where these residents can work, such as work spaces at nearby CCs.

Mr Melvin Yong also asked about the percentage of cases that progress to mediation and CDRT. For the reasons that I have mentioned, I have to highlight that it is not an exact tracking of neighbour dispute cases. My understanding is that we are not able to share what are the cases at CDRT that relate specifically to neighbour disputes. But we understand from the State Courts that from 2015 to 2019, there were 380 applications to the CDRT and, of these applications, about two-thirds were resolved amicably.

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang (Nee Soon): Thank you, Sir. Could I just ask the Senior Minister of State, out of the feedback that were received, what percentage was actually related to second-hand smoke in people's home? Secondly, could HDB help in mediating some of these cases between neighbours when it comes to second-hand smoke and not just pass it on to NEA?

Ms Sim Ann: I thank Mr Louis Ng for his supplementary question. What I can share is that in terms of the feedback that has been received over 2017 to 2019, we have seen an increase in the number of complaints to do with smoking. We are not able to break it down into whether it occurred in the common areas or in other places. But in terms of the feedback, we had 216 instances of feedback about smoking in HDB areas in 2017, about 370 cases in 2018 and about 710 cases in 2019. For the first nine months of 2020, from January to September we had about 1,290 such instances.

Mr Speaker: Mr Pritam Singh.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied): I would like to thank the Senior Minister of State for sharing that information. Can I request the Senior Minister of State to share what are the issues that come under the social disamenity criteria that was just mentioned because she did say that she does not have specific numbers of neighbourhood disputes, but that they generally come under this category of social disamenity? So, what are the other issues under this category that HDB tracks? And if the Senior Minister of State does not have an answer to that, what would be some of those instances which qualify as a social disamenity?

My second supplementary question is, in view of the fact that neighbour disputes do come up every now and then in the public housing setting, would HDB actually track this issue going forward so that we can understand what mechanisms can be introduced, such as the CDRT or amendments to the CDRT format, to lower this prospect of disputes and also to measure the success of measures like the cooperation with the Kindness Movement, for example, the "Then How?" series that the Senior Minister of State also spoke about?

Ms Sim Ann: I thank Mr Pritam Singh for his question. In terms of what categories are under social disamenities that would include issues apart from cigarette smoke which Mr Louis Ng mentioned, they would include issues to do with noise, foul smells, for instance. And the reason why they are a bit different than neighbourly disputes is that sometimes complaints are raised but the complainant may not be able to identify which unit originated these issues and, therefore, it would not quite be a case where we can identify specific neighbours and it may not be then a neighbour dispute case per se. That is the difference between social disamenities and neighbour disputes. Going forward, we do have intention to track neighbour disputes more closely because we do recognise that we now have developed an ecology of different methods in which to promote harmonious living and to also strengthen our community norms. This would include not just what our HDB branches can do on the ground but also in consultation and partnership with our grassroots volunteers with other organisations, like the Kindness Movement and also in concert with resolution mechanisms, such as CMC and CDRT.