Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Police Guidelines for Handling Noise Complaints and Neighbour Disputes by Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law

Question:

Miss Cheryl Chan Wei Ling: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs what are the current guidelines for the police when handling complaints of noise and neighbour disputes within condominiums.

Answer:

1. Noise complaints among neighbours, whether in condominiums or other types of housing, are often related to underlying problems such as disputes, inconsiderate behaviour or intolerance.  Such problems are best addressed through a community-based approach, where community partners, Government agencies and grassroots leaders work together to settle such disputes.

2. First, we must promote good neighbourliness to prevent disputes from arising, as residents on friendly terms are more likely to be considerate and tolerant of differences.  Second, we encourage mediation to mend relationships, where disputing parties find it difficult to resolve issues on their own.  Third, we provide options of legal recourse as a last resort. The Community Dispute Resolution Tribunals (CDRTs) were established in 2015 to provide simple and specialised court processes to help neighbours resolve disputes.

3. A Police response should only be considered where there are law and order concerns - for instance, when the noise arises from fights, or large congregations that pose safety and security concerns. In such cases that warrant Police's attention, Police would dispatch frontline resources to maintain law and order.