Most people would probably agree that nothing makes staying in your own home less comfortable than having an inconsiderate neighbour. Unfortunately, that's exactly what one Singapore HDB resident had to endure while facing a long-running high-rise littering dispute with their neighbour upstairs.

In a Reddit post titled “How to deal with high-rise littering?”, the OP shared that the resident living in the unit above theirs had been throwing cigarette butts and food scraps, including bread, rice and noodles, onto their air conditioning compressor ledge. Besides the cigarettes posing a potential fire hazard, the discarded food has also been attracting pests.

Replying to other comments within the thread, the OP explained that their biggest concern was the potential fire risk caused by the neighbour’s continued littering. 

They shared that a neighbour living a few floors above had plants near the area, causing dry leaves to collect around the aircon compressors. They also mentioned that some pieces of cloth from other units had fallen there and could not be safely retrieved.

The OP worried that if a cigarette butt landed there and started a fire while no one was home, there might be no one around to help their dog.

They also added that the neighbour seemed to know when they were away. According to the OP, they discovered this while on medical leave, when they saw pieces of bread being thrown onto their ledge. After starting a recording, they said they captured their neighbour “with both hands sticking out of his window, happily tearing the bread into small pieces” before throwing them down.

The OP said they had tried speaking to their neighbour, but to no avail. Despite having recordings, the neighbour denied any responsibility. 

The OP then reported the issue to their town council, which distributed flyers about high rise littering. However, believing it had been done without speaking to the neighbour, the OP wrote in again and said the case was eventually referred to the National Environment Agency (NEA).

According to the OP, the NEA allegedly took further action after looking at the recorded photos and videos before installing a camera on the ground floor in an attempt to identify the culprit.

However, the OP felt the effort was ineffective and claimed the camera was poorly positioned, with ongoing Home Improvement Programme (HIP) works and a construction crane blocking its view “around 90 per cent of the time”. 

They also added that their neighbour was on the seventh floor, making it difficult for the camera to capture any evidence. How did the OP know this? By standing at the same spot and pointing their phone camera in the same direction, and they were unable to see anything from that angle.

A few weeks later, the OP said they spoke to an NEA officer who was distributing more flyers. They allegedly showed the officer their air conditioning compressor area, which was still littered with cigarette butts, food waste and even food containers, and reiterated that the camera angle would not capture the culprit.

The OP claimed the neighbour continued littering while they waited two months for an update.

When they followed up, the OP was told the NEA had allegedly closed the case because the camera had not captured any evidence. According to the OP, they were then allegedly told to open a new case each time the neighbour littered. 

After spending much time and effort trying to resolve the issue, the OP turned to the internet for help, asking: “Has anyone here actually managed to get NEA or another agency to take effective action against high-rise littering? At this point, I'm genuinely not sure what else I can do.”

The neighbour’s littering caused more than just a mess, with the discarded food attracting pests and the cigarette butts posing a potential fire risk

Some netizens recommended the OP raise the matter with their MP, while others suggested writing in again after the HIP works were completed. However, the OP pointed out that the latter might not solve the issue, as the camera angle would still not be able to capture their neighbour’s window.

One netizen suggested that the NEA may not be able to rely on the OP’s videos as official evidence, which could explain why they set up their own camera.

One commenter who had a similar experience involving their grandmother’s flat shared that the upstairs neighbours would regularly throw food down, dirtying their grandmother’s window. In their case, the grandmother lived on the second floor while the littering neighbour lived directly above on the third floor.

“We finally called the police about it. It's obviously them because the trace of the food bits only affected from the third floor down to my grandma and the first floor people. And so the police came and [they] told us that if that person ever litters again, call the police immediately and they will handle those litterbugs,” they wrote. 

The OP replied saying they might have to try calling the police next. They described the situation as “incredibly frustrating”, especially since the littering was happening around their laundry area.

“Imagine hanging out your freshly washed clothes, then your neighbour starts throwing food and cigarette butts down. The food attracts birds, and before you know it they're all perched around the area, pooping on your clean laundry,” they lamented.

The worst part? They revealed that they had been dealing with the unpleasant situation for “close to a year now”.

How would you deal with such a pesky neighbour if you were in the OP’s shoes?

Photos: Reddit, CNA Today