Woman Successfully Sues Neighbour for Letting Cigarette Smoke Drift Into Her Flat

Do you know that it’s not illegal for your neighbour to smoke near their HDB window?

Watch this video and you’d understand:

But if it affects you, you can take legal action against your neighbour.

And you can win.

Case in point?

This woman in Bukit Panjang.

Woman Successfully Sues Neighbour for Letting Cigarette Smoke Drift Into Her Flat

A 56-year-old woman living in Block 241, along Bukit Panjang Ring Road, scored a legal win against her downstairs neighbor over second-hand smoke complaints after the court issued an order banning her neighbour from smoking inside their flat.

To do that, the woman kept a detailed log of her neighbour’s smoking habits in 2021.

In just two weeks, she documented 150 instances of smoke entering her ninth-floor unit.

“The smoke comes in from 8 PM to 2 AM almost non-stop,” she told Shin Min Daily News. She lives with her 78-year-old mother who has a heart condition requiring regular check-ups.

Based on her observations, she could smell cigarette smoke about three times per hour. By her calculations, this suggests her neighbour might be smoking up to three packs of cigarettes daily.

After multiple failed attempts to resolve the issue directly with her neighbour, she approached various agencies for help.

The case eventually went to the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunal (CDRT) in June 2022, where she won.

You can watch this video to know more about CDRT, watch this to the end:

The court order prohibits the downstairs neighbour and their visitors from smoking inside the unit. This ban includes e-cigarettes and all nicotine or tobacco products. Smokers must go to the ground floor to light up.

However, the smoke problem hasn’t stopped.

Court Order Doesn’t Work

Unfortunately, despite having a court order, she still detects cigarette smoke in her home.

She’s now put up posters at the seventh and ninth floor lift lobbies asking other residents who smell smoke to contact her via WhatsApp, and is offering a reward for useful information.

People may file for contempt of court if they believe their neighbours are violating a court order, but they’ll need solid evidence to support their claim. If a person is found guilty of contempt of court, it is considered a criminal offense.