apartment nightmare

[recent arrival]

Despite being in Singapore previously are living in various houses and apartments, we have recently returned and made a very bad choice. We are on the side of 2 construction sites in Pandan Valley, and the construction noise is just intolerable, particuarly with a 15 month old baby, my wife is losing her head the baby cannot sleep more than 15mins...a complete disaster,and we have only been here 3 weeks..

If anyone out there has any words of wisdom please put them forward. In the meantime I am going to put the agent on the spot, and seek some legal advice to try and break the lease, likely wasting my time, but we are desparate

[ST88]

Didn't you see the place before moving in?

I am sure the rent you are paying has dropped to price in the inconvenience. You just have to accept what you have signed. Anyway, most places in Singapore have some construction going on nearby

[Noisy]

Hey

I wanted to commiserate as we have a similar problem (moved to Sing with 2 small kids, found 2 places we liked within our budget but both had local construction sites.  Chose the one that was by the most advanced site and then 2 wks after moving in a 2nd phase started up - the landlord's agent told us the construction was almost complete when in fact it's got 2 yrs to go!).

At the time the noise went on late at night and often kept the kids awake so after one really bad night (when I actually stormed across the road and screamed at the site foreman while in my PJ's!) I took to calling the NEA every time the noise seemed excessive.  There are limits, particularly after 10pm (it can still be pretty loud but for example, the decibel level of a concrete mixer exceeds the limits after 10pm but not before).  Every time I called they sent someone down to check the noise levels and my persistence paid off as the site did exceed the noise limits on more than one occasion. Apparently many people in my area had complained about this particular site.  They have since been fined, and as they'd exceeded the limits a number of times they have now been banned from working at all past 10pm.

The daytime noise is bearable I guess, and we can't do anything about it anyway, but it certainly helped to know that we won a small moral victory with the evening noise.  And I think in the meantime the kids have become used to the noise, my toddler never mentions it anymore and the baby could sleep though a hurricane!

Fingers crossed things improve - but in the meantime get on to the NEA hotline and start complaining.

p.s. we did also consider additional glazing in the bedrooms but our landlord was reluctant to pay the full cost and as the noise at night isn't such a problem we decided not to spend our own money on it.  But that could be an option for you?

[to:op]

Well, its a pity, but you signed, you believed the agent and that is alwasy a big mistake in singapore. You have two choices, one is to find a replacement tenant and absob any negative rent difference yourself. The other is to simply leave singapore without saying a word. If living here will be detrimental to you and your family's health and quality of life then go back home and put this down to experience.

[You think you got it bad]

Feel for you, had it even worse with the last place I lived – adjoining house started full renovation which took one year to complete – the noise was unbearable – literally couldn't stay in the house weekdays and 9 – 2 pm Saturday - horrific constant drilling, the place was shaking so much at one point the cornicing fell from the roof in my living room.  Also went down the root of constantly calling NEA but they did nothing, called the police on two occasions, nothing again. What was worse the thieving landlord refused to let me cancel my lease and move out despite the fact I could not live in the place weekdays – it really was that bad. Construction laws and Landlords here are a disgrace.

[housing agents]

Never ever believe these agents - ever - check all they say, ignore their silly jokes and phoney smiles...

[Caveat Emptor]

I suggest you do a Google search for each house/condo address. Check the government sites about upcoming developments, planning permission granted, etc. This will not be much good if the next door neighbour decides to build himself a glass and steel mansion with a basement swimming pool six months after the start of your lease, but it is a start.