Yishun resident laments noise from flat above, neighbour brings 5 children to apologise in person

A woman decided to leave a note at her neighbour's door expressing her concern after hearing stomping and thumping sounds coming from the flat above hers in Yishun on Dec. 9 afternoon.

Around two hours later, the woman, who wishes only to be known as Zhang, received a WhatsApp message from her neighbour upstairs.

Instead of clapping back at Zhang, the neighbour apologised for the noise made by her and her relative's children, and even asked if they could apologise to Zhang face-to-face at her home.

When Zhang opened her door, she was shocked to see her neighbour and five young girls standing in line outside her gate.

Besides apologising to Zhang again, the neighbour also told the children, "When I say 'Please keep it low', you guys should stop making noise, as it disrupts auntie's work."

No noise was heard from the unit above later that day.

Touched by her neighbour's sincerity and parenting skills, Zhang posted her exchange with her neighbour on Chinese social media Xiaohongshu.

Not first time dealing with noise

Speaking to Mothership, Zhang, a Singapore permanent resident, shared that she lived in a Housing and Development Board (HDB) block flat in Yishun.

While she said she had been affected by noise in the block previously, such as from renovation works and loud music, these incidents were resolved by Zhang who reached out to the noise-generating party.

Communicate first

According to Zhang, she had been hearing stomping and thumping sounds from above since early December.

In her Xiaohongshu post, Zhang surmised that this might be because the children were on school holiday and the block was not well-insulated.

However, as the audible disturbances occurred in the afternoon and would "last for hours", Zhang lamented that they had distracted her from preparing for her job interviews.

When Zhang complained to her friends, they agreed that she should wait and see whether the noise would fade away after a few days.

If the problem persisted, she would have to convey her grievances to her neighbour personally.

Zhang shared that she had never considered retaliating against her neighbour because she felt "it was unnecessary" as the other party are all children.

"Additionally, it is not a situation where we had a discussion over the problem, but it ended up being useless. I believe communication is still useful," said Zhang.

Left note at neighbour's flat

Hence, when Zhang heard the noise again at around 3pm on Dec. 9, she headed upstairs and pressed her neighbour's doorbell three times, but no one answered the door.

At the time, Zhang thought that the children might be home alone or that their parents were busy, so she left a note at her neighbour's unit in hopes.

According to her Xiaohongshu post, Zhang included her phone number and a short message, which read:

"Hi, neighbour:

I hope you're doing well. I wanted to kindly mention that the noise from the children running around upstairs is a bit loud, especially when it causes the floor to thump. Could you please help to remind them to be a bit quieter? [...]"

Zhang then returned home, and she was pleasantly surprised that the noise had died down at around 5pm, which made her "felt better and more relaxed".

Neighbour apologised

Zhang then received a WhatsApp message from her neighbour at around 5:20pm.

In a screenshot of their conversation posted on Xiaohongshu, the neighbour wrote:

"Hi, I am [name], your upstairs neighbour. Received your note on the door. [I] really apologise for the noise made last night. Will remind the children [to be] more mindful. Have a great evening."

Minutes later, the neighbour clarified Zhang was not ignored on purpose earlier.

The doorbell battery was apparently "low", so she was not aware that Zhang visited and only found out after checking the door camera.

Zhang felt that her neighbour "had a very good attitude" and was willing to follow up and solve the problem upon seeing these messages and decided to reply that it was not a big deal.

Brought children to apologise in person

However, just as Zhang was typing out her response, her neighbour suddenly asked her if she was home.

When Zhang replied that she was, her neighbour said she was at the door.

Upon opening her door, Zhang saw two teenage girls and three kindergarten-aged girls lined up outside with her neighbour.

Her neighbour explained the noise was a result of her relative's children hanging out with her children during school holidays, but she could not remind them because she was at work.

Her neighbour then reprimanded the girls who "listened attentively" and "were very well-behaved".

Zhang replied that it was not a big deal.

Both parties then added each other on WhatsApp before they concluded their conversation.

Encouraged everyone to learn from neighbour

According to Zhang, even though she could still occasionally hear noise from the children, they were not as persistent as before.

She would text her neighbour whenever she had job interviews and needed a quiet environment.

In those cases, her neighbour would always agree to her request, Zhang said.

Zhang added that she believed everyone could learn from her neighbour's attitude when handling noise complaints.

"For parents, I think they could also learn from my neighbour in terms of her parenting skills. Let's all be more considerate towards each other," shared Zhang.

Top images via Zhang's Xiaohongshu