Whampoa Drive lady's 'garbage house' frustrates neighbours due to water leaks & unsavoury odours

Editor's note: The article has been updated with MP Shawn Loh's Facebook post on the matter, dated May 10.

A resident's hoarding problem at a HDB in Whampoa Drive is causing a big headache for their neighbours.

Shin Min Daily News reported that a resident has termed the offending HDB unit a "garbage house".

Some problems that neighbours have encountered due to the house include toilet blockage, stinky water dripping from the ceiling, mould, and unsavoury odours.

A neighbour surnamed Zhang (transliteration), who lives below the house, said that she encountered water leaking from the resident's unit upstairs in November last year.

After an inspection, it was found that the drain pipe had begun to leak.

In February this year, Zhang found mould on her kitchen ceiling.

In March, she found another leak, this time in her living room.

Zhang suspects that the house upstairs has a ruptured pipe.

Indeed, when the Chinese media went upstairs to take a look at the house, they found smelly water leaking out of the unit's front door.

Hoarder defended herself

The occupant, a 70-year-old woman who goes by the surname Chen, defended her hoarding.

She told Shin Min that all the items in her house were useful items; she collected them in the early years of her career while others were given by friends.

Chen's mother passed away many years ago, while her younger brother left the house after getting married.

That was when Chen's hoarding became more severe.

Another neighbour told Shin Min:

"I once scolded her, but she turned around and claimed that I caused her problems! But actually, her actions are causing problems for the residents in our block. If there's a fire, it'd be hard for everyone to escape."

The complaints by Chen's neighbour downstairs led to the authorities conducting a spot check for mosquito breeding in April.

Chen reluctantly let them in at that time, but insisted to the Chinese media that she could clean up slowly if there was a need to.

"They (the authorities) cannot clean my house directly. I'm afraid that I will lose many important and valuable belongings."

When asked if she was afraid of mosquitoes breeding in her house, Chen said:

"I believe in Buddha. So mosquitoes won't bite me."

MP Shawn Loh visited

On May 10, MP Shawn Loh put up a Facebook post on the issue.

Loh said that his team was aware of the resident and her hoarding issue, and had visited her "very recently" to resolve the matter.

"But resolving these issues take time and many rounds of engagement. We want to respect the resident while taking care of all neighbours," he wrote.

Loh visited the neighbours again on May 10 and announced that his team had "made a lot of progress".

"We will still need to continue our efforts tomorrow, and consistently in the weeks ahead, so that hoarding does not repeat itself. We will journey with our residents. And as a community, look out for one another."

Top image: Shin Min Daily News