Everybody needs good neighbours, but not all of us are so lucky.  

Your story “Nasty neighbours” (Jan 13) reminds me of my own nasty neighbours. When we moved into the house that we’re living in now, my neighbours were renovating their house in the back.  

After they completed it, they didn’t build a wall separating their house from ours. They just fashioned some boards into a makeshift wall.  

On our side of the backyard is a mango tree, whose fruits our neighbours would help themselves to, leaving us with only the rotten ones.  

My, were we frustrated or what? But being nice neighbours, we decided to ignore this, and it has been going on for years. Our neighbours also keep pet cats, which seem to find our compound the ideal place to do their “business”. Every morning we wake up to the horrid stench of cat poop in our front compound.  

Well, we are moving out soon, as we have found a better house. Hopefully we’ll get better neighbours there. I pity the people who will be moving in. - Clandestine Dinteraz, Ipoh 

Night-time chaos 

Hi, I have a nasty neighbour story that I would like to share. When I finally managed to buy my own house, my wife and I were very excited.  

The house next to my mine was vacant and up for rent. After a month of living peacefully, we had a tenant moving in next door. From their looks and slang, they appeared to be from a rural East Coast village.  

They were in the pasar malam business. The noises started after midnight. They would come back late at night dragging the cooking gas cylinder on the floor to the kitchen.  

I tried to talk to them nicely but things got worse. My neighbour started throwing rotten food in the back drain. And their East Coast congregation would convene on their front yard and chat loudly until four in the morning. I did not get a good night’s sleep for months.  

After a year they moved out, owing three months’ rent. It was one month of heaven after that. Then I got a new neighbour, whose husband is also from the East Coast. He is a contractor.  

He would come back late at night, honking his truck. He would slam the door and grille hard. And yes, he had his own East Coast congregation, and they would yak until 6am. He got angry when I confronted him, and even tried to pick a fight. Then he started banging the chairs and dragging the furniture around – all the time.  

It has been two years. I can’t stand it any longer. I will be moving out to a high-end corner-lot house, after having made sure that my next door neighbour is not from the East Coast.  

My advice to kampung folks: Please leave your kampung attitude back home. - Frustrated, Subang Jaya 

Quiet please! 

My name is Yuun Jacob, and I too have a little story about irritating neighbours: Due to the nature of my work, Saturday and Sunday are my off days. But sadly, spending time at home is a no-no.  

I live in a low-cost apartment with 16 floors. Normally, our apartment is very quiet but all hell breaks loose when my neighbour comes home. He would put on his songs full-blast with his hi-fi.  

Everyone hates him but he couldn’t be bothered. Every festival season, be it Christmas, Hari Raya, or Chinese New Year, his loud music would rattle my windows panes. He stops his music at midnight, and during the festive seasons – at 2am. I’ve talked to him several times but he never listens.  

To make things worse, he seems to belong to some sort of gangster group. They can occasionally be seen hanging out on the ground floor.  

Time will tell if his neighbours’ patience will run out? I hope he changes before we take action. - Yuun Jacob 

Inconsiderate 

My experiences with bad neighbours over the years have been rare, thankfully, but one moved in about two years ago. When the renovations to their house were completed, they conveniently dumped all the leftover sand, cement and debris into the main drain. The drain has become one foot shallower.  

This neighbour also has the habit of slamming shut the main wooden door each time they exit or enter the house. They have children, and you can imagine the noise created. They also make a racket climbing the wooden stairs. 

Later, they got a small dog, and it would bark non-stop and the dog is also allowed to do its business in the front yard, and they won’t care when hosing down if the dirty water flows our way.  

One day, I spoke to the wife about the dog. She said it was in the dog’s gene and not her fault. She even suggested that I closed my doors and windows to shut out the noise! No apologies, no conscience, no neighbourliness. Does this qualify them as bad neighbours? - Arthur 

That’s my spot! 

Bad neighbours? Believe me I had one opposite my house. They have this small pup that they let out to do its business – on our car porch! I had to tell them three times before they did something about it. 

This same neighbour parks his vehicle outside other people houses, even though his porch can fit at least two cars and there is ample space outside his house. Once I politely asked a guest of his to move his car so I could park in front of my own house, only to be confronted noisily by the whole clan. I resorted to placing flowerpots so nobody could park there. 

Now his vehicle is regularly parked in front of my next door neighbour’s house. This poor neighbour rammed her car into the pillar of her gate while trying to manoeuvre in the limited space. No wonder people like to live in bungalows, away from such neighbours. - Unfortunate Resident