Impact of Community Disputes Resolution Act on Number of Disputes between Neighbours

Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for National Development whether the number of disputes between neighbours living in HDB flats in the past four years has fallen after the Community Disputes Resolution Act came into effect.

Mr Lawrence Wong: HDB does not comprehensively track the figures of neighbourly disputes in HDB flats. In any case, it is not clear why there should be a link between the number of disputes happening in any year with the establishment of the Community Disputes Resolution Act. Whenever HDB receives a report of a neighbourly dispute, it will first encourage the neighbours to resolve their disagreements amicably between themselves, or seek the assistance of grassroots and community leaders to provide informal mediation.

If the dispute continues, HDB will suggest to the residents involved to seek voluntary mediation at the Community Mediation Centre, or to take the matter to the Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT) as a last resort. In that sense, the CDRT is not meant to deter or reduce the number of disputes, but to provide a way to resolve longstanding neighbour issues.