‘In March 2020, Nee Soon Town Council had to request a family in Yishun to stop hanging meat on the laundry rack as it resulted in foul smells that neighbours picked up.
A Nee Soon Town Council spokesperson said then: "In view of public health and hygiene, we would also like to take the chance to remind residents not to hang any food items on the laundry rack.”’ (Mothership)
Come to think of it, do MPs need the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment’s approval in dealing with neighbours’ smoke before they could act? Why should smoking be a special case? Can't the MPs take action using existing nuisance clause of the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act (appended in bold below), which is also found in standard Tenancy Agreements* - see "Use of Premises" clause 5.1 i)?
BMSMA section 63 (b): A subsidiary proprietor, mortgagee in possession (whether by himself or any other person), lessee or occupier of a lot shall not — use or enjoy that lot, or permit that lot to be used or enjoyed, in such a manner or for such a purpose as to cause a nuisance or hazard to the occupier of any other lot (whether that person is a subsidiary proprietor or not)
In the case of drying meat, other than causing a stench, hygiene issues and religious insensitivity, it poses no deadly health hazards, unlike secondhand smoke.
Why do MPs have to debate with ministers for years about protection from neighbours’ toxic smoke in Parliament? Why the double standard?
How can smoking at the windows or balconies be less harmful to neighbours than drying meat? A complaint regarding the latter was promptly acted on. But there is no law against drying meat on the laundry rack. If certain existing law is stretched to prohibit drying meat, then it can be extended to curb secondhand smoke drift as well.
Please point this out to your MP in your email and seek his/her help to resolve neighbours’ secondhand smoke problem. Do not suffer in silence.
*If your smoker neighbour is a tenant who has breached the nuisance clause, please remind him that his security deposit could be forfeited by the landlord - see "Security Deposit" clause 2.2.