Frequent gatherings at housing estates not allowed – City Hall

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KOTA KINABALU: Creating nuisance at housing estates is considered an offence and Kota Kinabalu City Hall has the authority to issue warning notices to the house owners, an officer from the City Hall enforcement division said.

He said once they received complaints from the public on the nuisance, they would investigate and if the claims were true, City Hall would remind the house owners to stop their activities immediately.

“For the first offence, we will remind the house owner to stop their activity and if they keep repeating similar offences, we will not hesitate to issue a warning notice to them.

“Under normal circumstances, once we issue a notice, house owners would stop their activity and would not repeat it,” he said.

He said to avoid complaints, City Hall does not encourage residents in the housing estates to hold parties or gatherings frequently at their homes because some of the nuisance created would affect their neighbours.

“If it is held once a year, we will consider and allow them to hold gatherings, but if they hold parties frequently and we received complaints about these parties, we will take immediate action,” he said.

According to the officer, there were a lot of complaints received, including blocking traffic in the housing estates, renovation works, operating workshops and gatherings.

“On record, blocking traffic at housing estates was the frequent complaint we received,” he added.

He said if they received complaints involving noise created from gatherings they would remind the event organisers to reduce the noise or to stop their activity immediately. While for smoke produced from barbecue activity, the Health Division would look into it by measuring the level of smoke polluting the surrounding area, he added.

The officer said playing mahjong at housing estates was not allowed and the police would take action against the offenders.

Those who want to complain on the nuisance created at housing estates can directly contact the City Hall hotline.

He was commenting on a complaint by a concerned resident who had called on the relevant authority to look into the nuisance created at housing estates.

The complainant, who identified himself as Ronny, had called on the relevant authority to look into those people holding parties and gatherings and creating nuisance at the housing estates.

He claimed that sometime their guests park their vehicles indiscriminately, thus blocking the traffic as well as making noise and disturbing the neighbourhood peace.

“How about playing mahjong? Is it allowed? Can the authorities take action against the organisers of these events?” he asked.

Ronny hoped that City Hall or other relevant departments would look into the complaints and clarify whether it was allowed to hold parties and make noise at the housing estates.