Hoarding horror: Tenant mysteriously disappears, leaves MacPherson flat in mess

While sorting out her estranged father's assets after he died last year, one woman was shocked to discover that a man had been living in his father's flat.

Not only that, the unit was turned into a veritable mess — cluttered and in disarray. 

To make matters worse, the mysterious tenant also allegedly refused to heed her repeated demands to move out of the three-room flat at Block 85 Circuit Road. 

The frustrated woman, who declined to give her name, told Shin Min Daily News that her father died from an illness last September. She had successfully gotten the executor rights to her father's property only in April this year. 

"My parents, grandma, brother and sister had lived in this flat for about 38 years. However, my parents later separated, and my siblings and I moved out with my mother in 2009. 

"We lost contact with our father thereafter and only found out about his death from the police at the end of September," she recounted. 

When she visited her childhood home to collect some of her father's personal belongings, she found — to her horror — that the flat was filled with garbage. 

It was then that she realised that a man known as "Mr Lu" had been living in the house, although she wasn't sure how long he'd been staying there.

"Over the past year I've left him notes and called him to inform him that he has to move out. But he lied to the police that he's my father's relative," said the woman. 

She had also tried to seek help from the authorities, including a Member of Parliament, in the hopes of settling the issue. 

Lu had also left behind a $2,000 utility bill after the unit's electricity and water were cut off in January, Shin Min Daily News reported. 

As a last resort, the frustrated woman called the police last Saturday (Nov 12) and hired a locksmith to change the locks.

Insects crawling out of unit 

When reporters from Shin Min visited the HDB flat last Saturday, they found four policemen outside the unit with a locksmith. But upon cutting the lock and entering the unit, they found no one inside the flat. 

Upon closer inspection, the flat was in a mess and filled with random junk, several Buddha statues, and a bicycle. Reporters also spotted insects crawling out from the unit.

After changing the lock, the woman left Lu a note informing him that the door had been locked and that his belongings would be cleared out. 

One neighbour whom Shin Min spoke to said that Lu had been living in the flat for five years. Prior to his death, she had also spotted the flat owner and Lu heading out together.

However, the neighbour added that the deceased was hardly at home, adding that the town council had once cleared some items outside the unit, but had left the religious items intact. 

Hoarder at King George's Avenue 

In March, a female resident who lives on the ninth floor of a HDB block at King George's Avenue around Jalan Besar complained to Shin Min Daily about the hundreds of cockroaches from her neighbour's unit. 

The owner of that unit, a 63-year-old man, was known to hoard items that he would collect from outside. 

Said the 58-year-old woman: "In 2017, when HDB was refurbishing our toilets, the man finally opened his front door and we realised his house was filled with junk."

"The workers cleared two or three truckloads of items from his flat, but I think his house became filled with junk again." 

ALSO READ: Granny creates 'rubbish tree' in Yishun, also piles items in front of her flat for years

claudiatan@asiaone.com