
Quoting
SChinFChin
Unfortunately, I doubt it's something that could be cured. I'm telling you this because as a landlord, I own the 2 family house I live in, and there was a tenant downstairs who once complained to us, more than once, that our footsteps upstairs bothered him and his wife.
I owned this place for over 16 years now, but only a tenant who was there for only 3 years had this problem. However, I have a basement unit underneath this tenant unit which I use as an office and rec area, and I can tell that when my tenant walks upstairs, it's noisier than most other houses or buildings that I lived in, and I have since concluded the problem has to do with the very construction of the house. Yes, the light fixtures, the covers on them, shake as yours when they walk, and I since changed them to other fixtures where the covers are screwed on tight.
As to my wife and I being noisy, we don't wear shoes walking around the house, we go barefoot, if I even get to walk around the house. My wife often complained that when I came home from work, I promptly go over to the sofa, lay down to watch TV all night, read the papers, and often fall asleep right there.
My wife is not into cooking much, though she's not a laying down on the sofa type, she makes a quick meal, then sits down in front of the computer afterwards. As you can see, when the guy downstairs asked us to wear slippers, and walk around softer, there is not much more I can do as I don't walk around the house at all, and when I do, it's on my barefeet. Oh, I do run to the bathroom once or twice, so I promsed the guy downstairs I would tip-toe, the one or two times I get up to walk around.
This couple moved, over ten years now, and since then, we've had two small daughters who constantly run around, sometimes jump, with another tenant there for over 8 years, and not once had this guy mentioned anything about noise. Other than that, they were a very nice couple, who moved back to their native Ireland, we still exchange Xmas cards after all these years, so there were no hard feelings.
When I was a young boy, a couple who was my "Godparents" lived in the 4th floor of a walkup, and as a child, I asked why not the first floor. He explained to me that footsteps from people walking upstairs always bothered him, and he had always chosen to live in the "top" floor, and wouldn't have it any other way.
My suggestion is move elsewhere when you can, and live on the "top" floor, or somewhere where no one else lives upstairs. But, I beleive it has more to do with the construction of the house, than anything. Hopefully, your lease is only one year, if you can't get out of it sooner.
Finally, having people downstairs where noise bothers them so much is a big inconvenience for us too. You think it's normal to tip-toe to a bathroom everytime you have to go??
You can ask the Landlord, but you'll get a hard time, so it's easier if you just wait till the lease ends.