Your landlord is not just someone who collects rent every month, he is also responsible for ensuring comfort and enjoyment during your time in your apartment/house. When noisy neighbors bug you during your night’s rest, then it is something that you should inform your landlord of.
Of course, you should be polite enough to ask them to quiet down yourself. But if all your requests prove futile, then it would only be appropriate to let your landlord help you with the present situation.
It is a good idea that you get a copy of the standard rental/lease agreement that you signed when you moved in. Most contracts would mention that tenants have the right for quiet enjoyment. This means that peace and quiet should always be top priority to ensure a tenant’s comfortable stay. If this part of the agreement is jeopardized it is your landlord’s job to ensure that your issue be resolved as soon as possible.
Hearing footsteps at night is a real hassle for anyone. Some condominiums or apartments require wall-to-wall carpeting. By the word “require”, it means that such ordinance is written in your rental/lease agreement. This would help a lot in minimizing the noise. Appropriate carpeting can reduce the noise produced by walking. If wall-to-wall carpeting proved to be out of a tenant’s budget, then large area rugs can also be an option.
Every room is required to have carpets and rugs, except of course in the kitchen area and in the bathroom. Carpets in the hallway are required to cover the whole floor area for at least 80%.
Raising your issue in your residence’s board meeting could also be of help. Getting more people involved about your concern would be best for you. Let them know about the effort you have put into the situation and demand that the board need to do something to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
When choosing a condominium or an apartment, you should always look into their lease agreement and check if your comfort would be best served. If you want the problem of noisy neighbors to never be an issue, then you can opt to rent in a building with concrete structures.