There is almost NO WAY your ceiling would actually deflect an amount measureable by touch when someone above is simply walking on it. If that were truly the case, the termite damage would be so severe and noticable that it would have been looked into already. If it is a creaking noise as they walk that means the contractors put the subfloor sheathing too close together and they are rubbing against each other at the seams under load. If it is the pounding of their footsteps echoing it just means he has cheap as padding under the carpet and no insulation between your ceiling and their floor.
If it very seriously is actually moving when they walk (I very seriously doubt this) then you can call up the local code enforcement office to see if that is something of concern to the point where they would send a code officer out to inspect it for safety…if it is not safe, they will send a ticket of non-compliance to the building owner forcing them to make repairs.
Tell the landy lord you want to move out because you can’t sleep/function properly. Invite him over. Or else buy a bunch of cheapo home subs off ebay, and crank them while you’re away?
We have also tried this^^ We had maintenance come with the two worthless office attendants (btw the one office woman is married to the head maintenance bozo) and listen to the noise that occurs constantly just from normal walking upstairs and EVERYONE agreed that it was unacceptable and disruptive. Their solution was to rip down a 15x6 ft strip of our bedroom ceiling and reinforce the joists because that was our biggest concern. Obviously it made no difference because there was still so much sq footage untouched.
focusinprogress: Upon further inspection after reading your post, The ceiling movement can actually be felt as the walk above us, and upon careful looking and pushing up on the ceiling sheetrock, the sheetrock is actually the majority of the movement. They must have used adhesive instead of drywall screws when they built this place and frankly what the F*** is going to prevent the adhesive from further failure and falling onto our heads?!
As for an update to the moving out option, they gave us the typical " you have to find a subletter in order to break the lease."
They probably used adhesive and nails… not many nails perhaps. Drywall on a ceiling won’t hold itself in place while the adhesive dries… but a couple of nails would if the contractor was cheap as shit.
Tell them to give you a different room then if you can’t get out of it.
open the phonebook, and look for a contractor advertising free consultation/estimate services…have them come give an educated opinion with an estimate in writing. Present that to the landlord and ask him if he would like you to have it done and subtract the cost from your rent or if he is willing to pay to have it done…
Do you have a copy of your lease agreement? Is there any anything in there about occupation and noise? Typically a lease agreement will have no more than 2 people can occupy a two bedroom apartment and such so you maybe can use that in your favor of getting a new apartment in the complex or getting out of it all together if its unlivable. Also, if the ceiling is actually moving, the contractor idea isn’t bad. At least they can give you a report and if it deems dangerous and a possible thread, you can use it to go after the landlord and housing authority. I typically say try to make friends with your landlord and keep a good relationship but if they don’t budge and do anything about bad living conditions, then you can try to push to them to act.
This is why the wife and I rented a house before we bought ours. Yeah, it was in the City of Tonawanda not Williamsville to get it in our rental price range, and we had to deal with mowing and clearing the driveway, but having a place all to yourself is so worth it.
Totally agree renting a house is the way to go. I remember renting a house with my buddy and his gf, the only noise complaint I had was him fucking his gf in the next room lol!