As a tenant in the same residence for nearly 4 years, informing our real estate of terribly disturbing chronic noise issues exacerbated by wooden floorboards above us, has led to a grand total of 'nothing' being done. 

In short:

Can we by-pass the real estate and pursue action directly with strata or government bodies, or can only the landlord take action to at least have the 'legality' of the floor covering reviewed or possibly changes? It's been over 3 years since we had a good nights sleep and it is literally killing us.  My health has deteriorated and I had to give up work for the first time in 20 years to address the health issues from stress and sleep deprivation.

The background:

In addition to dealing with many instances of strata law being broken, we have had 2 sets of neighbours in the unit above us daily impact and often devastate our sleep and quality of life from noise transmitting through, and being amplified by wooden floor boards, replete with heavy footfalls, creaking timber and loose pipes (presumably between the floor boards and concrete) banging at intervals 24/7 every day of the year.

The latest tenants perform some type of shift work and perform 'normal' activities such as cleaning, moving furniture, running washing machines etc leading to sudden banging and clattering on the wooden floor that leaves us jumping awake from sleep (assuming we've been able to fall asleep in the first place). 

It is loudest between the hours of 11.30pm-3.30am weekdays and 11.30pm-4.30am Saturday, although it occurs throughout the day.

Because the floorboards amplify every sound there is no peace and I am sitting here at 3.30am while they stomp and bang upstairs desperately looking for a course of action.  

Apologies for the long post – it is my first here – and I'm upset at not being able to rest my head right now to post more succinctly and eloquently in the light of day.  Thanks for any and all feedback.