Hi Confused – we went through this at our Plan a couple of years ago, and as we're self-managed I (as Secretary) had to read and interpret the rule books that your Strata Manager swallowed!
I concluded that as ceiling fans are fixed to Common Property (CP) in a manner such that the CP would be damaged if fans were removed (by accident or otherwise), and that the readily obtainable combination fan/light models are often installed by the Owners themselves using the existing light wiring, that the Owners Corporation (O/C) needed to know about such installations.
The result was that our Executive Committee (and later the O/C) resolved that Owners must seek the written consent of the O/C prior to any installation, that the only conditions on the O/C's consent would be that all works must be undertaken by a Licensed Electrician, and that once installed, ceiling fans would be classified as “Lot Owners Fixtures” and be added to our Plan's Register of Common Property Changes.
That classification meant that any damage to the CP or the ceiling fan that arose due to a “defined event” like the fan suddenly coming away from the ceiling (which actually occurred) is covered by the Plan's Building Insurance, and that in all other circumstances all repairs and maintenance to the fan and the involved CP is the responsibility of the present and subsequent Owner/s of the Lot.
The process of arriving at this solution was time consuming given the conflicts in those rule books, and it could have been more restrictive / prescriptive, but I believe it's been proven simple and effective in its implementation since 2009 when the O/C rubber-stamped the procedure by way of Resolution at an AGM; no Special By-Laws necessary or required!!
Alternatives could indeed be to go down the regulatory route preferred by your Strata Manager, or for the O/C to have no involvement at all and to then argue with a Lot Owner about who pays for what (including personal property / personal injury) if the sky does fall in; I guess that self-management enabled us to take the middle-ground.