The strata manger has now informed the committee that they are considering this letter as a formal retrospective approval application.
Does the SM actually have the authority to issue such a letter? And why would they do this without committee approval. As was noted earlier the SM works for the OC and must follow the law. Since the SM obviously needs ‘guidance‘ on how to do their well paid job it’s time they were instructed in writing to get this matter resolved. I.e. issue a notice to comply and get the AC removed.
Since the SM has allowed the matter to get to this stage they shouldn’t be paid anything additional to their standard fee. Once resolved the SM should be removed, like the errant AC.
If the SM is working for a larger organisation go to the management and insist on someone competent.