…this is pretty straight forward… unfortunately for both sides, neither argument holds for strata. It’s the will of the majority.
But as you well know, it’s not a “straightforward” matter. The non-resident owner seems to have geed enough people up for this not to be a simple matter of voting one way or the other.
Some people in strata schemes won’t get involved because they don’t want to take sides. Often, people who are not directly affected by an issue will either vote with the people they like and support or are intimidated by, regardless of the legal rights and wrongs.
Or they will not vote at all to avoid upsetting either side.
That is the reality of democracy in strata and sometimes you have to rub people’s noses in it just to get a logical response.