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I don’t know what State or Territory you’re in, but as you’re talking about an evaporative cooler (roof mounted?) I assume that your Plan is not on the eastern or western seaboards.
Some details on location would be helpful, but in the meantime, your Plan’s Executive Committee cannot “make up rules” as that’s a matter for all Owners to agree upon at a General Meeting, and as your your past experience with consent to keep an animal pet had demonstrated your Strata Manager’s apparent inability to provide timely responses, it was probably unwise of you to assume that a similarly slow response to your request to install the evaporative cooler could be taken as a consent.
It’s generally accepted that an Owners Corporation’s (O/C) consent to an Owner’s request to place something on the Common Property ( in your case the roof) should be unreasonably withheld, but I’m not sure that telling the O/C to “take a hike” is a smart move.
Again, not knowing your Plan’s location makes specific advice difficult, but what about a letter to your Strata Manager pointing out that the Executive Committee’s delayed response inferred to you that there were no issues with your proposal, and that you’d appreciate its consent to your existing installation, or failing that its reasons for wanting the unit relocated to the rear of the building’s roof.
We both probably know why the rear location is desirable as the unit would be out of sight, but it’s worth you asking the question and depending upon the answer, perhaps asking the O/C to assist in the relocation costs on the basis of the time that it originally took to respond to your request.