Pets in duplex

I’m the owner of an upstairs duplex unit and plan to buy a medium sized dog. Both myself and the owners of the downstairs unit form the owners corporation and have equal voting rights. The strata scheme for the duplex was registered prior to 1 July 1997 and the standard by laws of schedule 1 are in use.

I notified the owners of the downstairs lot about the dog and was asked to pass a by-law for the dog prior to getting the dog. There are currently no by-laws in place for keeping pets and my assumption is that existing model by-laws apply:

SCHEDULE 2 – Model by-laws for residential strata schemes

(Clause 27)

…

17 Keeping of animals

Note: Select option A, B or C. If no option is selected, option A will apply.

Option A

(1) Subject to section 49 (4) of the Act, an owner or occupier of a lot must not, without the prior written approval of the owners corporation, keep any animal (except fish kept in a secure aquarium on the lot) on the lot or the common property.

(2) The owners corporation must not unreasonably withhold its approval of the keeping of an animal on a lot or the common property.

I have a few questions regarding the above:

1. My understanding is that only written approval is required by the owners corporation and a new by-law is not required (since keeping animals is covered in the model by-laws already) – is that correct?

2. Since both parties have equal voting rights, the other owner actually can’t legally prevent me from having a dog – is that correct?

Thanks