Registering revised by laws

I have a similar query to Alas’ question, which appears not to have been answered previously. This is for a small to medium NSW strata property. Our Strata Manager states that they submitted our revised By-Laws for registration by the required deadline.

Recently, we went to get a copy of the By-Laws, only to be told that we were required to use the Government’s privatised brokerage companies to get them. We did this – at considerable cost – only to discover the words “Nil Transactions”. It took a long time to find a government agency contact to query this (obviously the brokers can’t do this). The outcome is that the By-Laws have never been registered. The SM says they submitted them; the agency says they haven’t. Both statements are followed by (it seems) shoulder shrugs.

My questions: Where does the Owners Corporation stand if the By-Laws (and common property definitions as well) have not been registered? Do we have to start the whole (huge) process again? If there is an issue that needs to be resolved, can we simply call on the clauses in the State legislation (eg Clause XX no parking on common property etc) to request a resident’s compliance? Do the Regulations’ pro-forma By-Laws become our de-facto By-Laws and can they be enforced?

Thanks for any suggestions.

Your strata manager shouldn’t be running off to lawyers (especially for bogus legal checks on standard documents) without the strata committee’s say-so.  Just say no … or, at the very least, Why?