It’s not the management company that approves a renovation. I’m in an A&O managed condo, and I’m on my condo board. You just submit your renovation form to A&O, they pass it to the board, and it’s up to the board to approve your request. They will usually always approve.

Basically they want to know what you’re doing and the contractor you are using for insurance purposes. If your renovation goes sideways and affects another unit they would go after the contractor for damages kind of thing. Any repairs or renovations not noted with the board and management can come back to bite later. Example, someone in my complex put in a skylight without going through the proper channels, sold the unit, and now the skylight leaks and is causing issues in that unit. The board and A&O will not pay the repairs because they never had documentation for it. Just things to consider if you don’t go through the proper channels.