Town Square apartments
Town Square apartment renovation: what the apartments manual allows
Nshama keeps a separate manual for its apartments, and it is stricter than the townhouse one. New tiles are laid over the old ones, interior walls stay put, and terrace shade stays low and back from the railing. We sort each job into its tier before a contractor prices it.
The apartments manual
Town Square apartment renovation: which tier is the job?
A Town Square apartment renovation runs on two things Nshama publishes: an Apartments Manual of 59 pages, last revised on 21 April 2026, and a fee ladder that prices every change by tier. Its developer is Nshmi Development, and an owner files each request in the Nshama connect app or on the community website. The flats run from studios to three bedrooms, so the same short list of rules decides very different jobs.
What can you change in a Town Square apartment?
Most of the finishes, within three limits the townhouses do not share. The existing floor tiles stay where they are; new tiles can only be laid on top of them, and never on the balconies. Knocking through interior walls, swapping a bathtub for a shower and replacing the wet-area floor tiles are all reserved for townhouses. On the terrace, a gazebo or umbrella is capped at 2.4 m in height, is never drilled into the floor and stands at least 2 m inside the railing. The rest is priced by tier, from AED 160 (home improvement) through AED 1,000 (minor) to AED 2,000 (major), and a major alteration also carries a deposit of AED 5,000.
Which tier does each apartment job fall into?
Nshama publishes the full scope of every tier, and most apartment jobs land in the two cheaper ones. The table sorts the common ones. Review times are Nshama's published figures for minor and major alterations; it gives none for the AED 160 tier.
| Apartment job | Tier | Fee | Review time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repainting inside, or wallpaper | Home improvement | AED 160 | None published |
| SPC flooring laid over the existing tiles | Home improvement | AED 160 | None published |
| Shower glass partition | Home improvement | AED 160 | None published |
| Interior wall cladding or replacement lighting | Home improvement | AED 160 | None published |
| Readymade kitchen island | Home improvement | AED 160 | None published |
| New kitchen cabinets, wardrobes or doors | Minor alteration | AED 1,000 | 2 working days |
| Tiles glued over the existing tiles, balconies excepted | Minor alteration | AED 1,000 | 2 working days |
| Standalone gazebo on the terrace | Minor alteration | AED 1,000 | 2 working days |
| Kitchen counters replaced, or a customised island | Major alteration | AED 2,000, with AED 5,000 held | 5 working days |
| False ceiling | Major alteration | AED 2,000, with AED 5,000 held | 5 working days |
| Removing floor tiles, interior walls or a bathtub; new wet-area tiles | Townhouses only | Not open to apartments | Not applicable |
| Balcony enclosure | Prohibited | Not permitted | Not applicable |
Two rows repay a second look. Nshama treats a readymade kitchen island as a home improvement, but a customised one as a major alteration with a deposit, so the brief should say which the kitchen gets. And the two overlay rows price one idea two ways: tiles glued on top cost AED 1,000 to approve, SPC laid on top AED 160.
Terraces and balconies in Town Square apartments
On the terrace the manual is at its most specific. A gazebo or umbrella has three limits: no fixings drilled into the terrace floor, no more than 2.4 m of height, and a 2 m gap to the railing, which on a narrow terrace can leave no room for a gazebo at all. The tiles-over-tiles allowance ends at the balcony door. Enclosing a balcony is on Nshama's prohibited list, together with external wall cladding and any satellite dish outside the rooftop.
What shows from outside follows the building. The manual requires external paint to match the building's existing colour palette, and the scheme itself is fixed, so a terrace wall is repainted in the colour it already has.
Contractor access and site rules
Nshama runs access as a pass for each vehicle and a permit on display. Passes cost AED 160 for one month, AED 525 for three and AED 1,050 for a year, and every contractor vehicle shows its work permit. Crews that turn up without proper hoardings or protective gear are sent away. Nobody from the crew sleeps on site: Nshama's response to an overnight stay is a call to the local authorities plus a community fine. Any firm whose crew comes in without a permit is barred.
Nshama's working day, business days only, opens at 9 AM and closes at 5 PM, and noisy work may use all of it. That gives a Town Square crew eight hours of drilling and cutting a day, two more than an Emaar tower allows. The hours by rulebook page sets the two side by side.
Nshama first or the authority first: the manual says both
Two clauses of the same manual point in opposite directions. Section 9.6(a) lists the authorities' consents ahead of the community's; section 9.8 has the applicant wait for Community Management to approve the proposal and only then collect the rest. For most apartment work the clash never bites: Dubai Municipality files repainting, new floors laid over the old, doors and ceilings under simple maintenance, which needs an accredited contractor and nothing more from the Municipality. When a job does need an authority permit, we get Nshama's preferred order in writing before anything is filed.
What does a Town Square apartment renovation cost?
None of the companies on our price guide publishes a band for Town Square on its own, so the unit-size bands apply. First Unicorn Interiors puts a studio at AED 25,000 to 50,000 and three bedrooms at AED 100,000 to 200,000; Revive Hub Renovations publishes wider ranges for the same two sizes, from AED 18,000 and from AED 90,000. ASM Interiors sets the lowest published floor, charging AED 15,000 to 40,000 at its basic level to repaint, refloor and fix up a one or two-bedroom flat.
Nshama's charges sit outside those bands: the tier fee, the major-alteration deposit and the crew's passes. Every band is listed with its publisher in the price guide, and Dubai apartment rules compare Nshama with Emaar, Dubai Holding and DIFC.
Related
Questions
Town Square apartment questions
- Can I change the bathroom in a Town Square apartment?
- Within the manual's limits. The bathroom floor tiles stay, and a bath stays a bath, because Nshama reserves wet-area retiling and bath-to-shower conversions for its townhouses. A glass shower screen costs AED 160 to approve as a home improvement. Swapping taps and sanitaryware like for like is upkeep of the sanitary installations, which Dubai Municipality leaves unpermitted as long as a pre-qualified contractor does it.
- Can I take out a wall to open up the kitchen?
- Not in an apartment. Opening up an interior wall is a major alteration on Nshama's list, and only townhouse owners may apply for it. The kitchen can still change inside its walls: replacement cabinets cost AED 1,000 to approve, while new counters or a made-to-measure island move the job into the major tier at AED 2,000, deposit on top.
- Who gets the AED 5,000 deposit back, and when?
- Nshama publishes the deposit on major alterations without its refund terms. Get those terms from Nshama in writing with the application, photograph the finished work against the approved scope, and settle in the contract which party puts the money up and which party is repaid.
- What does unapproved work cost in Town Square?
- Nshama's manual prices an unapproved major alteration at AED 50,000, and bars from the community any contracting firm whose crew gets in without a permit. Approving the same job would have cost AED 2,000, with the deposit held on top.
- Do I need a Dubai Municipality permit as well?
- Usually not for apartment finishes. The Municipality's maintenance circular of 2022 lists repainting, floors, doors, false ceilings and servicing of the plumbing, wiring and AC as simple maintenance, needing only an accredited contractor, and its décor circular exempts units up to 100 m² from building permits. Nshama's approval is required either way.
- Where can I speak to Nshama in person?
- Customer care is on the podium level of Zahra Breeze Building 3A in Town Square. The applications themselves are filed online, in the connect app or on the community site.
Who you are dealing with
- OperatorWebsiteOS LLC
- Licence2646567.01
- Cost to homeownerNone
- Figures datedSeptember 2026
Tell us about your Town Square apartment
Building, unit size and what you want changed. We sort the job into Nshama's tiers and come back with contractors who quote against the published bands, and we show you where each quote sits against them.