Villa renovation in Dubai

A villa renovation can be as small as new bathrooms and flooring, or a full strip-out that replaces the wiring, plumbing and AC ducts and moves internal walls. Garden work, pools and extensions add a second set of rules on top of the interior ones. Tell Dubai Renovations which end you are at, even roughly, and the brief says so.

• Kitchens and bathrooms, from a refit to a full rebuild
• Flooring, gypsum ceilings, lighting and built-in joinery
• Rewiring, new plumbing and AC ductwork
• Layout changes, including removing or adding internal walls
• Pergolas, pool refurbishment and other garden work, subject to community approval

Emirates Hills, The Springs, The Meadows and The Lakes are all part of Emirates Living, which Emaar Community Management runs. Its home modification guidance says any alteration to the villa has to be approved by Emaar, and owners apply for a no objection certificate (NOC) by selecting Home Modifications in the community portal. The same guidance names building a garden pergola, redoing a swimming pool and extending a carport as work that needs approval.

Arabian Ranches, also managed by Emaar Community Management, follows the same route. Its guidance says interior painting, AC cleaning and repairs to damaged sanitary ware, fixtures and electrical accessories need no NOC from Emaar, although the contractor still needs an entry permit to work in the community. It also recommends telling your neighbours before work starts and keeping noisy work to the permitted hours.

Other master communities publish their own rules. The partner contractor reads the rules for your community before designing, and prepares the NOC application with you.

Exterior changes are where most villa plans meet a firm no. In both Emirates Living and Arabian Ranches, Emaar Community Management says changes to the exterior of the villa are not permitted, and lights cannot go on top of or on the community-facing side of villa boundary walls, citing clause 6.2.2 of the community rules. Asked about balconies and terraces, its Arabian Ranches guidance adds that external modifications that change the look of the villas are not permitted.

Boundary walls are split between the owner and the community. In Emirates Living, owners maintain their villa boundary walls, but the outward-facing surfaces form part of the common area and Emaar Community Management maintains them. Fencing on a boundary wall, approved and built to the design, stays the owner's responsibility to keep in good condition.

In a master-planned villa community, the community manager decides what an owner may change, and the route differs from one developer to the next. Emaar Community Management takes applications through Home Modifications on its community portal in Emirates Living, Arabian Ranches and Dubai Hills Estate. On Palm Jumeirah and in Jumeirah Village Circle, a contractor's Nakheel access permit for modification work needs a valid NOC from both Nakheel and Trakhees. The table sets out what each official page says, community by community.

Some communities have no row. Dubai Renovations could not read a published alteration rule for DAMAC Hills or Jumeirah Golf Estates, or for older neighbourhoods such as Jumeirah, Al Barsha and Mirdif, so the table says nothing about them rather than guess. Dubai Municipality's single window brings the building permit services of Dubai Municipality, Dubai Development Authority, Trakhees and Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority into one system, and the partner contractor confirms which authority covers your plot.

Community approval is not the only one. The Dubai Building Code applies to changes to existing buildings and sorts them into renovation, modification, reconstruction, change of use and addition, and its Part K covers detached villas and townhouses of no more than three storeys. Work that changes the structure or adds built-up area goes to the authority for your plot for a building permit.

Dubai Municipality publishes building permit procedures for residential villas, both private and investment. In areas under Dubai Development Authority, the contractor applies for a building modification permit once the building has its completion certificate, with an appointment letter signed by the owner, the consultant and the contractor. Dubai Development Authority lists an estimated delivery time of 2 working days for that permit.

Redoing a private villa pool brings the Dubai Building Code's pool rules into the design. An outdoor pool needs a fence at least 1,200 mm high, with no more than 50 mm between the ground and the bottom of the fence, openings too small for a 100 mm sphere to pass, and self-closing, self-latching gates that open away from the pool. A power safety cover built to ASTM F1346 removes the need for the fence.

Around the pool, the code asks for a continuous deck or walkway at least 1.2 m wide with a 2% slope to deck drains. The water in the shallow area has to be between 850 mm and 1,200 mm deep, and the pool floor can slope no more than 12% in the shallow area and 33% at the deep end.

Roof terraces and raised decks have their own rule. Any walking or standing surface more than 760 mm above the finished floor needs a guardrail at least 1,200 mm high, with gaps no wider than a 100 mm sphere.

Outdoor villa work also stops for the UAE midday break: no work under direct sunlight in open places between 12:30 pm and 3 pm from 15 June to 15 September.

Once tiles and ceilings come off an older villa, the real condition of the pipes, cables, ducts and waterproofing shows, and that is where villa budgets usually move. Ask the partner contractor to price the mechanical, electrical and plumbing work as a measured scope after inspecting it, and to state clearly anything left as an allowance.

Some warning signs are visible from outside. Emaar Community Management notes that subsiding interlock in a villa carport is most often a sign of an underground water leak. Its Emirates Living guidance also puts all cabling and switch equipment from the distribution board onwards, and the DEWA water meter cabinet serving the villa, on the owner. Photos of damp patches, cracked tiles, weak water pressure or AC units that struggle in August help the partner plan the inspection.

Staying at home is possible for a phased villa renovation, one wing or one floor at a time, with the rest sealed off. Full strip-outs are a different matter: no kitchen, dust in every room and the water off for days at a time. The partner contractor builds the community's permitted working hours into the programme, and tells you which weeks are the loud ones.

These details let a partner contractor arrive at the visit prepared:

• Community and sub-community, and the number of bedrooms
• Built-up area and floor plans, if you have them
• Photos of every room you want to change, plus the outside if that is in scope
• What must change, what would be nice, and your budget band
• When you hope to start, and whether you will live in the villa during the work