Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act, 2004 (Act No. 6 of 2004)Chapter 1 : Interpretation1. Definitions |
| (1) | In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise— |
in relation to the owner of a property, means a person appointed by the owner of the property—
| (a) | to receive rental or other payments in respect of the property on behalf of the owner; or |
| (b) | to make payments in respect of the property on behalf of the owner; |
means property that is used primarily for agricultural purposes but, without derogating from section 9, excludes any portion thereof that is used commercially for the hospitality of guests, and excludes the use of the property for the purpose of eco-tourism or for the trading in or hunting of game;
[Definition amended by section 1(a) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
"annually"
means once every financial year;
means a valuation appeal board established in terms of section 56;
means a person designated as an assistant municipal valuer in terms of section 35(1) or (2);
"category" —
| (a) | in relation to property, means a category of properties determined in terms of section 8; and |
| (b) | in relation to owners of properties, means a category of owners determined in terms of section 15(2); |
means a person designated as a data-collector in terms of section 36;
"date of valuation"
means the date determined by a municipality in terms of section 31(1);
means when any number of days are prescribed for the performance of any act, those days must be reckoned by excluding the first and including the last day, unless the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or any public holiday, in which case the number of days must be reckoned by excluding the first day and also any such Saturday, Sunday or public holiday;
[Definition inserted by section 1(b) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
"district management area"
[Definition deleted by section 1(c) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
"district municipality"
means a municipality that has municipal executive and legislative authority in an area that includes more than one municipality, and which is described in section 155(1) of the Constitution as a category C municipality;
| (a) | in relation to a valuation roll, means the date on which the valuation roll takes effect in terms of section 32(1); or |
| (b) | in relation to a supplementary valuation roll, means the date on which a supplementary valuation roll takes effect in terms of section 78(2)(b); |
in relation to a municipality’s rating power, means a restriction of that power as provided for in section 17;
in relation to the payment of a rate, means an exemption granted by a municipality in terms of section 15;
means the period starting from 1 July in a year to 30 June the next year;
means the Income Tax Act, 1962 (Act No. 58 of 1962);
in relation to a property, means a person who—
| (a) | acquired the property through— |
| (i) | the Provision of Land and Assistance Act, 1993 (Act No. 126 of 1993); or |
| (ii) | the Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 (Act No. 22 of 1994); |
| (b) | holds the property subject to the Communal Property Associations Act, 1996 (Act No. 28 of 1996); or |
| (c) | holds or acquires the property in terms of such other land tenure reform legislation as may pursuant to section 25(6) and (7) of the Constitution be enacted after this Act has taken effect; |
means a land tenure right as defined in section 1 of the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act, 1991 (Act No. 112 of 1991);
[Definition amended by section 1(d) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
in relation to a municipality—
| (a) | means that body of persons comprising— |
| (i) | the residents of the municipality; |
| (ii) | the ratepayers of the municipality; |
| (iii) | any civic organisations and non-governmental, private sector or labour organisations or bodies which are involved in local affairs within the municipality; and |
| (iv) | visitors and other people residing outside the municipality who, because of their presence in the municipality, make use of services or facilities provided by the municipality; and |
| (b) | includes, more specifically, the poor and other disadvantaged sections of such body of persons; |
"local municipality"
means a municipality that shares municipal executive and legislative authority in its area with a district municipality within whose area it falls, and which is described in section 155(1) of the Constitution as a category B municipality;
in relation to a property, means the value of the property determined in accordance with section 46;
"MEC for local government"
means the member of the Executive Council of a province who is responsible for local government in that province;
"metropolitan municipality"
means a municipality that has exclusive executive and legislative authority in its area, and which is described in section 155 (1) of the Constitution as a category A municipality;
means a property used for mining operations as defined in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, 2002 (Act No. 28 of 2002);
[Definition inserted by section 1(e) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
"Minister"
means the Cabinet member responsible for local government;
"multiple purposes"
in relation to a property, means the use of a property for more than one purpose, subject to section 9;
[Definition amended by section 1(f) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
"municipal council" or "council"
means a municipal council referred to in section 18 of the Municipal Structures Act;
"Municipal Finance Management Act"
means the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003 (Act No. 56 of 2003);
[Definition deleted by section 1(g) of Act No. 29 of 2014];
"municipal manager"
means a person appointed in terms of section 82 of the Municipal Structures Act;
"Municipal Structures Act"
means the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998);
means the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act No. 32 of 2000);
"municipal valuer" or "valuer of a municipality"
means a person designated as a municipal valuer in terms of section 33(1);
"newly rateable property"
means any rateable property on which property rates were not levied before the end of the financial year preceding the date on which this Act took effect, excluding—
| (a) | a property which was incorrectly omitted from a valuation roll and for that reason was not rated before that date; and |
| (b) | a property identified by the Minister by notice in the Gazette where the phasing-in of a rate is not justified; |
"occupier"
in relation to a property, means a person in actual occupation of a property, whether or not that person has a right to occupy the property;
in relation to places of public worship, means the primary person who officiates at services at that place worship;
[Definition inserted by section 1(h) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
| (a) | a portion of the property used for residential purposes; or |
| (b) | one residential property, if the residential property is not located on the same property as the place of public worship, |
registered in the name of a religious community or registered in the name of a trust established for the sole benefit of a religious community and used as a place of residence for the office bearer:
[Definition inserted by section 1(h) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
"organ of state"
means an organ of state as defined in section 239 of the Constitution;
| (a) | in relation to a property referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of "property", means a person in whose name ownership of the property is registered; |
| (b) | in relation to a right referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of "property", means a person in whose name the right is registered; |
| (bA) | in relation to a time sharing interest contemplated in the Property Time-sharing Control Act, 1983 (Act No. 75 of 1983), means the management association contemplated in the regulations made in terms of section 12 of the Property Time-sharing Control Act, 1983, and published in Government Notice R327 of 24 February 1984; |
| (bB) | in relation to a share in a share block company, the share block company as defined in the Share Blocks Control Act, 1980 (Act No. 59 of 1980); |
| (bC) | in relation to buildings, other immovable structures and infrastructure referred to in section 17(1)(f), means the holder of the mining right or the mining permit; |
| (c) | in relation to a land tenure right referred to in paragraph (c) of the definition of "property", means a person in whose name the right is registered or to whom it was granted in terms of legislation; or |
| (d) | in relation to public service infrastructure referred to in paragraph (d) of the definition of "property", means the organ of state which owns or controls that public service infrastructure as envisaged in the definition of "publicly controlled", |
provided that a person mentioned below may for the purposes of this Act be regarded by a municipality as the owner of a property in the following cases:
| (i) | A trustee, in the case of a property in a trust excluding state trust land; |
| (ii) | an executor or administrator, in the case of a property in a deceased estate; |
| (iii) | a trustee or liquidator, in the case of a property in an insolvent estate or in liquidation; |
| (iv) | a judicial manager, in the case of a property in the estate of a person under judicial management; |
| (v) | a curator, in the case of a property in the estate of a person under curatorship; |
| (vi) | a person in whose name a usufruct or other personal servitude is registered, in the case of a property that is subject to a usufruct or other personal servitude; |
| (vii) | a lessee, in the case of a property that is registered in the name of a municipality and is leased by it; |
| (viiA) | a lesee,in the case of property to which a land tenure right applies and which is leased by the holder of such right; or |
| (viii) | a buyer, in the case of a property that was sold by a municipality and of which possession was given to the buyer pending registration of ownership in the name of the buyer; |
[Definition paragraphs (bA) (bB) (bC) inserted by section 1(i) (i) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
[Definition paragraph (viiA) inserted by section 1(i) (ii) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
in relation to a property, means the limited purposes for which the property may be used in terms of —
| (a) | any restrictions imposed by — |
| (i) | a condition of title; |
| (ii) | a provision of a town planning or land use scheme; or |
| (iii) | any legislation applicable to any specific property or properties; or |
| (b) | any alleviation of any such restrictions; |
"person"
includes an organ of state;
means property used primarily for the purposes of congregation, excluding a structure that is primarily used for educational instruction in which secular or religious education is the primary instructive medium: Provided that the property is—
(a) registered in the name of the religious community;
(b) registered in the name of a trust established for the sole benefit of a religious community; or
(c) subject to a land tenure right;
[Definition inserted by section 1(j) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
"prescribe"
means prescribe by regulation in terms of section 83;
"property"
means—
| (a) | immovable property registered in the name of a person, including, in the case of a sectional title scheme, a sectional title unit registered in the name of a person; |
| (b) | a right registered against immovable property in the name of a person, excluding a mortgage bond registered against the property; |
| (c) | a land tenure right registered in the name of a person or granted to a person in terms of legislation; or |
| (d) | public service infrastructure; |
"property register"
means a register of properties referred to in section 23;
"protected area"
means an area that is or has to be listed in the register referred to in section 10 of the Protected Areas Act;
means the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act, 2003;
means owned by or otherwise under the control of an organ of state, including —
| (a) | a public entity listed in the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No. 1 of 1999); |
| (b) | a municipality; or |
| (c) | a municipal entity as defined in the Municipal Systems Act; |
"public service infrastructure"
means publicly controlled infrastructure of the following kinds:
| (a) | national, provincial or other public roads on which goods, services or labour move across a municipal boundary; |
| (b) | water or sewer pipes, ducts or other conduits, dams, water supply reservoirs, water treatment plants or water pumps forming part of a water or sewer scheme serving the public; |
| (c) | power stations, power substations or power lines forming part of an electricity scheme serving the public; |
| (d) | gas or liquid fuel plants or refineries or pipelines for gas or liquid fuels, forming part of a scheme for transporting such fuels; |
| (e) | railway lines forming part of a national railway system; |
| (f) | communication towers, masts, exchanges or lines forming part of a communications system serving the public; |
| (g) | runways, aprons and the air traffic control unit at national or provincial airports, including the vacant land known as the obstacle free zone surrounding these, which must be vacant for air navigation purposes; |
| (h) | breakwaters, sea walls, channels, basins, quay walls, jetties, roads, railway or infrastructure used for the provision of water, lights, power, sewerage or similar services of ports, or navigational aids comprising lighthouses, radio navigational aids, buoys, beacons or any other device or system used to assist the safe and efficient navigation of vessels; |
| (i) | any other publicly controlled infrastructure as may be prescribed; or |
| (j) | rights of way, easements or servitudes in connection with infrastructure mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (i); |
[Definition paragraph (g) amended by section 24(k) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
in relation to the use of a property, means property owned and used by an organ of state as—
(a) hospitals or clinics;
(b) schools, pre-schools, early childhood development centres or further education and training colleges;
(c) national and provincial libraries and archives;
(d) police stations;
(e) correctional facilities; or
(f) courts of law,
but excludes property contemplated in the definition of ‘public service infrastructure’;
[Definition inserted by section 1(l) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
means a municipal rate on property envisaged in section 229(1)(a) of the Constitution;
"rateable property"
means property on which a municipality may in terms of section 2 levy a rate, excluding property fully excluded from the levying of rates in terms of section 17;
in relation to section 19, means the relationship between the cent amount in the Rand applicable to residential properties and different categories of non-residential properties: Provided that the two relevant cent amounts in the Rand are inclusive of any relief measures that amount to rebates of a general application to all properties within a property category;
[Definition inserted by section 1(m) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
in relation to a rate payable on a property, means a discount granted in terms of section 15 on the amount of the rate payable on the property;
in relation to a rate payable on a property, means the lowering in terms of section 15 of the amount for which the property was valued and the rating of the property at that lower amount;
| (a) | means to record in a register in terms of— |
| (i) | the Deeds Registries Act, 1937 (Act No. 47 of 1937); or |
| (ii) | the Mining Titles Registration Act, 1967 (Act No. 16 of 1967); and |
| (b) | includes any other formal act in terms of any other legislation to record— |
| (i) | a right to use land for or in connection with mining purposes; or |
| (ii) | a land tenure right; |
"residential property"
means a property included in a valuation roll in terms of section 48(2)(b) in respect of which the primary use or permitted use is for residential purposes without derogating from section 9;
[Definition amended by section 1(n) of Act No. 29 of 2014]
"Sectional Titles Act"
means the Sectional Titles Act, 1986 (Act No. 95 of 1986);
"sectional title scheme"
means a scheme defined in section 1 of the Sectional Titles Act;
"sectional title unit"
means a unit defined in section 1 of the Sectional Titles Act;
"specified public benefit activity"
means an activity listed in item 1 (welfare and humanitarian), item 2 (health care) and item 4 (education and development) of Part 1 of the Ninth Schedule to the Income Tax Act;
"state trust land"
means land owned by the state—
| (a) | in trust for persons communally inhabiting the land in terms of a traditional system of land tenure; |
| (b) | over which land tenure rights were registered or granted; or |
| (c) | which is earmarked for disposal in terms of the Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994 (Act No. 22 of 1994); |
"this Act"
includes regulations made in terms of section 83.
| (2) | In this Act, a word or expression derived from a word or expression defined in subsection (1) has a corresponding meaning unless the context indicates that another meaning is intended. |