Municipal property rates are a Cent amount in the Rand levied on the market value of immovable property (that is, land and buildings).
Municipalities have a long history of rating property in terms of the old Provincial Ordinances (of the former Cape, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal provinces), especially in the formerly white urban areas. In addition, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa gives municipalities the power to value and rate property in their area of jurisdiction. The Municipal Property Rates Act replaces the old system of property valuation and rating based on the old Provincial Ordinances. It does not give municipalities the original power to rate property; it merely seeks to regulate an original power vested in municipalities by the Constitution.
