Terms of Service

1. This Agreement

These Terms are an agreement between you and Reliable Intelligence Inc., a Delaware corporation doing business as Castellan ("Castellan," "we," "us," or "our"). "You" means the person using our website or, where we are engaged for a property, the property owner and any person signing on the owner's behalf.

When we are engaged for a specific property, you will sign two documents: an Authorization permitting us to act for you before the county, and a Services Agreement setting out the scope of that engagement and our fee. Those signed documents are the entire agreement concerning our services for the property. Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle information.

2. What We Do

Each year, we review available assessment data for enrolled properties. Whether to pursue an appeal for a property in a given year is Castellan's decision, based on factors we weigh in our sole discretion — including estimated savings, the strength of available evidence, and the costs of pursuing the appeal. A property being assessed above its market value does not by itself mean an appeal will be filed. When we do pursue an appeal, we prepare and file it before the applicable deadline, correspond and negotiate with the assessing authority, and represent it through an administrative hearing where one occurs.

In any year we do not file an appeal for your property, you owe us nothing. Your owner portal shows your property's status at any time.

Unless your Services Agreement says otherwise, our services do not include appeals to a court following an administrative decision, representation on matters other than the assessed value of the property identified, preparation of tax returns, or payment of your property taxes.

3. What We Are Not

• We are not a law office, and engaging us does not create an attorney-client relationship. We do not provide legal advice. If a matter requires counsel, we will say so, and you may engage counsel separately.
• We do not provide tax, accounting, appraisal, or investment advice. Nothing we provide is a certified appraisal, and our valuation analysis is not an appraisal under the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice unless expressly identified as one and performed by a licensed appraiser.
• We are not your county, and we do not control its deadlines, procedures, decisions, records, or the taxes it bills.

4. Eligibility and Authority

To engage us you must be at least 18 years old and must either own the property or be authorized to act for the owner. If you sign on behalf of an entity, a trust, or a co-owner, you represent that you have authority to bind that party. You agree to tell us if that authority changes or ends.

5. How an Engagement Starts

Submitting a property address or contact information, or receiving our analysis, does not create an engagement and does not obligate either of us. The Services Agreement starts when you sign it, and each Authorization is effective according to its terms.

Before you sign, we may decline a proposed engagement. After you sign, we monitor the property as stated in the Services Agreement but remain free, in our sole discretion, not to file in a particular year. We may also end or withdraw as stated in that agreement.

6. Fees

We work on contingency. There is nothing to pay up front, and if an appeal does not produce a reduction, you owe us no fee. Our fee is a percentage of the tax savings the appeal produces.

The exact percentage, the definition of savings, how the fee is calculated, and when it becomes payable are set out in the Services Agreement you sign for the property. That document governs. Percentages quoted on our website or in marketing material are illustrative and do not replace it. Fees may differ by state, by property type, and by engagement.

We advance any county application or filing fee. If an appeal produces savings, your invoice includes reimbursement of that advanced fee in addition to the contingency fee. If the appeal produces no savings, we bear the advanced fee and you owe nothing. You remain responsible for paying your property taxes when due.

7. Your Obligations

• Give us accurate information. Our analysis and the appeal we file depend on what you tell us. Inaccurate or incomplete information can weaken or invalidate an appeal.
• Cooperate and respond in time. Counties impose deadlines on evidence and hearings. If we ask for a document, a photograph, or a decision and you do not respond in time, the appeal may be limited, withdrawn, or lost.
• Forward what the county sends you. Assessment notices and county correspondence often go to the owner of record rather than to us. Send us anything you receive about the property's value promptly. See the Notice requirement below.
• Honor exclusive representation for an open case. For any tax year in which Castellan has opened a case, do not engage another representative or separately pursue the same relief without first terminating your Services Agreement in writing.
• Pay your taxes when due. An appeal does not suspend your obligation to pay.

The Notice of Assessed Value

8. No Guarantee, and the Risk of an Increase

We do not guarantee any outcome. No one honestly can. An appeal's result depends on the evidence, the jurisdiction's rules, and the judgment of the assessor or appeals board. We take on appeals we believe the county's own data supports, which is why we analyze before asking you to sign, but a supported appeal can still fail.

Any savings figure, range, percentage, or estimate we provide — on our website, in an analysis, or in conversation — is an estimate based on public assessment data and is not a promise, a guarantee, or a representation that any particular result will be achieved.

9. Where We Provide Services

We provide appeal representation only in the states and counties where we operate and where we are permitted to represent property owners. Our current service areas are the ones listed on our website, which we update as we expand. We may add or stop serving a jurisdiction at any time.

Some states regulate who may represent a taxpayer in an assessment appeal. We will not represent you in a jurisdiction where we are not authorized to do so. If we cannot act for you, we will tell you rather than file.

10. Artificial Intelligence and Automated Tools

We may use software, including artificial intelligence and automated tools, to read assessment records, identify potentially comparable properties, estimate whether a property appears over-assessed, prepare draft analyses or communications, summarize calls, and support our personnel in providing the services.

These tools assist our personnel and do not change the scope of the services or the allocation of responsibility in your signed Services Agreement. AI-assisted output may be incomplete or inaccurate and is not, by itself, legal, tax, accounting, or appraisal advice. You agree to review owner-supplied facts and documents presented for your signature and to notify us promptly of inaccuracies.

Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle personal information, including information processed for us by technology providers. Automated calls and messages are also subject to Section 12.

11. Electronic Signatures and Records

You agree that we may conduct this relationship electronically, and that your electronic signature has the same effect as a handwritten one under the federal E-SIGN Act and applicable state law. When you sign electronically, we retain a record that includes your name as typed or drawn, the date and time, and the IP address used.

You agree to receive agreements, notices, disclosures, and other records electronically, by email or through our website. To read and keep them you need a device with internet access, a current browser, an email account, and the ability to view and save PDF files. You may request a paper copy of anything you signed at any time at no charge by emailing us, and you may withdraw consent to sign electronically before signing.

12. Consent to Contact You

By providing your phone number or email address, you agree that we may contact you at that number or address about a possible appeal, an appeal in progress, and your account — by email, text message, and telephone call, including with automated technology and with prerecorded or artificial voice messages where permitted by law. Some calls may be placed or handled by an automated voice agent using artificial intelligence; where that is the case we will identify ourselves and you may ask to speak with a person.

Consent to automated calls or texts is not a condition of receiving the services. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to any text message to opt out and HELP for help. You may opt out of any communication channel by writing to info@castellan.so.

Opting out may limit our ability to provide timely updates or request information needed for a pending appeal. Calls may be recorded or transcribed as described in our Privacy Policy, and where a state requires it we will tell you at the start of the call. See also our messaging program terms.

13. Payment Authorization

Your Services Agreement states when a fee is due and how it may be paid. If you separately authorize us to keep or charge a payment method, that authorization governs the charge. Merely submitting information through our website does not authorize a charge.

Your payment credentials are held by our payment processor, not by us. All payments are in U.S. dollars. You agree to provide and maintain current, complete, and accurate payment and contact information, and you remain responsible for the fee if a charge fails.

If an undisputed amount due is not received by its due date, a late fee of 1.0% of the outstanding balance per month, or the maximum permitted by law, whichever is less, will be added each month until the balance and accrued late fees are paid. Where your Services Agreement states a different rate, that rate controls.

If you dispute a charge, contact us first — we would rather resolve it directly than through your card issuer.

14. Ending an Engagement

Either of us may end an engagement in writing as stated in the Services Agreement. Cancellation never affects a fee already earned, including where you or another agent completes a reduction, settlement, exemption, or refund after Castellan has materially performed the work.

Ending an engagement does not affect obligations that have already accrued, and it does not withdraw a filed appeal unless Castellan or you withdraw it with the county. The signed Services Agreement controls any provisions that survive cancellation.

15. Intellectual Property

Our website, our analysis methods, our software, and the materials we produce are owned by us and protected by intellectual property law. You may use the analysis we prepare for your property for your own purposes in connection with your appeal. You may not resell it, republish it as your own, or use our materials to provide competing services.

Data we obtain from public records is not ours, and nothing here restricts your use of public records. You keep ownership of documents and information you provide. As stated in your Services Agreement, you grant Castellan a non-exclusive, perpetual license to use them to provide, maintain, protect, improve, and develop our services and products; maintain records; comply with law; and create and use aggregated or de-identified data for lawful business purposes. That license survives as stated in the Services Agreement.

16. Website Use

You may use our website for its intended purpose. You agree not to access it by automated means in a way that burdens it, attempt to breach its security, misrepresent who you are, submit a property address you have no legitimate interest in, or use it to violate the law. We may suspend access for any of these.

Our website may link to or embed third-party services, such as scheduling and payment providers. Those services have their own terms and privacy practices, and we are not responsible for them.

17. Disclaimers

Our website and owner portal are provided "as is" and "as available." To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim warranties relating to the website and portal, express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. The warranties and disclaimers applicable to our property tax services are governed by your signed Services Agreement.

We do not warrant that our website will be uninterrupted or error-free, that public records we rely on are accurate or current, or that any estimate will prove correct. Assessment data comes from counties and third-party providers and may contain errors we cannot detect.

Some states do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you.

18. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, neither party will be liable to the other for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages arising from these Terms, the Services Agreement, or the services, even if advised that such damages are possible.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Castellan's aggregate liability arising from an engagement will not exceed the fees you actually paid under the Services Agreement during the 12 months before the event giving rise to the claim.

Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including liability for our own fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence. Some states do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

19. Indemnification

This section applies only to misuse of our website or owner portal; it does not create an indemnity relating to the property tax services governed by your signed Services Agreement. You agree to indemnify and hold Castellan harmless from a third-party claim, including reasonable attorneys' fees, to the extent caused by:

• your unauthorized or unlawful use of the website or portal;
• your material breach of the website-use rules in these Terms; or
• content you upload to the website infringing a third party's intellectual property rights.

This does not apply to the extent a claim arises from our own fraud, willful misconduct, or gross negligence. We will notify you promptly of a covered claim and may control its defense at our own cost.

20. Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

20.1 Talk to us first

If you have a problem, email us at info@castellan.so and describe it. Most disputes can be resolved this way. Before starting arbitration or a lawsuit, you agree to give us written notice of the dispute and 30 days to try to resolve it, and we agree to do the same for you.

20.2 Agreement to arbitrate

If we cannot resolve a dispute informally, either party may elect final and binding individual arbitration of a dispute arising from the Services Agreement, administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules where they apply and otherwise its Commercial Arbitration Rules, seated in San Francisco, California. The Federal Arbitration Act governs this clause. The arbitrator decides issues about the interpretation and enforceability of this section, except whether the individual-arbitration requirement is enforceable as to a particular claim.

20.3 Individual basis only

You and we agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims or preside over a class proceeding.

20.4 What is not covered

• Either of us may bring an individual claim in small claims court if it qualifies there.
• Either of us may seek provisional relief in aid of arbitration from a court.
• Nothing here waives a right to seek public injunctive relief where that right cannot lawfully be waived.

20.5 Your right to opt out

You may reject this arbitration agreement by emailing info@castellan.so with the subject line "Arbitration Opt-Out" within 30 days after signing the Services Agreement, including your name and the property address. Opting out affects nothing else in these Terms, and we will not treat you differently for doing it. If you opt out, disputes proceed in court under Section 21.

If you use only the website or portal and do not sign a Services Agreement, you may opt out within 30 days after first accepting these Terms using the same procedure.

20.6 Severability and survival

If the class-action waiver in Section 20.3 is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, then that claim, and only that claim, will proceed in court rather than in arbitration, and the rest of this section will remain in force. If any other part of this section is found unenforceable, it will be severed and the remainder will stand. This section survives termination of these Terms.

21. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms and your Services Agreement are governed by California law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. For any dispute not subject to arbitration, you and we consent to exclusive venue in the state and federal courts located in San Francisco County, California.

22. Notice for California Residents

Under California Civil Code section 1789.3, California residents are entitled to the following notice. The provider of this service is Reliable Intelligence Inc., and our contact details are in Section 25. If you have a complaint about our service or want more information, contact us first at info@castellan.so — we would rather resolve it directly.

You may also contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112, Sacramento, CA 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210.

23. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms. When we do, we will change the "Last updated" date above. Changes apply prospectively to use of the website or portal after their effective date and do not amend a signed Services Agreement or Authorization. Amendments to a Services Agreement must be in writing, except for prospective fee changes made on at least 30 days' written notice as that agreement permits. A change to Section 20 does not apply to a dispute of which we already had notice.

24. General

• Entire agreement. These Terms are the entire agreement about use of the website and portal. Your signed Services Agreement and Authorization are the entire agreement concerning services for a property. Our Privacy Policy describes how we handle information; it does not change the business terms of either agreement.
• Severability. If a provision is unenforceable, it is modified to the minimum extent necessary or severed, and the rest stays in force.
• No waiver. If we do not enforce a provision, we have not waived it.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign these Terms to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, financing, reorganization, or sale of substantially all relevant assets. Assignment of a Services Agreement is governed by that agreement.
• Independent contractor. We act as your authorized representative for the limited purpose stated in your Authorization. Nothing here creates a partnership, joint venture, or employment relationship.
• Website availability. We may suspend or change the website or portal, including where an event outside our reasonable control affects availability. This does not change either party's obligations under a signed Services Agreement.
• Notices. We may give you notice by email to the address you provided or by posting on our website. You may give us notice by email to info@castellan.so.
• Headings. Section headings are for convenience and do not affect interpretation.

25. Contact Us

Reliable Intelligence Inc. (Castellan)
636 Presidio Ave, Apt 7
San Francisco, CA 94115
Email: info@castellan.so
Phone: (470) 912-3429