Review your agreement before you sign

Who you are contracting with

2024 TARS Regulations, Rule 1(b) (made under D-9 §21-19.6)

This agreement is with EaseMyRate, LLC. Our office address and telephone number appear at the top of this agreement, and we hold Nassau County Assessment Review Commission Representative number 930.

What we charge

D-9 §21-19.2(E)(1)

Success fee

30% of First-Year Savings, capped at $249

Due at signing

$0

No qualifying ARC reduction

$0

SCAR / judicial-review-only reduction

$0

Payment due

Within 14 calendar days of your Fee Statement

The success fee under this Agreement is 30% of First-Year Savings attributable to the qualifying ARC reduction obtained through EaseMyRate, and is never more than $249. This Agreement covers one assessment roll. “First-Year Savings”, the Fee Statement, and how payment works are defined in the payment terms below.

Your right to cancel within three days

D-9 §21-19.2(E)(2)

You may cancel this agreement completely at any time within three days of entering into it, for any reason, and receive a full and prompt refund of anything you have paid us. This right cannot be waived or restricted, and any term of this agreement that purports to do so is void and unenforceable.

Refund if we do not obtain a reduction

D-9 §21-19.2(E)(3)

If our efforts do not achieve a reduction in your assessment, we will promptly refund all fees you have paid us. The only amount we may keep is a disbursement we have actually paid to a court or government agency on your behalf, evidenced by a receipt from that court or agency.

You do not have to use a service

D-9 §21-19.2(E)(4)

You are not required to use a tax assessment reduction service in order to file for, or to receive, a reduction in your assessment. You may file a grievance yourself, free of charge, directly with the Nassau County Assessment Review Commission.

Date of this agreement

D-9 §21-19.2(E)(5)

This agreement was entered into on [the date you sign].

We must tell you about any settlement offer

D-9 §21-19.2(E)(6)

We are required by law to make reasonable efforts to fully communicate to you the terms of any offer of settlement made to us by the County of Nassau in the course of a tax assessment review proceeding relating to your property, other than at a hearing or trial.

Who is eligible to receive a reduction

D-9 §21-19.2(E)(7) · quoted from the statute

Only: 1. a person named in the records of the Nassau County Clerk as a homeowner; or 2. that person’s authorized agent; or 3. a person who has contracted to buy a home; or 4. the estate of a deceased homeowner, is eligible under the law to receive a tax assessment reduction and a property tax refund. If you are not in any of these four categories, you will not be able to receive a property tax refund and you should not sign this agreement.

Complaints

D-9 §21-19.2(E)(8) · quoted from the statute

Complaints regarding any services rendered or not rendered under this contract may be addressed to the Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs.

How First-Year Savings is calculated

First-Year Savings means the first-year property-tax reduction attributable solely to the qualifying ARC assessment reduction obtained through the grievance EaseMyRate filed under this agreement. We calculate it by comparing the taxes attributable to your assessment before the qualifying reduction against the taxes attributable to your assessment after it, using your parcel’s own tax components — your school, town, county and special district rates and your exemptions. A later assessment value being lower does not, by itself, create a fee.

• Not included — Savings caused solely by unrelated tax-rate changes, unrelated STAR or exemption changes, prior-roll changes, unrelated assessment corrections, reductions obtained solely through SCAR or another judicial-review proceeding, or any change we cannot attribute to the ARC proceeding this agreement covers.

When a fee becomes payable

A fee becomes payable only after EaseMyRate has verified a qualifying ARC reduction attributable to the grievance we filed for you and calculated the resulting First-Year Savings. A later change in your assessment, by itself, does not create a fee.

When payment is due

If a fee becomes payable, EaseMyRate will first send you a Fee Statement showing the qualifying ARC reduction, our calculation of your First-Year Savings, the fee (30% of First-Year Savings, capped at $249) and the amount due. Payment is due within 14 calendar days after we send that statement.

How payment works

You choose how a fee, if one becomes payable, will be settled. Neither route is the default, and the amount is the same on both.

• No card required — No payment method is required to authorize us or to file. You choose a settlement route after your filing is confirmed.
• Automatic payment — If you separately authorize automatic payment, we may make one non-recurring charge to your saved payment method for the amount shown on your Fee Statement after the 14-day payment period. We will provide the amount and calculation before the charge. That authorization does not apply to another assessment roll and does not authorize recurring charges.
• Invoice — If you choose to receive an invoice, the amount shown on your Fee Statement is due within the same 14 calendar days. Choosing invoice payment does not change the fee or the service we provide.
• Failed payment — If an authorized charge fails, the amount remains due and we will send you an invoice and a payment link.

Past-due balances

An unpaid balance becomes past due after its stated due date. EaseMyRate may send payment reminders, continue reasonable efforts to collect the balance, refer an undisputed past-due balance to a third-party collection service, or pursue other lawful collection remedies. Any interest, court costs or other amounts associated with collection will be limited to amounts permitted or awarded under applicable law.

Questions about your Fee Statement

If you believe the ARC result or the First-Year Savings calculation is incorrect, contact us promptly and tell us what you believe is wrong. We will review the calculation and correct it if necessary. Raising a good-faith calculation dispute does not eliminate a valid fee that is ultimately confirmed.

Calculation corrections

If EaseMyRate later determines that a fee was calculated using incorrect assessment, tax, exemption or outcome information, we will correct the calculation and issue a corrected Fee Statement. If you paid more than the corrected amount, we will promptly refund the difference.

Our fee is a share of your reduction

Our fee is 30% of your First-Year Savings, capped at $249, so a larger reduction means a larger fee for us only until our fee reaches $249. Up to that point our interest is aligned with yours in seeking the largest reduction your comparable sales support; beyond it, a larger reduction does not increase our fee. Where our interests can diverge, over accepting a settlement, is disclosed separately below.

We are paid on any reduction the Commission makes, however small

Our fee becomes payable on any qualifying ARC reduction attributable to the grievance EaseMyRate filed for you, however small, once the resulting First-Year Savings has been calculated. That gives us a financial reason to see a settlement accepted rather than contested. This is why we show you how any County offer compares with what your comparable sales support, and why the decision to accept or reject it is yours first. If you do not respond, we may accept an offer on your behalf only as described under ‘Settlement Authority.’ If you reject the County’s offer and go on to win a reduction at a Small Claims hearing, we charge nothing for it — that result is not ours to bill, and knowing that is part of judging our advice to settle.

We do not file every case

We do not file every case. Where we do not expect a reduction, filing costs us work we would not be paid for, so our interest and yours point the same way — but not perfectly. If we decline your case you may still file it yourself, free, and we will give you the comparable sales we gathered so that you can.

The services you are authorizing

Scope of Services. By signing, you authorize EaseMyRate, LLC, as your registered representative, to review and analyze records relevant to your Nassau County assessment grievance; prepare the grievance; assemble, update and submit truthful supporting information and evidence to the Nassau County Assessment Review Commission; communicate with ARC concerning the grievance; and track the matter through ARC’s determination. EaseMyRate may update or supplement the information supporting the grievance before filing as new or corrected information becomes available. This agreement does not authorize EaseMyRate to commence judicial review or other court proceedings on your behalf.

Settlement authority: what you grant, and how we use it

Settlement Authority. This clause sets out the authority you give EaseMyRate in the Nassau County Assessment Review Commission’s administrative review of your grievance, how we use it, and where it stops.

• What you authorize — You authorize EaseMyRate, as your registered representative, to: receive ARC’s notices, determinations and settlement offers concerning your grievance; accept or reject a settlement offer; request or pursue ARC’s second review; submit supplemental evidence, corrections and amendments; communicate with ARC concerning the grievance, including at a conference; sign or submit any ARC stipulation or agreement that ARC permits a representative to sign or submit, including the ARC Residential Stipulation that accepts an offer; and withdraw the grievance on your instruction or where ARC’s rules require it.
• How we use it — You decide first. If the Nassau County Assessment Review Commission makes a settlement offer concerning your grievance, we will make reasonable efforts to communicate the terms of the offer to you and give you an opportunity to accept or reject it. If you instruct us to accept the offer, we will accept it on your behalf. If you instruct us to reject the offer, we will communicate that decision to ARC on your behalf and take any further administrative step you specifically authorize that is available for that offer. If you do not respond by the response deadline we give you, we may accept the offer on your behalf only if ARC’s offer reduces your property’s assessment and does not contain an unusual term requiring separate homeowner approval, and we have made reasonable efforts to send you the offer, its estimated effect on your taxes, our fee, that deadline, and your alternatives. Apart from that one fallback, we will not accept or reject an offer, request or decline a second review, or withdraw your grievance without your instruction. Your silence never authorizes us to take any step in court.
• Where it stops — This authority applies only to ARC’s administrative review of the assessment roll identified in your authorization. It does not authorize EaseMyRate to commence, pursue, settle or discontinue Small Claims Assessment Review or any other judicial review or court proceeding on your behalf.
• Your own signature — Some steps still require your own signature, and this authority does not replace it. If ARC requires your signature on a stipulation, form, or other action, we will ask you for it. Any change to this agreement or the authority it gives us will also require your agreement.

We do not represent you in judicial review

If you are dissatisfied with the Commission’s final determination, you may have judicial-review options. These can include Small Claims Assessment Review if you meet its eligibility requirements — broadly, an owner living in a one-, two- or three-family home or a qualifying condominium unit — or a regular Article 7 tax-certiorari proceeding in New York State Supreme Court. You would file and pursue any such proceeding yourself, and you are responsible for determining and meeting the applicable deadline. EaseMyRate does not file, serve, appear in, or represent you in any judicial-review proceeding, and we do not attend those hearings. We will give you the evidence we already assembled for your case and a link to Nassau County’s current filing information. Deadlines are strict, and they depend on the roll and on when the Commission determines your case. Check Nassau County’s current filing information promptly.

Accepting an offer ends the appeal for that year

Accepting a County offer that reduces your assessment settles the case by stipulation. It ends your appeal for that assessment roll, and you cannot afterwards seek judicial review of that assessment — not through Small Claims Assessment Review and not through any other proceeding.

This authorization covers one assessment roll

Under Assessment Review Commission Rule 4.9 an authorization is valid for one tentative assessment roll only, and must be signed within the window the Commission accepts for that roll. This authorization does not renew automatically: if you want us to act again next year, you will sign again.