Website Terms of Use

1.1

Who we are. This website is operated by Greenstein Property Tax, LLC, a Texas limited liability company, which does business as Austin Tea Party under an assumed name certificate filed with the Texas Secretary of State. Our address is 313 West Milton Street, Unit B, Austin, Texas 78704. In these Terms, we, us, and our mean that company. You and your mean the person using the site.

1.2

What these Terms cover. These Terms govern your access to and use of atxteaparty.com, every page and subdomain on it, and every account, form, calculator, and message the site delivers. They apply whether or not you sign up for anything.

1.3

What these Terms do not cover, and which document wins. These Terms do not set the fee, define what we do on your property, or govern a dispute about our work. The Property Tax Services Agreement does that, and you sign it separately at checkout. The Privacy Policy explains what we do with your personal information. If a term in these Terms conflicts with the Property Tax Services Agreement about the services or the fee, the Property Tax Services Agreement controls. If a term here conflicts with the Privacy Policy about personal data, the Privacy Policy controls. These Terms control everything else about your use of the site.

1.4

Accepting these Terms. You accept these Terms by using the site. Accepting these Terms is not consent to anything under the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act. Section 541.001(6) of the Texas Business and Commerce Code excludes from consent the acceptance of a general or broad terms of use document that describes personal data processing along with other, unrelated information. Where we need your consent, we ask for it separately and you give it by a separate act. Section 8 explains how the process works.

1.5

Changes. We may change these Terms. The version in effect when you use the site is the version that applies to that use. If a change affects the services you have signed up for or the way we handle your personal data, we will tell you by email at least thirty (30) days before it takes effect, and we will post the new effective date and version number at the top of this page. We keep prior versions and will send you one on request.

2.1

Texas only. This site is built for Texas residents and Texas real property. We do not offer services outside Texas, and we do not direct this site to residents of other states. If you are outside Texas, do not use the site to sign up.

2.2

Age. You must be at least 18 years old. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, and this site is not directed at children.

2.3

Your authority over the property. You may sign up only for a property you own, or for which you hold written authority to act. A Texas appraisal district accepts an agent designation only from the owner or a person the owner authorized, so a signature from anyone else does not work and may expose you to liability.

2.4

Accurate information. You agree that the ownership, occupancy, mailing address, and contact information you give us are accurate, and that you will tell us within ten (10) days if any of it changes. We rely on it to file on time. An address we cannot reach will cost you a notice of appraised value and the protest deadline that runs from it.

3.1

No professional advice. We are not a law firm, a certified public accounting firm, a licensed appraiser, a licensed real estate broker or sales agent, or an insurance agent. We give no legal, tax, appraisal, or brokerage advice, we sell no insurance, and our value estimates are not appraisals. Nothing on this site creates an attorney-client relationship.

3.2

No government affiliation. We are a private company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for any appraisal district, appraisal review board, taxing unit, county, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, or any other governmental body. Nothing we send you is a government notice or a government form, except a completed Comptroller form we prepare for your signature and identify as such.

3.3

Filing without us. You can file your own residence homestead exemption on Comptroller Form 50-114 and file your own protest, at no cost, directly with your county appraisal district. Forms and instructions are available from your appraisal district and from the Comptroller free of charge. You are not required to use us or anyone else.

3.4

No guarantee. We do not promise that your appraised value will be reduced, that your tax bill will fall, or that any exemption will be granted. Those decisions belong to the appraisal district and the appraisal review board. Figures shown anywhere on this site, including county averages, savings ranges, and any estimate we display for your address, are illustrations drawn from public data. No figure on this site predicts an outcome for your property, offers a price, or quotes one.

4.1

Your agreement to transact electronically. Section 322.007 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code gives an electronic record and an electronic signature the same effect as paper and ink, and Section 322.005(b) applies that chapter only to a transaction between parties each of which has agreed to conduct the transaction by electronic means, an agreement the statute determines from the context and surrounding circumstances, including the conduct of the parties. When you check the box labeled, I agree to do business electronically, you give that agreement for your account, the Property Tax Services Agreement, the Comptroller agent designation, every notice and invoice we send you, and every consent you give.

4.2

What you need. A device with a current web browser, an internet connection, an active email address you check, and the ability to open and save PDF files. If any of those elements change, you must update your email address in your account.

4.3

Paper copies. You may ask for a paper copy of any record at any time by emailing privacy@atxteaparty.com or writing to the address in Section 24. We provide the first copy of any record at no charge.

4.4

Withdrawing this agreement. You may withdraw your agreement to transact electronically at any time by the same routes. Withdrawal applies going forward. It does not undo a signature already given, and it may mean we cannot continue to serve you, because our filings run on electronic records. We will tell you before we close the account.

4.5

Electronic signatures. When you sign a document on this site, we record your signature, the date and time, the version of the document you saw, and the exact language displayed to you. We keep that record for at least five (5) years. Section 5.6 explains why the appraisal district may ask for it.

5.1

What the form does. Form 50-162 is the Texas Comptroller form that names a person or a company as your agent for property tax matters. When you sign it, you authorize Greenstein Property Tax, LLC to receive your notice of appraised value and other district correspondence, to file and pursue a protest, and to appear for you at the informal conference and the appraisal review board hearing on the accounts you designate.

5.2

Separate signature. The form is presented to you by itself, with its own signature, separate from these Terms, from the Property Tax Services Agreement, and from any marketing consent. We do not bundle it into a general acceptance, and you can complete the rest of sign-up without signing it.

5.3

Duration of the designation. Under Section 1.111(c) of the Texas Tax Code, a designation remains in effect until it is revoked in a written revocation filed with the appraisal district by you or by us. A designation may be made to expire according to its own terms, but it stays subject to earlier revocation, and if we revoke it that section requires us to send you notice by certified mail at your last known address. If you leave the expiration date blank, the designation continues indefinitely. It does not renew each year, and it does not lapse on its own, so it carries into every future tax year until it is revoked.

5.4

One agent at a time. Section 1.111(d) of the Tax Code bars you from designating more than one agent for an item of property and makes a new designation revoke any previous designation for that property. Signing our form therefore replaces any agent you already have on that account. If another firm currently represents you, tell us before you sign, and check whether that firm has already filed a protest for the current year, because that filing does not disappear when the designation changes.

5.5

Revocation. You may revoke the designation at any time, for any reason, with no notice period and no fee. File a written revocation directly with your appraisal district, which is the act that ends the designation under Section 1.111(c) and tell us by emailing privacy@atxteaparty.com or writing to the address in Section 24. If you ask us to file the revocation for you, we will file it with the district within ten (10) business days and send you a copy of the filing. You owe nothing except a fee already earned under the Property Tax Services Agreement for a reduction obtained before the revocation.

5.6

The record we keep. Section 1.111(k) of the Tax Code, as amended by House Bill 1533 of the 89th Legislature effective September 1, 2025, lets a chief appraiser request from an agent who submits a designation electronically the electronic signature of the person who signed the form and the date that person signed it. We keep that record so the district cannot refuse your designation for lack of proof. A knowing false statement on a designation is a criminal offense under Section 37.10 of the Texas Penal Code, which is printed on the face of the form. Sign it only for a property you own or are authorized to act for.

6.1

Homestead exemption filing. We prepare and file your residence homestead exemption application at no charge. There is no fee for this service, no minimum, and no charge if the exemption is denied. We charge nothing for it whether or not you ever protest.

6.2

Protest representation. We charge a contingency fee, which means a fee that comes due only if we succeed. The fee is forty percent (40%) of the Tax Savings we obtain for you in a tax year, as the Property Tax Services Agreement defines that term. Tax Savings is measured in tax dollars, not in appraised value. There is no sign-up fee, no minimum fee, no hourly charge, and no payment card at sign-up.

6.3

The fee recurs. This is not a one-time charge. Because the agent designation stays on file, we review your account every year and file a protest in any year that we think it will succeed. A fee comes due in each tax year in which our work produces Tax Savings. In a year with no Tax Savings there is no invoice.

6.4

A reduction does not always produce a fee. Section 23.23 of the Texas Tax Code limits the appraised value of a qualified residence homestead for a tax year to the lesser of its market value or the sum of the preceding year appraised value, ten percent of that value, and the market value of new improvements. In some years that cap means a reduction in market value changes nothing on your bill. If the Tax Savings for a year is zero, the fee for that year is zero, even if we obtained a reduction in value.

6.5

Invoicing. We invoice after the appraisal review board issues its order or the district agrees to a reduction, and after the tax rates for the year are set, since the second is what fixes the Tax Savings figure. The invoice shows the baseline value, the final value, the tax rates applied, the Tax Savings, and the fee arithmetic. Payment terms are in the Property Tax Services Agreement.

6.6

Cancelling the service. You may cancel at any time under Section 5.5. There are no notice period and no cancellation fee.

7.1

Included. Filing your protest with the appraisal review board by the statutory deadline, presenting your evidence at the informal conference with the appraisal district, and appearing at your appraisal review board hearing. You do not need to attend.

7.2

Not included. An appeal beyond the appraisal review board is not part of this engagement. That includes binding arbitration under Chapter 41A of the Tax Code, a suit for judicial review in district court under Chapter 42, and any appeal of a district court judgment. If you want to pursue one, tell us and we will discuss a separate written engagement. We will tell you the deadline that applies to your order so that you can act on your own if you prefer.

7.3

Who may represent you further. Section 41A.08(b) of the Tax Code lets you represent yourself in binding arbitration or, at your own cost, be represented by an employee of the appraisal district, an attorney licensed in this state, a real estate broker or salesperson licensed under Chapter 1101 of the Occupations Code, a real estate appraiser licensed or certified under Chapter 1103 of that code, a property tax consultant registered under Chapter 1152 of that code, or a certified public accountant licensed under Chapter 901 of that code. A suit in district court requires a lawyer if you do not represent yourself. We will tell you plainly whether we hold the credential your matter needs.

7.4

Deadlines and notices we send you. We will forward your notice of appraised value and any appraisal review board order to the address on file within five (5) business days after we receive it. We are not responsible for a notice we never received, or for a notice sent to an address you did not keep current. Watch your own mail as well.

8.1

The Privacy Policy governs. Our Privacy Policy, posted at atxteaparty.com/privacy describes the categories of personal data we collect, why we collect them, how long we keep them, whom we share them with, the rights the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act gives you, and how to use those rights. Read it with these Terms.

8.2

What consent means here. Section 541.001(6) of the Business and Commerce Code defines consent as a clear affirmative act signifying a freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous agreement to process personal data. That section excludes three things: acceptance of a general or broad terms of use document that contains descriptions of personal data processing along with other, unrelated information; hovering over, muting, pausing, or closing a given piece of content; and agreement obtained through the use of dark patterns. We do not use pre-checked boxes, and we do not hide a choice behind a button labeled something else.

8.3

Separate choices at sign-up. We ask for each of the following on its own control. Section 541.101(b)(3) of the Business and Commerce Code bars us from discriminating against a consumer for exercising a right under that chapter, and refusing any of these choices does not change the price, the scope, or the quality of the service you receive.

8.4

Health information. Some exemptions require proof of a disability or a service-connected disability rating. A document of that kind reveals a mental or physical health diagnosis, which Section 541.001(2)(A) of the Business and Commerce Code makes sensitive data, and Section 541.101(b)(4) bars us from processing it without your consent. If you ask us to file one of those exemptions, we will ask for a separate consent covering only that document, and we will use it only to file the exemption.

8.5

Your driver license number. Section 11.43(f) of the Tax Code requires an exemption application to state your name and your driver license number, personal identification certificate number, or social security account number, and Section 11.43(j)(4) requires a residence homestead application to include a copy of your driver license or state-issued personal identification certificate unless you reside in a facility that provides services related to health, infirmity, or aging or participate in the address confidentiality program the attorney general administers. Tell us if either exception applies to you, or if you would rather give a personal identification certificate number, and we will not collect your driver license number. We collect it only where the form requires it, we store it encrypted, we do not sell it, and we destroy it when the business purpose ends. It is protected under Chapter 521 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code, and Section 17 of the Privacy Policy explains what we do if it is ever exposed.

9.1

Who receives it. We share personal data with the following categories of recipients, and only for the purposes stated. The categories of personal data we share are identity and contact information, property and account information, inspection information, communications with us, and service and billing records. We share your driver license number, your date of birth, and any disability documentation only with an appraisal district, an appraisal review board, a taxing unit, or the service provider that transmits the filing for us.

9.2

Payments we make and receive, and your opt out. Section 541.001(1) of the Business and Commerce Code defines a sale of personal data as the sharing, disclosing, or transferring of personal data to a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration. You have the right to opt out of the sale of your personal data and of targeted advertising, at any time, at no cost, without giving a reason. Use the link marked Your Privacy Choices in the footer of every page, or email privacy@atxteaparty.com. Opting out does not affect your exemption filing, your protest, your fee, or anything else about the service.

9.3

Information we receive from a home inspection company. If a home inspection company gave us your report and your contact information, it did so under a clause in the agreement you signed with that company, which names us and gives you a way to stop it permanently. You may exercise that stop right with us directly at any time by emailing stop@atxteaparty.com and we will suppress your record across every one of our programs within ten (10) business days. Contact information we receive from a home inspection company is never used to send you a text message.

9.4

Commitments and restrictions. The commitments in this Section bind us, our affiliate, and every vendor we engage.

9.5

De-identified and aggregated information. We use photographs, measurements, observations, and county data in de-identified or aggregated form, stripped of your name, your contact information, and your property address, to improve our methods, to train and evaluate our models, and to publish statistical information. As Section 541.106(a) of the Business and Commerce Code requires, we take reasonable measures to ensure that de-identified data cannot be associated with an individual, we publicly commit to maintaining and using the data in de-identified form without attempting to re-identify it, and we contractually obligate every recipient of the de-identified data to comply with that chapter. Section 541.106(d) also requires us to exercise reasonable oversight to monitor compliance with those contracts and to take appropriate steps to address any breach of them, and we do. We will not represent that any de-identified data describes your property.

9.6

Contracts with recipients. Every recipient other than a government body is bound by a written contract that states the purpose, limits the use to that purpose, requires confidentiality and security measures, requires deletion or return at the end of the engagement, and passes these same limits to any subcontractor.

10.1

Service messages. We will contact you about your account, your filings, your hearing dates, and your invoices. These are not marketing and you cannot opt out of them while your account is open, though you can choose the channel.

10.2

Marketing contact is optional. Marketing calls and email require your separate agreement, given on its own control at sign-up or later in your account. You are not required to agree in order to buy anything from us, and refusing does not change the price or the service.

10.3

Text messages. If you opt in to text messages, message frequency varies and is expected to be about six messages per year. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to any message to stop, and HELP for help, or contact us at help@atxteaparty.com or 512-598-4967. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All the above categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties. We send text messages only to a mobile number whose user checked a text-message box on atxteaparty.com. We never text anyone based on an agreement signed with a home inspection company or any other third party.

10.4

Automated and recorded calls. We do not call or text you using an automatic telephone dialing system, a prerecorded voice, or an artificial or synthetic voice, including a voice generated by artificial intelligence, unless you gave us a separate written agreement covering that specific kind of contact. Our ordinary calls are placed by a person.

10.5

Texas no-call list. If your number is on the Texas no-call list, we will not place marketing calls to it, and your agreement to marketing contact does not change that. We will reach you by mail and email instead.

10.6

Email. Every marketing email carries accurate header information, a subject line that is not deceptive, our valid physical postal address, and an unsubscribe mechanism that stays able to receive your request for at least thirty days after we send the message. We honor an unsubscribe within ten (10) business days. Sections 7704(a)(1) through (a)(5) of Title 15 of the United States Code require each of these.

10.7

How we handle a stop request. You may withdraw any consent by any reasonable means, including a reply to the message, an email, a telephone call, or a letter. We process it within ten (10) business days, the outer limit the Federal Communications Commission set for honoring a revocation of consent in the rule effective April 11, 2025, and suppress your record across every channel and every campaign we run, not only the one you replied to. We keep a record of the request.

11.1

Security. Keep your credentials confidential and tell us immediately at security@atxteaparty.com if you think someone else has used your account. You are responsible for activity under your credentials until you tell us.

11.2

One account per person. Do not create an account for someone else without their written authority, and do not share an account.

13.1

Ours. The site, its text, design, graphics, data compilations, and software, and the mark Austin Tea Party, belong to us or to our licensors. We give you a limited, personal, revocable, non-transferable license to use the site for your own property tax matters. We grant no other right in the site, in its contents, or in the marks.

13.2

What you upload. You keep ownership of documents and photographs you upload. You give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use them to perform the services, to keep the records this document requires, and, in de-identified form only, for the purposes in Section 9.5. You represent that you have the right to give us what you upload.

13.3

Real estate agent names and logos. Where a page carries a real estate license holder’s name, photograph, team name, or logo, we use it under a written authorization signed by that license holder and that license holder’s sponsoring broker, and we pay nothing for it. The license holder receives no compensation from us and provides no property tax consulting services.

13.4

Feedback. If you send us an idea or a suggestion, we may use it without obligation to you.

14.1

County and state data. Appraisal district records, Comptroller survey data, and Census data shown on this site come from public sources we identify. They can be wrong, out of date, or incomplete, and a district can change a value after we display it. Verify anything you intend to rely on with your appraisal district.

14.2

Estimates. Any figure this site generates for your address is an estimate produced from public records and a statistical model. Nobody from our company has inspected your property to produce it. It is not an appraisal, it does not predict what an appraisal district or a review board will do, and it does not quote a price.

14.3

Links to other sites. We link to the appraisal districts, the Comptroller, and other third parties for convenience. We do not control those sites, and we are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices.

16.1

Excluded damages. To the extent Texas law allows, we are not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, arising out of your use of the site.

16.2

Cap. Our total liability arising out of your use of the site is limited to the greater of the fees you paid us in the twelve (12) months before the claim arose or $100. Liability arising out of the services themselves is governed by the Property Tax Services Agreement, not by this Section.

16.3

What this does not limit. This Section does not limit liability for fraud, for a knowing violation of law, for gross negligence, for a breach of Section 9.4, or for anything the law does not permit us to limit.

19.1

Notice before filing. Before filing anything, email legal@atxteaparty.com with a description of the problem and what you want. We will respond within thirty (30) days. This Section does not shorten, replace, or excuse the written notice Section 17.505 of the Business and Commerce Code requires before a consumer files suit under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

19.2

A dispute about the services. A dispute about our work on your property, about the fee, or about the Property Tax Services Agreement is governed by the dispute provisions of that Agreement, not by this Section.

19.3

A dispute about the site. Texas law governs these Terms, without regard to conflict of laws rules. A dispute arising solely out of your use of the site belongs in the state or federal courts sitting in Travis County, Texas, and each of us consents to that venue. This does not prevent either of us from bringing a claim within the jurisdictional limits of a justice court, and it does not prevent either of us from seeking an injunction in any court to stop unauthorized access to the site or misuse of our marks.

22.1

Assignment. You may not assign these Terms. We may assign them to an affiliate or to a successor in a merger, a reorganization, or a sale of substantially all of our assets, and the successor takes them subject to Section 9.

22.2

Severability and savings. If a provision is unenforceable, it is limited to the minimum extent needed to make it enforceable, or severed if that is not possible, and the rest stays in force.

22.3

No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it.

22.4

Entire agreement. These Terms, the Property Tax Services Agreement, and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us about the site and the services, and replace every prior advertisement, statement, and discussion about them, subject to the order of precedence in Section 1.3. Nothing in this Section limits your rights under Section 17.

22.5

Headings and interpretation. Headings are for convenience purposes only. Including and includes mean including without limitation. Days are calendar days unless these Terms say business days.

22.6

Force majeure. Neither of us is liable for a delay caused by something outside its reasonable control, except that this does not excuse a payment obligation or a statutory filing deadline we agreed to meet.

23.1

Data broker notice. We are a data broker under Chapter 510 of the Business and Commerce Code and are registered with the Texas Secretary of State, registration number 20260168. The notice Section 510.004 requires appears on our Texas Data Broker Notice page, linked from the footer of every page of this site, and in this Privacy Policy, in the language the Secretary of State prescribes at Section 106.5(1) of Title 1 of the Texas Administrative Code, together with instructions for exercising the rights Chapter 541 gives you.

23.2

Complaints. You may complain to us at legal@atxteaparty.com, to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, or to the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Texas Attorney General. A complaint about how we handle your personal data may go to the Attorney General through the online mechanism linked within our Privacy Policy.