( CIRCLE TERMS )
Sthãna Circle

5% of what we collect.

The Circle pays five per cent of the brokerage fee we actually collect. This page is what stands behind that: when a reward is earned, when it is paid, what disqualifies one, and what happens if two people claim the same introduction.

( SCROLL ↓ )
( THE NUMBER, WORKED )

The same four rows the Circle page publishes, with the reward calculated here rather than typed, so the two pages cannot drift apart. Every figure is our fee before GST.

OUR FEE, EXCLUDING GST YOUR 5% WHEN IT IS PAID
₹80,000 ₹4,000 Within a fortnight of the fee reaching us, and of your tax details reaching us
₹1,00,000 ₹5,000 Within a fortnight of the fee reaching us, and of your tax details reaching us
₹1,50,000 ₹7,500 Within a fortnight of the fee reaching us, and of your tax details reaching us
₹2,00,000 ₹10,000 Within a fortnight of the fee reaching us, and of your tax details reaching us

Five per cent of the fee received, not of the rent and not of the deposit. If we collect less than we invoiced, the reward is five per cent of what we collected. If we charge nothing, there is no reward, and your ledger says so on the line rather than leaving it pending.

( WHAT THE SITE SAYS, AND WHAT IT BINDS US TO )

Six sentences appear on the site in public, on the homepage marquee and the Circle page. Each is quoted here with what it commits us to. If one of them is ever reworded, this is where the wording is checked.

INTRODUCE THEM. EARN 5%.

Five per cent of our brokerage fee on that tenancy, before GST. Not five per cent of the rent, the deposit or the annual value. Clause five.

₹1L FEE = ₹5K TO YOU

A worked example of the same arithmetic, and the four published rows are in the table above. The fee varies with the rent, so the reward does too.

You earn only when we've been paid.

The trigger is money in our account, not a signed agreement and not an invoice raised. Clause four.

We settle within a fortnight of receiving the brokerage.

Fourteen days, running from the later of the fee reaching us and your tax details reaching us. Clause six says which, because both are required before we can pay.

If we don't charge a fee on a transaction, there's no reward.

We waive fees and we act for people we do not charge. Those introductions earn nothing and the ledger marks them no reward, no fee charged.

A name and a number. No sign-in, no password, no PAN, no bank details.

True to join, and not true to be paid. The closing band on this page is about exactly that, because read together the two sentences look like a bait and they are not.

( 01 )

What the Circle is

You introduce someone who is looking for a home in Bengaluru. If we take them on and they pay us a brokerage fee, we pay you five per cent of that fee. There is nothing to buy, nothing to subscribe to, and no minimum number of introductions.

It is a referral arrangement between you and us. You are not our agent, employee or partner, you may not represent Sthãna to anyone, and you must not describe yourself as working with us. Introduce people and say what you honestly think of us.

( 02 )

Who can refer

Anyone over eighteen with a WhatsApp number, with four exceptions.

  • Not the person moving in. You cannot refer yourself, your spouse, or anyone whose fee you are paying.
  • Not a Sthãna employee, contractor or anyone working on the practice, including the people on the About page. Their work is already paid.
  • Not another broker or agent, and not anyone who is paid by an owner on the same transaction. The whole point of the practice is that we take one side, and a reward passing to the other side breaks it.
  • Not an owner referring a tenant to their own home.
( 03 )

A client of ours can refer, and not while we are still working for them

If we are searching for you now, we will not ask you for introductions and a link issued to you does not earn while your own search is open. We are being paid to find you a home, and asking you to bring us business in the middle of that puts a second interest in the room.

Once you have moved in and our fee is settled, you are as welcome in the Circle as anyone else.

( 04 )

When a reward is earned

A reward is earned when all four of these are true. The person you introduced came to us through your link or named you when they first contacted us. We took them on. They signed a tenancy. Their brokerage fee reached our account.

Until the fee has actually reached us, nothing is earned. A signed agreement is not payment, and an invoice is not payment. This is the clause that the sentence "you earn only when we've been paid" refers to.

If we do not charge a fee on a transaction, there is no reward. That happens: we sometimes waive a fee, and we act for people we do not charge. The ledger shows those as no reward and says why, rather than leaving you to wonder.

( 05 )

How much, and on what

Five per cent of the brokerage fee we collect, excluding GST. The fee varies with the rent, so the reward varies with it. We calculate on the fee actually received, not on the fee invoiced: if we settle for less, five per cent of the lower figure is what is due.

One reward per tenancy. If two people separately introduce the same person, clause eight decides. If one person introduces several, each tenancy earns its own reward.

( 07 )

Tax, and what we have to withhold

A referral reward is income in your hands and you are responsible for declaring it. Where the law requires us to deduct tax at source before paying you, we deduct it and give you the certificate. Without a PAN, the rate we are required to apply is higher, and that is a rule we cannot waive.

The quoted five per cent is the gross reward. What reaches your account is the gross figure less any deduction we are required to make.

SECTION AND RATE APPLIED TO BE SUPPLIED Your accountant's answer on which withholding section a referral fee falls under, and the rate with and without a PAN. Stated here once, rather than explained to each person at payout.
( 08 )

Two people claiming one introduction

The link decides. Where the person arrived through a referral link, that link's holder is credited, and where nobody used a link, the name the person gave us when they first wrote to us is credited. First contact, not the loudest claim.

Where both of those are missing or contradictory, we ask the person who moved in who introduced them, and their answer settles it. We will tell both claimants what we decided and why. We do not split a reward, because a half reward satisfies nobody and invites the argument again next time.

( 09 )

Links expire

Every link carries an expiry date, shown on the link and in your ledger. An introduction made through an expired link earns nothing, and the ledger marks it as expired rather than as pending. The date is on the link so that nobody has to remember a rule.

The clock runs from when the link is issued, not from when it is used. Ask us and we will issue a fresh one, which starts a new period.

VALIDITY PERIOD TO BE SUPPLIED The ledger shows an expiry date per link. The period behind it has never been written down. Fix it, state it here, and the ledger's dates stop being unexplained.
( 10 )

What disqualifies a referral

We will not pay on an introduction obtained in a way we would not want to be associated with, and the list is short and specific.

  • The person did not agree to be introduced, or did not know their details were being passed on.
  • Details were harvested from a listing site, a building group or anywhere else the person did not hand them to you.
  • The introduction was bought: paid advertising against our name, spam, or a link posted at scale to people you do not know.
  • The person was already in contact with us before your introduction, and the ledger shows the earlier contact.
  • The tenancy falls through, or the fee is refunded. A reward already paid on a refunded fee is repayable.
( 11 )

Changing or ending the programme

We can change the rate or close the Circle, and we will say so on this page and message everyone holding a live link. A link already issued keeps the rate it was issued under until it expires, and an introduction already made is paid on the old terms. We do not reprice work that is done.

We can also end your participation, for the reasons in clause ten or because you have misrepresented us. Anything genuinely earned before that is still paid.

( 12 )

What we do with the details you pass us

When you introduce someone you are giving us their name and number, so tell them first. We will say who introduced them, because a stranger with your number is worse than an introduction with a name on it. Whether they see your first name is your choice, set by the checkbox on the Circle form and changeable at any time.

What we hold about you and about them, how long, and how to have it deleted are in the privacy notice.

( 13 )

Law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of India, and the courts at Bengaluru, Karnataka have exclusive jurisdiction. They sit alongside the site terms; where the two differ on the Circle, this page governs.

CONTRACTING ENTITY Sthãna
ENTITY TYPE Currently operated as an unincorporated business
( THE ONE CONTRADICTION, NAMED )

Joining asks for nothing. Being paid asks for tax details.

Both sentences on the Circle page are true, and they describe different moments. Joining takes a name and a number: no sign-in, no password, no PAN, no bank details, and you can hand out a link having given us nothing else. That is the promise and it stands.

Money is the moment it changes. To send you a payment we need an account in your name, and to make that payment lawfully we need the tax details we are required to collect. Nobody has to reach that moment: hold a link, introduce people, and if you would rather not give us those details then tell us and we will keep the reward unclaimed rather than press you for them. What we will not do is pay a referral fee off the books.

THE CIRCLE → PRIVACY NOTICE → TERMS OF USE → ASK US ON WHATSAPP →
A SMALL ASK

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