What you're agreeing to when you join.

1. The parties

This Member Agreement ("Agreement") is between you, the member named at the end of this Agreement ("you"), and The Colab, LLC, a California limited liability company ("The Colab," "we," "us"), which operates the shared workspace at 122 South E Street, Exeter, CA 93221 (the "Space"). It takes effect on the date you accept it.

The Terms of Service, the Privacy Policy, and the house rules posted in the Space and on the website are part of this Agreement. If this Agreement and the Terms ever say different things, this Agreement wins for members.

2. What a membership is

A membership is a licence to use the Space and its shared amenities on the terms of your tier. It is not a lease: you don't get exclusive possession of any part of the Space, you don't become a tenant, and we can rearrange the Space, change amenities, or move furniture without your consent. The licence is personal to you and can't be transferred, shared, or sublet.

The three tiers — Connect ($79 a month), Create ($119 a month), Collaborate ($179 a month) — and what each includes are described on the Membership & Pricing page, which is part of this Agreement as it read on the date you accepted.

3. Day passes and visitors

A day pass is a one-day licence to use the open workspace, currently $29, valid for the visit date selected at checkout during our published hours. You may choose today or an available weekday up to 60 days ahead. It includes what is listed for it on the Membership & Pricing page and nothing more; it is not a membership, carries no included room time, no guest passes and no mail service, and it does not renew.

Day-pass visitors accept this Agreement in the same way a member does, before payment and before entering the Space. The house rules in section 9 and the risk, release and liability sections 14 to 16 apply to you in full. So do the saved-card paragraphs at the end of section 4. A day pass is non-refundable: if you cancel it or do not come, your payment is not refunded, and unused days do not carry forward. Need a different date? Ask The Colab staff before your pass day begins. Changes are subject to availability and are not confirmed until staff confirm them; until then your original pass stays valid. Each pass can be changed once. If we cancel your visit, the Space is closed, or your door code fails because of us, we refund the day you could not use in full.

Quiet spaces on a day pass. You may add a quiet space at the rate published on the Membership page, subject to availability, booked and paid for in advance.

Non-transferable. Bookings and passes are non-transferable. Only the person who purchased or booked the Day Pass or quiet space booking may use it. You may not sell, give, assign, or share the booking or its access code with another person. A date or time change requested for the same booking holder may be made only through The Colab’s approved change process and is not a transfer. Anyone else who wishes to use the space must make their own booking, subject to eligibility, availability, and the applicable price and terms.

4. Term, billing, and cancelling

Your membership runs in monthly billing periods, starting with your first successful membership payment and renewing automatically on the same day of each month until cancelled. In a shorter month without that date, renewal falls on the last day of the month. Each period is billed in advance to the card you provide. You can cancel at any time, with no fee, through your member portal or by emailing us; your membership then runs out at the end of the period already paid for, and unused days are not refunded. Founding-member pricing, where it applies, is held for 12 months while the membership stays continuously active. We'll give at least 30 days' notice by email before changing the price of your tier.

Changing your tier. You can change your tier from your member account, or by asking us. Before anything changes, we show you what you will pay, taken from our payment processor, and you must confirm.

• Moving to a higher-priced tier takes effect as soon as you confirm. The same day, your card is charged the difference for the rest of the current billing period, worked out to the day. Your next payments are at the new tier's price.
• Moving to a lower-priced tier takes effect on your next billing date, and nothing is charged or refunded for the current period. Until then you keep everything your current tier includes.
• If you have a change to a lower tier scheduled, moving to a higher tier, or choosing to keep your current tier, cancels it.
• Founding-member pricing, where it applies, stays with your membership when you change tier, for the rest of its 12 months.
• We may need to make some changes for you rather than online: for example, while a payment is overdue, when your membership is ending, or when your membership was arranged with us directly. In those cases we will tell you, and you can ask us.

Team access. A member can add Team access to their membership for $36 a month, on top of their own tier. It includes two people you invite. Each further person is $19 a month.

• Everyone on your team has your tier. When you change tier, their tier changes on the same terms and on the same day: at once for a higher tier, and on your next billing date for a lower one. Each person whose bookings a lower tier cancels is told in the same way as you.
• A further person is charged when you send their invitation, for the rest of the current billing period worked out to the day, after we show you the amount. An invitation that is never accepted still holds that paid place until you remove it.
• When you remove someone, they keep access until the end of the current billing period. Their place and its charge then end, with no refund or credit for the remaining days.
• To end Team access you must first remove everyone on your team. You can arrange all of these removals, and the end of Team access, for the same date.
• Team access and further places are not discounted by founding-member pricing or by codes.

Your saved card. When you pay for your membership or day pass, or save a card when you join a team, our payment processor, Stripe, securely saves that card to your account with us. We never see or store your full card number. You authorize The Colab to charge that card for the payments this Agreement already describes, and amounts due under section 9, after the statement and response process described there. We will not use it for anything else without asking you first.

This authorization lasts until 90 days after your membership ends, or after your day-pass visit date, and longer only for a damage statement sent within that time and still open. You can ask us at any time to stop using a saved card for damage. If you do, any later amount is requested by payment link instead.

5. Credits: day passes and referrals

Day pass credit. If you buy a day pass and start a membership within 30 days of that day, we credit what you paid for one day pass, up to the published day-pass price, to your Stripe customer balance for your next billing cycle after joining. It does not reduce the first membership payment. One credit per person; a free pass earns no credit, and credits cannot be exchanged for cash.

Referral credit. If you refer someone who joins as a member and completes 2 qualifying monthly payments, we credit 50% of your most recent full monthly membership charge, after recurring discounts and before tax, add-ons and temporary credits, to your Stripe customer balance for your next billing cycle. Qualifying payments cover distinct full monthly membership periods and include a positive successful payment; prorations, free months and unrelated charges do not count. You must still be a member when the reward is earned. The person you referred receives a $29 Stripe customer-balance credit for their next billing cycle after joining, not a discount on their first payment. Credits have no cash value, are applied to future membership payments only, and are forfeited if your own membership ends before the credit is used. We may change or withdraw the referral offer for future referrals at any time; credits already earned are honoured.

Free memberships. Referral and day-pass credits are not earned while your membership is free ($0).

When your membership ends. Any day-pass or referral credit you have not used is forfeited when your membership ends, and it is not restored if you join again. These credits are promotional and have no cash value. This does not affect money you have paid us, an overpayment, or a refund you are owed.

6. Access and credentials

When you join we email you a temporary door code that works for 72 hours. Inside those 72 hours, come in and see one of us: you choose a permanent code of your own at the keypad, and you can add a fingerprint if you would rather not type it. We write down which keypad entry is yours, so we know whose code it is. The temporary code stops working after 72 hours whether or not you have been in — if it runs out before you get here, ask us and we will send another.

Your code is yours alone. Do not lend it, write it down where it can be read, or let anyone else in on it — a guest comes in with you, under section 7. Tell us the same day if you think somebody else has it.

Your hours are the hours your tier includes, as published on the Membership & Pricing page. The keypad cannot tell one tier from another: your code will open the door outside your hours, and we are trusting you not to use it that way. We keep a record of entries and check them against the hours each member has bought. Coming in outside your hours is a breach of this Agreement — once we will ask you about it, and if it happens repeatedly we may move you to a tier that covers what you are actually doing, or end this Agreement under section 17.

The building is closed when The Colab is rented. We rent The Colab — every room upstairs — for private events, and while one is on the building is closed to members, including the mailboxes. We will email you when an event is booked and again on the morning of it, and both emails name the hours. Your code will still open the door during those hours; we are asking you not to use it.

The Patio is rented separately. It can be added to a hire of The Colab or hired on its own, and while it is hired it is closed to members. A hire of The Patio on its own does not close the building: the quiet spaces, the 16-seat table and the mailboxes stay open as usual, and your code works as normal. We will email you when The Patio is booked, and the email names the hours. Bookings of the quiet spaces and the 16-seat table are not emailed; they show on the room board in the Space and on the booking page.

When your membership ends we remove your door code and clear any fingerprint you enrolled, and you return any physical key. A replacement key costs the actual replacement cost.

7. Guests

Guest passes are per visit and don't carry over between months. You must sign guests in, stay with them while they're in the Space, and make sure they follow the house rules. You're responsible for anything your guests do or damage while they're here, as if you'd done it yourself.

8. Booking quiet spaces and the table

The quiet spaces and the 16-seat table are booked in advance through your member account or by asking us. What your tier includes, and the rate beyond it, are set out on the Membership & Pricing page and form part of this Agreement. The two quiet spaces are set apart from the main room and open above: they have no doors and are not soundproof.

Included quiet space hours reset on the first day of each calendar month. Included time does not roll over from one month to the next, and it has no cash value. Time used beyond your allowance is charged at the published rate and added to your next payment.

The 16-seat table is the middle of a shared room. Booking it is free to members within the published limits and notice period; longer bookings, or any booking that asks other people to leave the room, are event rentals under the Terms of Service rather than member bookings.

Cancellations and no-shows. Cancel a quiet space booking at least two hours ahead and the time returns to your allowance. Cancel later, or don’t turn up, and the time is used. If you are more than fifteen minutes late for a booking, we may release the space to someone else. We may move or cancel a booking when we have to — a repair, a power cut, an event that overruns — and in that case the time returns to your allowance. The four designated owners may make an exception and restore time; the owner and reason are recorded. An exception does not automatically refund a charge that has already been invoiced.

Content on the main-room TV. When The Colab allows it, a booking of The Colab or the 16-seat table may include showing your own images, videos and presentations on the TV in the main room during your booking. You are responsible for everything you show. You confirm that you own it or have permission to use it, including any music, and that it is lawful and suitable for a shared business space where other members and the public may see or hear it. We may stop your content at any time, for the rest of your booking and without a refund, if we believe it breaks this section or disrupts others. We keep your files for 30 days after your booking and then delete them; you may delete them sooner. You agree to cover any claim made against us that arises from content you show.

Bookings when you move to a lower tier. Bookings dated before the day your new tier starts are unaffected. If a booking dated on or after that day is something your new tier does not include (for example a weekend booking on a weekday-only tier), it is cancelled on the day your new tier starts. We list every booking that will be cancelled before you confirm the change, and we email each person whose booking is cancelled. Nothing is charged for a booking cancelled this way, and anything already paid for it is handled as described in our cancellation terms.

9. House rules

The Space works because members look after it and each other. You agree to:

• Use the Space for lawful, professional purposes during your tier's hours, and never as a residence or for overnight stays.
• Keep shared areas tidy and noise reasonable; take calls in the lounge.
• Treat everyone in the Space with respect. Harassment, discrimination, threats, or behaviour that makes the Space unsafe or unwelcoming for others is a serious breach of this Agreement, and we may end your membership for it under section 17, with effect when our notice is delivered.
• Bring no pets other than service animals, and not smoke or vape anywhere on the premises, including the patio.
• Use the kitchen, printer, and other shared equipment carefully and as intended, and report anything broken.
• Not store anything hazardous, flammable, or illegal in the Space, and not run any business here that would breach our lease or insurance (we'll tell you if a use is a problem).
• Follow the current version of the house rules, which we may update from time to time by posting them in the Space and on the website.

Damage

Your responsibility. Normal wear, and minor mishaps that leave nothing needing repair or replacement (a spill that wipes up, an ordinary scuff), cost you nothing. If you, or anyone you bring in, cause damage beyond normal wear, you are responsible for the reasonable, documented cost of repairing it, even if it was an accident. Where repair is not reasonably practical, we may charge a reasonable replacement cost that accounts for the item’s age and condition.

The statement. We document damage with dated photographs and a written explanation, and an owner reviews the evidence. We then email you an itemized statement showing the amount, the reason, the evidence, a link to pay, how to contact us with questions or to dispute, and the response date. We do not charge for pre-existing damage, ordinary wear, or damage where responsibility is unclear.

The response date. The response date is 14 calendar days after the statement is delivered, counted in Pacific time. A statement is delivered when it is sent to the email address on your account and is not returned as undeliverable. If it is returned, we send it another way, and the 14 days start again from when that delivery is made.

Paying early. You can pay at any time before the response date using the link in the statement. If you do, nothing further is charged.

Automatic payment. If by the response date you have neither paid nor disputed the statement, we will charge the stated amount to your saved card on or after that date. At least 3 days before the charge, we email you a reminder with the amount and the date. We email you a receipt after it. If no card is saved, or the charge is declined or needs your authorization, we email you a payment link instead, payable within 14 days. Not responding does not mean you agree with the charge or give up any rights.

Disputes. To dispute, reply to the statement email, email us or call us before the response date. While we review it, we will not charge your card or send payment requests or reminders. We then email you our findings. If we find you are not responsible, the statement is cancelled and nothing is charged. If we find you responsible for a lower amount, the original statement is cancelled and we send a revised statement for that amount. Only the amount we find due is charged, on the later of the original response date or 7 days after we send our findings. If that would give you less than 3 days’ notice, the charge date moves so you get the full reminder.

After a payment or charge. You can still dispute a damage payment within 60 days after it is made, in the same ways. If we find any amount was charged incorrectly, we refund it to the card within 10 business days of our findings. This does not affect any rights you have with your card issuer.

No double charges. Each statement is collected once. Paying early cancels the automatic payment, and a revised statement replaces the original.

10. Your belongings

Anything you bring into the Space — laptops, phones, documents, bikes, everything — is brought and left at your own risk. The Space is shared, and we don't guarantee its security. Please don't leave valuables unattended, and please carry your own insurance for your equipment; most renter's, homeowner's, or business policies can cover it. Items left behind after a membership ends may be treated as abandoned after 30 days.

11. Wi-Fi, data, and confidentiality

The Wi-Fi is a shared network. It is provided as-is, and you're responsible for securing your own devices and data (a VPN and up-to-date software are the sensible minimum). Don't use the network for anything unlawful or anything that would disrupt other members. The Space is open-plan: we can't guarantee that conversations, screens, or papers won't be seen or overheard, so take your own precautions with confidential work. In turn, you agree to respect other members' confidential information and not to use anything you overhear or see here for your own advantage.

12. The member directory

We keep a directory so people can find the members who work here. It is opt-in. Nothing goes in it unless you ask us to add it, and we agree with you what your entry says. It comes in two forms: the Members directory, which shows your business name and contact name, and the Members directory – detailed, which can also show what you do, your website, your phone number and your email address. We choose which form each screen in the building shows. That includes the screen at the street door, which can be read from the sidewalk. You can be on the street-door screen, the screens inside the Space, both or neither. Current members who are signed in can also see the directory on their own devices. Your phone number and email address appear only if you choose to show them on your details page. Each is off until you turn it on, and you can turn it off there at any time.

We manage the directory. To come off either screen, or both, or to leave the directory altogether, ask us and we will make the change within one working day. When your membership ends, we take you off both automatically.

Please treat the directory the way you would want yours treated: it is there so people can find each other, not a list to sell from. Using it to send unsolicited marketing, or copying it or passing it on to anyone outside the Space, is a breach of this Agreement.

13. Mail handling and the virtual office

Every membership includes mail service at the Space at no extra charge, and you may use the Space's street address to receive ordinary business mail and packages. It is not set up automatically: to use it, choose Add virtual office on your member page.

Your mailbox number. When you choose Add virtual office, we reserve a mailbox number for you and email you Form 1583, prefilled with our details, that number and the details you gave us. Your mail service starts only after we have reviewed your signed form, your two forms of identification and how it was signed, and confirmed it; we then email you your full mailing address. Until then we cannot accept mail for you. Mail must be addressed to you at the Space with that number included — for example, 122 South E Street PMB 104, Exeter, CA 93221. This is a Postal Service requirement rather than our preference: mail addressed to the Space without your number may be refused or returned, and we cannot accept it on your behalf. Your number is yours alone, and it is not reissued to anyone else after you leave.

Form 1583. Because we accept mail on your behalf, the Postal Service requires PS Form 1583 from you. Before The Colab can accept mail for you, you must complete PS Form 1583, provide the required identification — two forms, one a photo ID and one showing your home address — and sign or confirm the signature in the physical or real-time audio-and-video presence of The Colab or an authorized employee, or acknowledge the signature in the physical or real-time audio-and-video presence of a notary public commissioned in the United States. The simplest way is to come in and do it with one of us. We keep the signed form and copies of those documents on file for as long as the Postal Service requires, and we may be required to produce them to the Postal Service on request. Until the completed form and identification have been verified and recorded, we cannot accept mail for you.

What we do and do not do. We hold mail and packages for pickup during business hours. We're not responsible for items once handed to you, or for perishable or hazardous items. Mail that arrives after your membership ends is handled as described under When your membership ends. The address is not a registered-agent or legal-service address unless we agree otherwise in writing.

When your membership ends. Your mailbox closes with your membership, unless a virtual office you still pay for keeps it open, and your mailbox number is never given to anyone else. For the period the Postal Service requires (currently at least six months), we keep accepting mail addressed to you and re-mail it, at our cost, to the forwarding address you give us, usually once a week. We may ask you to collect a large parcel instead. Until you give us an address, we hold your mail for you to collect. After that period, mail that still arrives for you is handled as the Postal Service requires for a former customer. Please give your new address to everyone who writes to you. Neither of us files a change-of-address order with the Postal Service for this address.

14. Assumption of risk and release of liability

Please read this section carefully. It limits your right to bring a claim against us.

Assumption of risk. You understand that using a shared workspace carries ordinary risks, including slips, trips, and falls (including on the stairs to the Space and on the patio); injuries from furniture, doors, kitchen equipment, hot drinks, and shared appliances; contact with other members and guests; illness; and loss, theft, or damage to property. You accept these risks voluntarily, and you're responsible for your own safety and for using the Space in a reasonable way.

Release. To the fullest extent California law allows, you release The Colab, LLC, its members, managers, employees, and agents, and the owner of the building (together, the "Released Parties") from all claims, demands, and liability for injury, illness, death, or property loss or damage arising out of your or your guests' use of the Space, its equipment, and its amenities, including claims arising from the ordinary negligence of the Released Parties. This release does not apply to gross negligence, wilful misconduct, or fraud, or to any liability that cannot be released under California law.

Waiver of California Civil Code section 1542. You understand that this release covers claims you don't know about yet, and you expressly waive the protection of California Civil Code section 1542, which reads: "A general release does not extend to claims that the creditor or releasing party does not know or suspect to exist in his or her favor at the time of executing the release and that, if known by him or her, would have materially affected his or her settlement with the debtor or released party."

Indemnity. You'll cover the Released Parties for claims, losses, and reasonable legal costs brought by anyone else that arise from your or your guests' conduct in the Space, your breach of this Agreement, or your business activities.

15. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, the Released Parties' total liability to you for anything arising out of your membership or use of the Space is limited to the membership fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. We're not liable for indirect or consequential losses, including lost business, lost data, or lost profits — for example, if the Wi-Fi is down, the Space is closed for a day, or an amenity is unavailable. Nothing in this Agreement limits liability that the law says can't be limited, including for death or personal injury caused by our gross negligence.

16. Insurance

We carry general liability insurance for the Space. That policy covers us; it does not cover your belongings, your business, or your own liability to others, so please carry insurance that does.

17. Ending the Agreement

You can end it by cancelling (section 4). Your membership runs to the end of the period you have already paid for. If you change your mind before then, you can keep your membership by asking us.

We can end it, always by written notice to the email address on your membership, for these reasons:

• A serious or repeated breach of this Agreement or the house rules, or behaviour that endangers or intimidates others. An owner makes this decision. It takes effect when the notice is delivered to the email address on your membership, or at a later time the notice states: your membership and its door access end then, even if part of the current period remains. An email that cannot be delivered is not notice. The current period is not refunded. Any whole monthly periods you have paid for beyond it are refunded.
• An unpaid balance. If a payment fails, we tell you and our payment provider tries the card again automatically over the following days. Your membership and its access continue while it does. If the final automatic attempt also fails and our payment provider cancels your billing, your membership ends and its access with it — usually about a week after we first tell you, though it can be a little more or less. We will email you when it has ended, with the time it ended. The unpaid balance is still owed.
• Closing, moving or materially changing the Space, on at least 30 days' written notice, with a pro-rata refund of the unused part of the current period.
• Without cause, on at least 30 days' written notice. Your membership, its benefits and its access continue through the termination date. We refund any fees you have paid for time after that date, and we will not bill you beyond it. We will never end a membership for a reason that is unlawful, discriminatory or retaliatory.

A notice that your membership will end gives the date it ends. Until that date your membership and its access continue as normal. A notice that your membership has ended confirms the end and what happens next.

If we end this Agreement because of your conduct, we may also decline future memberships, virtual offices, day passes or bookings from you. That decision is made for you individually by our authorized approvers, and is recorded with its scope and a date when it will be reviewed. You can ask us to review it at any time by writing to [email protected]. It does not change what either of us owes the other for payments, refunds or your post.

Teams. If you pay for a team, each seat on it ends when your membership ends, and we tell each seat holder the date their access ends. If you hold a seat on a team, your access ends when the member who pays removes you or when their membership ends. We tell you the date. We do not share the paying member's reasons, billing or account details with you, or yours with them beyond what the seat requires.

When the Agreement ends:

• we remove your door code and clear any fingerprint you enrolled, and you return any physical key;
• member bookings after the end date are cancelled;
• unused credits are forfeited (section 5);
• your mailbox is handled as section 13 describes.

The sections on your belongings, risk, release, liability and general terms continue to apply.

18. Photos and marketing (optional)

We sometimes photograph member events and the Space for our website and social media. You'll be asked separately whether you're happy to appear in those photos; saying no has no effect on your membership, and you can change your answer at any time by emailing us.

19. General

Electronic acceptance. You agree that accepting this Agreement online — by typing your name and confirming — is your electronic signature, and that it has the same effect as signing on paper, under the federal E-SIGN Act and California's Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. We'll email you a copy, and keep a record of the date, time, and version you accepted.

Changes. We may update this Agreement. If a change materially affects you, we'll email you at least 30 days before it takes effect and ask you to accept the new version at your next renewal; continuing to use the Space after that is your acceptance.

Governing law. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the State of California. Any dispute we can't resolve together will be handled in the state or federal courts serving Tulare County, California.

Entire agreement. This Agreement, together with the documents it incorporates, is the whole agreement between us about your membership. If any part of it is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. Neither of us waives a right by not exercising it straight away. You can't assign this Agreement; we may assign it to a successor that takes over the Space.

Notices. We'll email you at the address on your membership; you can email us at [email protected] or write to The Colab, LLC, 122 South E Street, Exeter, CA 93221. When this Agreement gives a number of days' notice, we count calendar days in Pacific time, starting the day after the notice is delivered to you. The change or ending takes effect no earlier than the start of the day after the last day of notice.

20. Acceptance

By accepting, you confirm that you are at least 18, that you’ve read this Agreement including sections 14 to 16, and that you agree to it. When you join online, this is where you'll type your full name, tick the confirmation, and continue to payment. Your acceptance record will show your name, email, tier, the date and time, and Agreement version 1.20.

Questions before you sign: [email protected].