Our fees and terms

Like most notaries, we charge fees based mainly on the amount of time that we spend notarising documents.

This work is not only the time spent in meeting you, but also in giving any preliminary advice, considering and notarising the documents, dealing with the Foreign Office or consulate, preparing the records that we have to keep, and any travel time.

Please call/email us so that we can discuss what needs to be done and give you a quotation for the cost. Please remember that we do not currently charge VAT, so that will help to keep the charge down.

The fee is normally payable at the time of your visit, and we are happy to accept payment by cash, cheque, BACS payment or card. If your documents need to be sent to the Foreign Office or consulate, or there are other special arrangements that need to be made, then this will incur additional charges. We are happy to give an estimate upon request.

For more information about our fees and other terms, please see below.

1. Our service and duties to you. We provide the service of English Notaries Public carrying out permitted notarial work, including if appropriate arranging with agents to legalise documents and send them to their final destination. We use our reasonable skill to verify documents and information. Our overriding responsibility is to the integrity and truth of the notarial act we perform. Our duty to you is limited to being satisfied that you understand the contents of the document you are signing, that you are entitled to sign it, and you intend to be bound by it. 
2. Legal advice. We cannot provide legal advice about the effect of any document, because we are not foreign lawyers qualified to do so, and are not sufficiently familiar with other languages. We strongly advise you to have any document prepared by lawyers qualified in the law of the country where it is to be used, and to take advice from them. We will do our best to make sure the document is able to achieve its purpose, but we are not responsible to you if it does not. 
3. Your responsibilities. You are responsible for making sure that you understand what you are signing, that you are willing to do so, and for satisfying us of this. We suggest that you read the document carefully before our meeting. We may ask you to obtain a translation of the document if it is not in English. You must also satisfy us as to your identity, so we will need to see your current passport and/or photo driving licence, a recent utility bill or bank statement, and any other document we may request. If you are signing on behalf of a company or other organisation, you will need to satisfy us that the company has the power to make the document and that you are authorised to sign it. To assist this we may need to search the Register of Companies, and if so the cost of this will be charged to you. 
4. Liability. So far as we are allowed by law to do so, but no further, our liability to you is limited to the amount we charge you for our services. In no case will our liability to you exceed £1,000,000. We have indemnity insurance to cover this, and can provide details upon request. The law governing our contract with you is that of England and Wales, the courts of which shall decide any dispute, irrespective of your nationality or where the document is to be used.
5. Our fees. We base our fees on a rate of £260 per hour with a minimum fee of £70. We charge for all time spent in relation to the matter, including preliminary advice, meeting you, dealing with the document, drafting notarial certificate, preparing our records, and any emails, letters, phone calls, etc. We do not currently charge VAT on our notarial fees. We can often agree with you a fixed fee. Occasionally unforeseen or unusual issues arise during the course of the matter which may result in a revision of a fee estimate, for example if further documents need to be notarised, or if translations or legalisations are needed. We will tell you of any changes in a fee estimate as soon as possible.
   Unless we agree otherwise, our fees are payable when we meet for you to execute the document, and we may keep the document until full payment is made.
   We normally accept payments by cash, cheque, BACS or card. In the rare case that we are unable to complete the notarial transaction, you are still liable to pay for the work we have done. If you are a business and wish to pay by BACS after submission of an invoice, we are happy to consider this, but it is likely to increase our charge.
6. Records. We store at our discretion electronic or paper copies of all notarial acts for as long as required by notarial rules and in accordance with Data Protection laws. This will include information personal to you which we need for identification or other purposes. We may share your information with our associated firm Davis Gregory Limited, Solicitors. Your information may be used for marketing purposes, unless you ask us not to do so. 
7. Apostilles and legalisation. Many countries require notarised documents to be legalised with an apostille and/or validated by an embassy: you should check with your lawyer whether this is necessary. We can arrange this as your agents, using a consular agent CDN Consular Services to deal with it. You will be responsible for meeting CDN’s fees (and any other expenses incurred on your behalf), and we can give you an estimate of these. We are unable to accept liability to you or others for direct or indirect loss caused by any deficiencies, delays or mislaid documents by agents, embassies, postal or courier services or others.   
8. Acceptance of your instructions. We may refuse instructions or cease to act without giving an explanation if we consider it appropriate to do so. This may be because we believe that your instructions are not compatible with our professional obligations, or for another reason. Our policy is to deal with documents for use abroad only as notaries, whether or not they could be verified by others e.g. solicitors.
9. Service information. Each notarial matter is different, and the requirements vary accordingly. Some of the key stages are likely to include:
   a. receiving and checking the document(s) to be notarised and any specific instructions about it;
   b. liaising with third parties eg your lawyers, Companies House, etc. as necessary;
   c. checking your identity, capacity and authority to sign the document, and that you understand what you are signing and do so willingly;
   d. if a document is to be certified, checking with the issuing authority that it is genuine;
   e. preparing a notarial certificate and attaching or endorsing it on the document;
   f. arranging for legalisation of the document as appropriate;
   g. noting what has been done and storing copies of all notarised documents as required by the Notarial Practice Rules 2019.
10. Complaints and Regulatory Information
    
    1. Our notarial practice is regulated by the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury:
    
    The Faculty Office
    1 The Sanctuary
    Westminster
    London
    SW1P 3JT
    
    faculty.office@1thesanctuary.com
    020 7222 5381
    www.facultyoffice.org.uk
    
    2. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received please do not hesitate to contact us.
    
    3. If we are unable to resolve the matter you may then complain to the Notaries Society of which we are members, who have a Complaints Procedure which is approved by the Faculty Office. This procedure is free to use and is designed to provide a quick resolution to any dispute. 
    
    4. In that case please write (but do not enclose any original documents) with full details of your complaint to: 
    
    The Secretary of The Notaries Society
    Old Church Chambers
    23 Sandhill Road
    St James
    Northampton
    NN5 5LH
    
    secretary@thenotariessociety.org.uk
    01604 758908
    
    If you have any difficulty in making a complaint in writing please do not hesitate to call the Notaries Society/the Faculty Office for assistance.
    
    5. Even if you have your complaint considered under the Notaries Society Approved Complaints Procedure, you may, at the end of that procedure, or after a period of six months from the date you first notified us that you were dissatisfied, make your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, if you are not happy with the result. (NB certain kinds of commercial entities are not eligible to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman - please refer to the Legal Ombudsman Scheme Rules or consult the Faculty Office). 
    
    Legal Ombudsman
    PO Box 6806
    Wolverhampton
    WV1 9WJ
    
    enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk
    0300 555 0333
    www.legalombudsman.org.uk
    
    6. If you decide to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you must do this:
    - Within six months of receiving a final response to your complaint, and
    - Within six years from the date of the act/omission; or
    - Three years from when you should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint (only if the act or omission took place more than six years ago).
    - The act or omission, or when you should reasonably have known there was a cause for complaint, must have been after 5th October 2010.

What is the next step?

Please call 01242 235202 to speak to us, or fill in the form on the right so we can contact you to discuss this without commitment and free of charge.