Notary Service London
Contact SATBIR SETHI, The Notary Public at our Mitcham Office on 020 8646 4885 or email her at Satbir@p-llp.net or contact KEVIN BEACH, The Notary Public at our Crawley Office on 01293 518 074 or email him at Kevin@p-llp.net.
Notary Work
Preuveneers LLP, Solicitors with Notaries is a long standing firm established in 1978. We have grown from strength to strength and have offices in Mitcham (Surrey) and Crawley (Sussex). We offer a wide
range of legal and Notarial Services for private clients and small businesses.
If you have to sign a legal document for another country, it probably won’t be valid unless you sign it in front of a Notary Public. We have Notaries in both of our offices who can notarise documents
which need to be sent anywhere in the world. We can often see clients on short notice, but it’s best to phone for an appointment first to be sure you don’t have to wait around. In most cases, you will
be able to take the notarised document away with you, at the end of your appointment.
ID check and Formalities
The law obliges us to confirm the identity and address of every person whose signature we notarise and we need to keep a copy of such evidence for our records. You will be asked to provide your current
Passport, or a Photo Driving Licence and Counterpart in place of your Passport. You will also be asked to provide a recent bank statement or utility bill in your name, confirming your residential address.
If you do not have any of the documents of Identity requested, please call the Notary who will discuss other options available to you.
Companies
If you are signing a document on behalf of a company, the Notary will need to see evidence of your authority to sign the document on behalf of the Company, e.g. by way of a Board Resolution. Directors
of the company often have automatic authority by virtue of their office, but "managers" do not. Please note that directors often intend to sign a Power of Attorney on behalf of the Company, but to sign
in their personal capacity. This is not possible as the Company cannot delegate their own powers to directors without a Board Resolution. All corporate powers of attorneys must be executed by the company
itself in accordance with its Articles of Association (or similar constitution for foreign companies).
It may be necessary for the Notary to carry out a search at the relevant companies registry to establish the company’s status and your authority. A separate charge will be made for this.
Extra work
Sometimes we have to contact government organisations or other bodies, to confirm the validity of documents presented to us.
From time to time, clients are not clear about what they need because they have received papers from abroad and the accompanying instructions are not precise. We then have to liaise with the overseas
lawyers or recipients to make sure that their requirements are dealt with properly.
We often have to amend the documents to suit the circumstances. We may also have to add a separate certificate to a document to help clarify matters.
All this can take time and in some circumstances there will be additional fees to reflect the additional work. However, all charges will be confirmed prior to carrying out the work, so you know what the
end bill will be.
Translations
All documents notarised in England must be in English or accompanied by a full and accurate English translation. If you need us to obtain the translation, we will enquire of a professional translator
and advise you of the extra charge to be paid in advance.
Certifying Copy Documents
When certifying copies of original documents the Notary must see the original. As such, we cannot certify copies of documents.
Please note that under UK law it is forbidden to photocopy a British Birth, Marriage or Death certificates, because the Crown holds the copyright for them. If you need copies of any of those certificates,
you should obtain them from the General Register Office: www.gro.gov.uk. If you have been asked to Legalise any of these document
we can arrange to do this for you.
If you require copies of a certificate that is not British, then there is usually no problem in copying it.
Legalisation
Most countries require notarised documents to be legalised with an "apostille", which is obtained from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), pursuant to the Hague Convention of 1961. The
FCO will charge £28.80 for each document, or £71.00 if it is very urgent.
Some countries still require documents to be legalised by their own consulates in addition to, or in place of the FCO legalisation. Some countries, most notably Arabic countries also require legalisation
by the Arab-British Chamber of commerce. They all charge different fees and their procedures vary.
Please note that the notarisation may be ineffective if the receiving country requires legalisation but it is not done. You should therefore check with the person who will be receiving the finished documents
from you what types of Legalisation they will require.
The Notary will always confirm what type of legalisation is required to ensure the document is effective in the receiving country, as well as the charges and a time scale in this regard.
Our work
Notarisation is not just "witnessing a signature". Notaries are public officials, authorised by the Royal Assent to confirm the authenticity and validity of acts and documents for international
purposes. Documents prepared or certified by Notaries are relied on by Governments, Courts, Embassies, Companies, Lawyers and Individuals anywhere in the world. We therefore have a strict duty to make
sure that, what is being done is legitimate and that the people coming to see us have the capacity and authority to sign the document. As well as signing, sealing, stamping and securing the documents,
we have to register and keep a permanent record of every document we deal with and may be called on by officials to produce copies at any time in the future. This will not incur any additional changes
to you.
Our charges
We charge approximately £80 for notarising a single standard document that has already been fully prepared for signature.
For all extra work, including travelling and waiting time if we are asked to attend a notarisation away from our office, our charge will be based on the time taken at the Notaries standard rate, which
will be confirmed upon enquiry.
Please note that that all charges must be paid in full before we take the documents for legalisation and before the notarised documents are released to you.
Payment is to be in Pounds Sterling and can be made by:
- Cash, with an upper limit of £400.
- Cheques
- Debit card (no surcharge)
- Credit card (we have to make a 2% surcharge for credit cards)
- Bank Transfers in advance
VAT
By law we must add VAT onto our Notarial service fees. The government may change the VAT rate from time to time.
Appointments
We can often see clients on short notice, but as the Notary may be out of the office or fully booked with appointments it is best to telephone the office to make a suitable appointment to ensure you do
not have to wait.
Regulation
In England and Wales, Notaries are regulated by the Faculty office of the Archbishop of Canterbury. You can see details here: www.facultyoffice.org.uk
The Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority have no jurisdiction whatsoever over Notarial work and practice, even if the notary is also a solicitor.
Contact SATBIR SETHI, The Notary Public at our Mitcham Office on 020 8646 4885 or email her at Satbir@p-llp.net or contact KEVIN BEACH, The Notary Public at our Crawley Office on 01293 518 074 or email him at Kevin@p-llp.net.
