Notary Public Services in London

A Notary is a qualified lawyer – a member of the third and oldest branch of the legal profession in the United Kingdom. He is appointed by the Court of Faculties of the Archbishop of Canterbury and is subject to regulation by the Master of the Faculties. The rules which affect Notaries are very similar to the rules which affect Solicitors. They must be fully insured and maintain fidelity cover for the protection of their clients and the public. They must keep clients’ money separately from their own and comply with stringent practice rules and rules relating to conduct and discipline. Notaries have to renew their practising certificates every year and can only do so if they have complied with the rules.

A Notary Public, or Notary, can authenticate or legalise any document. A Notary Public may also be known as a Notario Publico, Notaio, Notario, Notar or a Notaire. A Notary can also if required by the receiving country provide apostille/legalisation services. The services of a Notary Public will usually be required if you have documents which are needed to be used abroad/overseas. The Notaries signature and seal will verify to the authorities in that country that the relevant checks have been carried out and this will enable the receiving country to rely upon the document which has been presented to them.

A Notary Public does not commonly give advice about the meaning or effect of a document or transaction. Documents presented to a Notary Public/ Notary may be in a foreign language. The notary must ensure that both they and the notary client understand the meaning and effect of the document. It is important that the notary client provides the Notary Public/ Notary any correspondence or advice that he has been given by others such as foreign agents/ lawyers.

A Notary prepares Notarial Acts (in public and private form), including Authentic Acts, mainly being documents executed in England and Wales for use everywhere in the world. This includes drafting, reviewing and explanation of legal documents for use outside the UK.

The Public Form is drafted by the Notary, which will include verification of identity, legal capacity and understanding of the document and awareness of the contents, confirming authority to enter into the transaction eg. in the case of a corporate body and also authenticating the contents after verifying the same.

Notaries are authorised and empowered to carry out all types of legal work carried out by solicitors, other than contentious work. This is a similar situation to that of the Notary in Civil Law jurisdictions. Accordingly, Notaries may deal with conveyancing, probate and Wills and all other types of non-contentious commercial and private legal work.

A Notary Public/ Notary is an independent officer and must not do anything to compromise this. Notaries are considered to be ‘gate keepers’ of money laundering and therefore should not act in matters where they have a personal interest or there is a conflict of interest, and are subject to professional rules and standards to ensure the protection of their clients.

A Notary Public/ Notary holds an official seal and Notarial Acts in England and Wales have probative force. Notarial Acts under the signature and seal of a Notary are recognised as evidence of a responsible official legal officer in all countries of the world. The Civil Procedure Rules of the Supreme Court of Judicature of England & Wales – rule 32.20 provide that “A Notarial Act or Instrument may be received in evidence without further proof as duly authenticated in accordance with the requirements of the law unless the contrary is proved”

Notaries Public have been appointed by legal authority in England and Wales since the thirteenth century. The Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533, created the Court of Faculties of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which is the oldest Court in England. The Court has the power to appoint Notaries Public acting through its president, the Master of the Faculties. The Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 and The Legal Services Act 2007 confirm these powers of the Master.

As officers of the law and holders of the Public Office of the Notary Public, the duties of Notaries Public are wide ranging and include the preparation and drawing up of private and public Authentic Acts and Instruments under their signatures and official seals, which are accepted and recognised throughout the world.

There are two basic types of Notarial Act; those in Private form and those in Public or authentic form. The private form is when a Notary annexes a Notarial Certificate by way of authentication of a document and its contents thus converting it into a Notarial Act.

An Apostille is a certificate issued by the foreign or commonwealth office in the UK & is the authentication of a document for use in another country.

The Apostille certificate confirms the signature, seal & stamp of the Notary Public to be genuine so that it is accepted when presented in another country outside the UK. The Apostille assures that any documents fraudulently ‘notarised’, purporting to be a Notary Public is not recognised & therefore reduces the risk of fraudulent documents being circulated around the world.

If the document being notarised is to be received by a country that is a signatory to the Apostille convention of 1961 – it is likely that you will require an Apostille. The purpose of the Hague Apostille Convention of 1961 is that once the country becomes a member/signatory there should no longer be any requirement for separate consular or embassy legalisation as long as the document has been notarised and apostilled. Our Notary Public will be happy to advise you on whether the recipient of the document will require an Apostille. If an Apostille is required, our Notary Public can advise you on the process of obtaining one, the cost & can arrange this for you.

At White Horse Solicitors & Notary Public we offer a Three-tier service for obtaining an Apostille:

• PREMIUM SERVICE – obtained from the Legalisation Office in Central London.

The FCDO offers this “same day” service to which we have access as registered users. This means documents ready to be lodged by our messengers (at an additional fee) by early afternoon on any working day should be returned to us before close of business on the same day. The FCDO currently charge £75 for each Apostille issued in Central London. At an additional cost we can provide a same-day Foreign and Commonwealth Office legalisation service. If you are able to get your documents to us by 11am, we can get this stamped by the (FCDO) and back to you later in the day (usually by 4:30pm)

• STANDARD SERVICE – obtained from the Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes.

We can arrange legalisation by Apostille through the Milton Keynes Office within 3-5 working days. The FCDO currently charge £30 for each Apostille issued in Milton Keynes Office and we charge a minimal administration fee per apostille.

We can arrange legalisation by E-Apostille for documents that have been electronically notarised by us. This is currently taking the FCDO 2 working days to turn around. The FCDO currently charges £30 for each E-Apostille, and we charge an administration fee per E-Apostille.

For countries which have not ratified the Hague Convention of 5th October 1961, documents must be legalised at the Consulate of the country in question. For some countries it will still be necessary to first obtain an Apostille. If the notarised document needs Consular legalisation more time is needed. Particularly in connection with some countries where the legalisation process requires two visits. Such countries include UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Tunisia, Taiwan, Vietnam, China and Uruguay.

We are highly experienced in the process of Consular legalisation; we understand the various requirements and know the likely time scales involved. If the notarised document donor is a company, the legalisation process can be more complicated as in the case of documents for Saudi Arabia. Documents for Saudi Arabia often have to be presented to the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry and/or the Arab Chamber of Commerce. We can advise, just ask.

At White Horse Solicitors & Notary Public we are familiar with all the procedures which can be many and varied, and can obtain legalisation whatever the intended country of use.

Following the implementation of the Money Laundering Regulations 2003, notaries are now obliged to keep sufficient evidence on their files of the identity and the address of all their clients before they undertake any services.

Each person whose signature they are to certify must provide one of the following original identification documents at the time of the appointment.

• Passport
• Full UK/ Foreign Driving Licence (with Photo Card)
• National Identity Card (EEA state members)
• An Armed Forces Pass (with Photo and Signature)
• Firearms Licence (with Photo and Signature)
• Other Government issue ID (with Photo and Signature)
• Residence Permit
• Benefit Book or original notification letter from Benefits Agency

If you do not have the above documents, you will have to ask the notary to advise you on how best to prove who you are.

In addition, they require proof of residence, which can be one of the following original documents:

• Bank statement or letter from bank
• Utility bill or Council Tax bill (not mobile phone bill)
• Tenancy agreement or Housing Association rent card
• Inland revenue tax demand or Self-Assessment statement

For corporate/business clients, notaries will (in addition to checking your personal identity) now need to establish that the company or organisation which you represent actually exists and in many cases that you are authorised to represent that company or organisation. In the case of companies or organisations based in the United Kingdom, the notary will generally conduct his own checks to satisfy himself that the company or organisation exists. In some cases (particularly for companies or organisations established overseas) he may ask you to produce certain documents.

These might include:

• Certificate of incorporation
• Extract from the company register
• Certificate of Good Standing
• Latest report and audited accounts
• Up to date certified copy of partnership agreement
• Evidence of being regulated by a regulatory body such as the Law Society or FSA.

If the notary has to certify your authority to represent a company or organisation, additional documentation will be requested, for example:-

• Constitutional documents (e.g. Memorandum and Articles of Association)
• Power of Attorney
• Chamber of Commerce certificate
• Board Resolutions
• Authorised signatory book (in the case of banks)

We will be happy to advise exactly what will be required in any particular case. Additional information may be required when we are acting for business clients. This is to ensure that a company check can be performed.

The cost will depend on the number of documents you require notarising. Our minimum charge for notarising one document is £100 plus VAT. If you require an Apostille, Consular or Embassy legalisation, the cost will depend on the number of documents & how quickly you require the documents to be apostilled &/or legalised

If we are required to notarise documents to confirm they are authentic- remote or online electronic notarisation is possible. At White Horse Notary Public, we have successfully carried out digital notarisations using the internationally recognised eIDAS Regulation standard “Qualified Electronic Signature” for use overseas and will continue to advise clients on the best course of action in this area. The resulting “qualified electronic signature” is recognised as having the same legal effect as a handwritten wet-ink signature. Examples of documents you may want a notary public to authenticate via remote electronic notarisation include:

Identity Documents including but not limited to

Passports, Driving Licence, ID Cards etc
Degree Certificates
Declarations
Criminal Record Checks i.e. DBS
Police certificates
TEFL certificates
Employment letters
School letters
A-Level/ GCSE certificates
GP reports

Please note that the above list is not intended to be exhaustive. There are many other documents that can be notarised online using the remote electronic notarisation method. Please do get in touch with us with any specific enquiries and we can advise accordingly.

White Horse Notary Public are based in London, but we offer a truly international notary service. Some of our clients are based in other countries, and never need to step into our office. If you’re based abroad and want to notarise a document, we can do this without a face-to-face appointment in London.

Whether you’re an individual living abroad, or setting up a business overseas, an online remote electronic notarisation service could help save you time and money.

Once your document has been notarised online or remotely, we can also arrange for it to be apostilled and/or legalised remotely, even if you are based abroad or do not wish to take out the time to visit our office. There may be additional documents that you will need to send us – this depends on the requirements of the consulate, but usually these can be scanned and emailed to us, or posted to us.

Please contact us for costs, timescales and additional requirements associated with apostille and/or consular legalisation.

For documents that require a Wet signature on the document to be notarised, online notarisation would not be possible. These documents require the person signing to appear before the notary public with photographic ID, and to sign the document in front of the notary.

There are other circumstances in which remote or electronic signatures are not able to be or should not be used, and English law does not currently allow us to formally take or administer oaths or act as witnesses to deeds or other documents unless we are in the physical presence of our client.