FAQ & Payments

How can I pay? 

Our preferred option is payment by DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD.

For card payments, all clients immediately receive an automated emailed payment receipt.

We also accept payment by:

• PAYPAL
• BANK TRANSFER

What do I need to bring to my meeting with the notary?

Please ensure that you bring you identity documents to your meeting with the notary as without this the notary cannot assist you. 

Please ensure that you bring the following to your meeting:

Your Passport OR Photo-Drivers License; &

A recent Utility Bill (up to four months old) OR a Bank, Mortgage or Credit Card Statement addressed to you at the address we have for you;

We scan copies of these documents and return the same to you.

Will the notary take a copy of the documents that he notarises?

Yes we will normally scan an electronic copy of all documents that we notarise, including your identity documents and retain the same in our securely protected records.

Are the records taken by the notary protected by Data Protection laws?

Yes all notaries are required to register with the The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). We are registered at the ICO with Data Protection registration number Z2308783.

All records retained by the notary are protected and are held in strict accordance with all Data Protection laws such as the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. 

It is an extremely strict and serious requirement on any notary that all records are held in a manner that complies with all Data Protection legislation and obligations. 

What is the cost of having a document notarised?

A typical meeting will frequently cost in the reign of £90 and we will always supply you with a fee quotation for your agreement before proceeding to undertake any work for you.

If legalisation and/or consularisation and/or a translation is required, as is commonly the case, then the fees will be greater. If addition travel is required the fee may increase and if a late evening or weekend meeting is required the fee will increase.

If you have more than one document then the volume of documents requiring notarisation will have a bearing on the fee we quote to you and if you have a particularly large number of documents, the cost of notarisation will inevitably increase.

We will always quote you an exact fee in a transparent manner and also require your confirmation of agreement to our quoted fee before agreeing to see you. This way you know exactly what you are paying before meeting up with the notary public. 

Generally depending on exactly what you require and the number of documents and the time scales required, the fees will vary.

There is therefore no absolute definitive set fee for every client and we will also charge on a time basis and also in accordance with the complexity and particular requirements of your case. 

Depending on exactly what you require you may also have to pay disbursements i.e. fees to third parties on your behalf by the notary. Examples of disbursements include Foreign Office Legalisation fees or Consulate fees and/or courier fees if you require us to send your document overseas.

We are a VAT registered comany and our VAT Registration Number is 248 4697 59.

HOW ARE YOUR COSTS CALCULATIONS ADVISED TO YOU?

The notarial practice Rules strictly require us to give you a written costs quotation before
undertaking any work for you.

Please apply for a costs quotation before attempting to see us, to save time at the meeting.
We will always automatically supply a written quotation to you in advance of any pre-
booked meeting.

For any without notice walk-in appointments, which we welcome, you will still be given a
written quotation, in advance of any notarial work, for you to confirm agreement to before
we start work.

HOW ARE COSTS CALCULATED?

The following factors will always have a strong bearing and influence on your pre-instruction
written costs quotation:

1. The overall urgency or speed of service you require
2. Number of Documents we notarise for you
3. Number of Signatories or parties we undertake notarisation on behalf of
4. Type of Documents e.g. whether corporate or personal
5. Size of Documents we notarise e.g. documents running into several hundreds of
   pages or more in length, will incur higher charges in comparison to single page
   documents
6. Amount of meeting time required and/or number of separate meetings required
7. Travel / Mobile notary services and overall travel times required.
8. Whether meetings are required outside of working hours or at unsociable times or on week-ends
9. Whether drafting of notarial certificates/documents is required and drafting time involved
10. Foreign Office Apostille / Legalisation is required
11. Speed of Apostille/Legalisation service
12. Consulate legalisation is required
13. Speed of Consulate Legalisation required
14. Complexity of your documentation
15. Value of your transaction e.g. urgent financial transactions between multi-national companies are likely to involve higher fees than non urgent and non-financial documentation for private individuals
16. Research needed to be undertaken on your behalf
17. Whether third party documentation needs to be ordered on your behalf e.g. documentation from Companies House or from foreign commercial registries
18. Whether Translation services are required and if so the type of language(s) translation is required for and the volume of the translation
19. Speed / urgency of the Translation service
20. Notarised / Apostille of Translator’s Affidavit required
21. Delivery required and the form and speed of delivery e.g. By Hand Delivery in central London, Royal Mail Special Delivery postage or DHL Courier overseas delivery

The following four costs calculation illustrations give an indication of costs calculations for
specific situations:

ILLUSTRATION 1
A typical notarial appointment during working hours for a single pre-prepared document
– £75 plus VAT (£90).

ILLUSTRATION 2
Drafting of your paperwork is required for a single document where your overall instruction
can be completed in under around 30-40 minutes
– £120 plus VAT (£144)

ILLUSTRATION 3
A mobile/visiting notarial appointment for a single pre-prepared document for a meeting
involving less than 30 minutes travel time from our offices in Charing Cross
– £150 plus VAT (£180)

A mobile/visiting notarial appointment for a single pre-prepared document for a meeting
involving around one hour travel time from our offices in central London to Heathrow
Airport
– £250 plus VAT (£300)

ILLUSTRATION 4
A single personal document requiring notarisation and Apostille/Legalisation will always
involve the following four costs elements:
(1) Company fee
(2) VAT
(3) Apostille Agent’s fee
(4) FCO Legalisation fee

For a single document, notarised at our offices, in a non-urgent case:

All of the above four illustrations assume that no consular legalisation is required and no
delivery charges arise because you collect your document by hand from our offices or the
documentation is given to you by hand at the conclusion of the meeting.

DISBURSEMENTS
Costs that we pay to third parties on your behalf, are known as “disbursements”. Not all
instructions will incur disbursements and you will always be given written advice of any
potential disbursements in your costs quotation.

The following information is stated simply to illustrate how the disbursements element of a
costs quotation might be calculated.

For notarial work the most common types of disbursements we pay are
Apostille/Legalisation fees to the Foreign Office and also the Apostille Agent’s fees, to
courier you documents to and from the Foreign Office by hand.

The Foreign Office fees vary according to the speed of Apostille/Legalisation as follows:

The Apostille Agent’s fees vary according to the speed of Apostille/Legalisation as follows:

If your document requires legalisation by a Consulate in addition to Foreign Office
legalisation, then the Consulate will charge consulate fees.

The consulate fees vary considerably between different countries. For example at current
rates the Tunisian Consulate in London charge only £2 per document. Conversely the
immediately neighbouring United Arab Emirates Consulate in London in comparison charge
a notable £450 per commercial document.

The fees of the consulate regularly change from time to time. Please see the following web
page to view the fees current charged by the various consulates located in London:
https://www.notarypublic.london/consular-legalisation/

The consulate fees where applicable will be included in any detailed written costs quotation
we supply to you.

Translators fees vary according to the volume of text and the language(s) involved and the
urgency of the translation. We will request a copy of your documentation is supplied to the
translator who will supply a costs quote in writing to us before we supply the same
information in a written costs quote to you.

Other disbursements relate to DHL courier fees or Royal Special Delivery fees or Royal Mail
Signed for Delivery fees. Delivery fees vary according to the weight of your delivery and the
speed of your delivery. DHL delivery fees also vary between different countries.

VAT (value added tax)
We are a VAT registered company and our VAT Registration Number is 248 4697 59.

Any fee quotation we supply to you will state in United Kingdom pounds and pence the total
VAT payable for your case, based on the current VAT rate of 20%.

VAT is not charged on the Foreign Office Apostille/Legalisation fees.

HOW ARE COSTS CALCULATED FOR THE RESERVED LEGAL ACTIVITIES?
The various reserved activities we undertake outside of pure notarial work are costed as
follows.

Probate
Probate matters are charged out at a rate of £220 plus VAT per hour.

Probate matters also incur third party disbursement costs, amongst others, with the
Probate Registry as follows:

Wills
A simple Will for a single person is charged at £150 plus VAT (£180).

Simple Mirror Wills for a married couple are charged at £250 plus VAT (£300).

More complex Wills involve a time based charge of £150 plus VAT (£200) per hour.

Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA)
A single LPA for a single person (e.g. where just either a Property & Affairs LPA or
alternatively just a Personal Welfare LPA is being completed) is charged at £250 plus VAT
(£300) plus Office of Public Guardian (OPG) registration fees of £82 and Royal Mail Special
Delivery fees.

Any additional LPAs forming part of the same instruction are charged at £120 plus VAT
(£144) plus the registration fee of £82 per LPA.

Trusts
Trust matters including the preparation and drafting of written Trust Deeds are charged out
at a rate of £220 plus VAT per hour.

Conveyancing
We no longer undertake complex commercial property or re-mortgage transactions or
residential sale and purchase transactions at full market value between unconnected
parties.

Transfers of Equity in residential property between immediate family members are charged
at £300 plus VAT (£360).

Conveyancing matters may incur third party disbursement costs with the Land Registry as
follows for Scale Two matters using our electronic on-line account with the Land Registry:

England and Wales Commissioner for Oaths
England and Wales use Commissioner for Oaths certification is supplied on a discretionary
basis. These relates to documents that are for use only in England and Wales and is not
applicable to documents to be used outside England & Wales.

The current statutory rate is £5.00 for taking the swearing of an Affidavit or the formal legal
declaration of a Statutory declaration, plus £2.00 per exhibit.

We will require the usual anti-money laundering requirements of proof of identification
documentation such as passport or driver’s licence and proof of address, to be presented in
order to complete any request.

Please note that for any document to be used outside of the United Kingdom, we only
provide notarial certification, as typically it will potentially be rejected without notarial
certification.

For documents not subject to or covered by the statutory rate then we will supply a costs
quotation based on your requirements.