Regulatory Information

As a Notary Public, I am regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury which requires me to set out the following information:

Costs

• I quote fixed fees based on: urgency, complexity, language skills required, professional time needed (e.g. initial conversation/email exchange, reviewing documents, liaising with overseas lawyers, travelling &/or waiting time, meeting time, completing my mandatory notarial record, organising legalisation and delivery to you or your foreign lawyer).
• I do not charge VAT.
• My fees exclude any disbursements incurred on your behalf e.g. legalisation fees payable to the FCO and/or foreign Consulates, consular agents, postage, courier charges, translator’s fees etc.
• I will confirm fees and disbursements once the extent of the work is clear. To do this I will usually need to see draft documents & any instructions from your overseas adviser.
• Fees & disbursements would usually only increase in circumstances which are outside my control. For example if, after I have confirmed the fixed fees & disbursements, you request the notarisation of additional documents, the cost of legalisation, postage, agents, courier services etc. increases, additional meetings are needed e.g. because signatories forget to bring ID or other documentation with you, you or your overseas advisers change your requirements, etc.
• I review my charges regularly

Services

I provide notarial services (defined as a ‘reserved legal activity’ by section 12 Legal Services Act 2007).

I also provide translation services (Spanish/English).

For notarial services, you can generally expect the work to follow the pattern below:

• You provide me with the draft documentation and any instructions from your overseas adviser/lawyer.
• I confirm costs and availability. I am usually able to offer an appointment for a meeting within a few days unless I am on leave.
• The meeting takes place. For some documents, notarisation can be completed at the meeting. For others, I may need to complete notarisation afterwards. Even if you are not required to sign anything, I will need to meet you to carry out the usual ID checks.
• I expect my invoice to be paid at the meeting or immediately afterwards. If the disbursements required are expensive (e.g. a high volume of documents or Consulate charges are very high), I will usually require payment of my invoice before legalisation takes place. You can pay by cheque, cash or by BACS.

I do not release documents until my invoice has been paid.

• Once notarisation is completed, I will send documents off for legalisation, if this is needed. Once legalisation has taken place or if no legalisation is needed, I will despatch the documents to you or, if instructed to do so, send them by courier to your overseas lawyer.
• In most cases, the above process can be completed within 1 - 2 weeks depending on complexity, legalisation or authentication requirements and your own availability.

For translation services, the process is usually as follows:

• You provide me with the text to be translated.
• I confirm my fixed fee for either a certified translation or a notarised translation (the latter is often required overseas) & the timeframe within which I expect to be able to complete the translation. [I can usually complete translation work within 7 working days of confirmation of instructions unless the text is particularly long or holidays intervene.]
• You instruct me to proceed and return a signed copy of my terms and conditions.
• I prepare the translation in draft, confirm this to you & email my invoice.
• You settle my invoice. I finalise the translation and despatch it to you.
• If you need a notarised translation, we will need to meet as I will need to carry out identification checks. Once the notarised translation has been completed, I can then arrange any necessary legalisation before despatching to you.

Complaints

My notarial practice is regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury: The Faculty Office, 1, The Sanctuary, Westminster, London, SW1P 3JT; email Faculty.office@1thesanctuary.com website www.facultyoffice.org.uk . If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received please do not hesitate to contact me. If I am unable to resolve the matter you may then complain to the Notaries Society of which I am a member, which has a Complaints Procedure approved by the Faculty Office. This procedure is free to use & is designed to provide a quick resolution to any dispute. 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, PO Box 7655, Milton Keynes, MK11 9NR, Email secretary@thenotariessociety.org.uk Tel: 01604 758908. If you have any difficulty in making a complaint in writing please do not hesitate to call The Notaries Society for assistance. Finally, 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 eight weeks from the date you first notified me that you were dissatisfied, make your complaint direct to the Legal Ombudsman (LO)* if you are not happy with the result: Legal Ombudsman, Baskerville House, Centenary Square, Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2ND Tel: 0300 555 0333 Email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk Website: www.legalombudsman.org.uk. If you decide to make a complaint to the LO you must refer your matter to the LO within 6 months of receiving a final response to your complaint & either 6 years from the date of act/omission or 3 years from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint (only if the act or omission took place more than 6 years ago). The act or omission, or when you should have reasonably known there was cause for complaint must have been after 5th October 2010.
*certain kinds of commercial entities are not eligible to make a complaint to the LO - please refer to the LO Scheme Rules or consult the Faculty Office.

I maintain professional indemnity insurance of £1,500,000.