Charges

Most notary’s fees are broadly equivalent to those of a high street solicitor. As a rule of thumb this is about £275 per hour plus VAT. At the present time I don’t charge VAT. In exceptional cases, where particular urgency or skill is required, a notary will charge an additional fee. Provided that the document to be notarised is already prepared I can usually agree a fixed fee beforehand. Examples of my charges are shown below.

Whilst I don’t have a rigid minimum charge please note that my charge is very unlikely to be less than £90.

There may be additional charges for ‘legalisation’ or ‘consularisation’. Legalisation means having the document stamped by the UK Foreign Office in London with a stamp called an ‘apostille’. This is required in most European countries and some commonwealth countries. Some countries, particularly those in the Middle East, may also require consularisation which means an additional stamp is attached by its consulate in the UK.

The UK Foreign Office currently charge £40 per document plus (I would recommend) a £5 secure return delivery charge. Most states in the United States and most commonwealth countries do not usually require legalisation although India and Pakistan may require legalisation and consularisation for commercial documents.

The fees of consulates and the time they take vary considerably. I do have cost effective arrangements with another London notary to be able to obtain over the counter stampings from the Foreign Office and London based consulates.

Typical Charges

These are charges based upon typical transactions based on one or two persons signing. For Europe please remember there will be additional costs for legalisation at the UK Foreign Office.

Unites States sales, purchases and mortgages of property
Due to the extremely large amount of documentation usually required to be notarised in the United States, the charge is typically £200-250. Transactions involving more simple documentation e.g timeshare transfers would attract a lower fee.

Bulgaria, Romania and other Eastern European countries sales, purchases and mortgages
For powers of attorney and the ancillary money laundering documents £240.

Spain, France, Portugal and other Western European Countries
Powers of attorney £230.

Services as a Commissioner for Oaths

Work done in my capacity as a commissioner for oaths, namely the taking of  affidavits or declarations to be used in the United Kingdom, is charged at the statutory fee. Please note this only applies to documents which are pre-drafted, that is to say where I do not have to draft or prepare the document in any way. 

The fees are fixed by statute and at present are £5 per document and £2 for each  attached exhibit.