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Terms and Conditions

1.              MY FEES: My minimum fee for a brief matter is £85.00. My hourly rate is £185. I reserve the right to vary the rate, particularly in respect of extremely urgent and/or complex or unusual matters or those that require particular expertise. It would save time, expense and mistakes if as early as possible before the appointment you let me have originals or photocopies of your evidence of identification, any letter or other form of instruction you have received about what has to be done with the documents and the documents to be notarised. Continuing instructions in any matter amounts to the acceptance of these terms and conditions.

2.              V.A.T: I am not registered for VAT.

3.              DISBURSEMENTS: Additionally the client is responsible for all disbursements, including such of the following as are applicable: (1) legalisation fees payable to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and/or Embassies etc; (2) translators'/interpreters' fees; (3) Companies House search fees; (4) Agents fees; (5) travelling expenses where applicable; (6) couriers' and/or other transmission costs.

4.              PAYMENT: My charges are normally payable upon signature/release of the notarised document(s), although subsequent work may remain to complete the matter. I accept payment by direct bank transfer and debit card.

4.1              If you have negotiated a regular invoice account with me, I will issue my invoice to you with the completed documentation, for payment within seven days.

4.2              Any queries concerning an invoice should be raised immediately upon receipt.
4.3              In the event of payment not being made as requested, I reserve the right to decline to act  any further on your behalf and/or to exercise a lien on any papers or documents which are in my possession, until payment has been made.

 4.4             In the event of payment not being made as requested, Interest is chargeable from 7 days following the date of the invoice at a rate of 4% per annum above Barclays Bank Base Rate from time to time in force.

 

 

5.               QUOTATIONS & ESTIMATES: Every effort will be made to provide you with a quotation for the total cost of undertaking the work on your behalf. Except in the most routine cases, it may be difficult to estimate how many hours of work will be required to complete a matter, bearing in mind the variety of circumstances that may arise. However, guidance as to likely costs will be given, where possible, on request. Any estimates given will be based on the information available to me at the time and, although given in good faith, will not be binding. Variations in the instructions given, including requests for additional work or unexpected developments and/or inexperience, incompetence or lack of co-operation on the part of other parties or their advisers may increase costs.

 

6.               SPECIAL FACTORS may affect the fee rate e.g. (1) complexity, difficulty or novelty; (2) skill, labour, specialised knowledge and responsibility; (3) time; (4) number and importance of documents prepared or perused; (5) place and circumstances in which the business or any part is done; (6) value of money or property involved; (7) importance of the matter to the client; (8) urgency, disruption, dislocation/re-arrangement of other work; (9) work unavoidably undertaken out-of-office hours.

 

7.               TIME CHARGE: this includes all work undertaken on your matter from start to finish, including preliminary details and advice, preparation, attendances, drafting, phone calls, emails, correspondence, faxes, copying documents, legalisation and terminal work including updating the Notarial Register and Protocol.

8.               PLACE OF ATTENDANCE: Your personal attendance at my office is preferable where my own photocopying and experienced secretarial facilities are available as required. Arrangements can be made for me to attend your place of business. In cases justifying attendance at your own address - e.g. in the event of incapacitation – subject to my sole discretion, special arrangements can be made but this inevitably increases time and expense.

9.               FUNDS ON ACCOUNT: I reserve the right to ask for money to be paid on account of work to be done, disbursements to be made or expenses to be incurred. Such funds are held in the Notary’s client account until such time as an invoice is submitted or a payment made on a client's behalf. Credits to the Notary's client account should be made in sufficient time to allow for bank clearance before they are required.

10.             FOREIGN LAW: I do not advise on foreign law but act in an evidential, authentication capacity.

11.                 YOUR OWN PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS:
11.1              In relation to certain transactions, I would expect you to have obtained advice from your own (a) English lawyer(s) and/or (b) relevant foreign lawyer(s), and/or (c) other competent professional advisers. You may potentially be taking a huge risk of relying on documents prepared by another party or its adviser(s), without yourself taking independent legal or other competent professional advice.
 11.2             If you have not done so, you may be advised to obtain advice from (a) English lawyer(s) and/or (b) relevant foreign lawyer(s), and/or (c) other competent professional advisers before the transaction proceeds.

12.               URGENCY: Urgency and/or expense must not override essential accuracy and validity.

13.              STANDARDS: Clients are requested to be mindful that Individual notaries do not write the Rules but have to follow internationally recognised and acceptable procedures. Also, professional requirements in the U.K. have become more stringent and onerous through progressive assimilation with European notarial standards, and global developments affecting notarial practice.

14.            STRINGENT RESPONSIBILITIES: Whether you or your agents or other parties wish it or not, when acting as a Notary Public I must insist on satisfactory compliance with and/or reliable proof of all appropriate matters, e.g. relating to (1) your identity, (2) your legal capacity/authority, (3) your comprehension and approval, (4) interpretation/translation, (5) documentary objective, (6) form and substance,  (7) voluntary act/undue influence etc.  (8) alterations in the document, (9) due signature(s), (10) witnessing, (11) observance of other stipulated formalities at home and abroad, (12) Foreign & Commonwealth Office and/or Consular legalisation.

15.            RECIPIENT'S REQUIREMENTS:  If the foreign country/authority/ party with whom you are dealing stipulates that documents are to be notarised, then they will not settle for less. Short cuts should be avoided to ensure that the document is accepted and not rejected by the recipient country and/or authority. The cost of rejection is delay, missing a vital deadline, possible financial loss to you or others and having to start all over again, at greater expense/loss of time to you.

16.            FOREIGN & COMMONWEALTH OFFICE AND/OR CONSULAR LEGALISATION: Most countries require notarised documents to receive further certification (usually termed "an Apostille") by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office; and/or legalisation by the relevant High Commission/ Embassy/Consulate. Usually I arrange this by post, but clients may if they prefer deal with it themselves in person or by courier - especially if the matter is extremely urgent.

17.           REGISTER & PROTOCOL:  At the conclusion of the transaction, a formal register entry has to be made by me as a permanent record; and a protocol copy set of the notarised documentation is customarily kept. Frequently, a fully executed set of duplicate originals is required, or advisable, to be retained by me. In some instances, I may retain the original and issue a certified copy.

18.           DATA PROTECTION:  My practice is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).  I comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”). Please click on the link to read my Data Protection Privacy and Consent Notice.

19.           FORCE MAJEURE:  I will not be liable for any loss or damage arising as a direct or indirect result of the supply of services being prevented, hindered, delayed or rendered uneconomic by reason of circumstances beyond my control, including but not limited to Act of God, war, riot, strike, lock out, trade dispute or labour disturbance, accident, breakdown of machinery, fire, flood, storm or difficulty or increased expense in obtaining information or services of any description.

20.           DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY TO THIRD PARTIES: No liability whatsoever will be accepted on my part, agents or staff in relation to any loss, damage or liability whatsoever caused directly or indirectly to any party other than the client for whom I have agreed to act in connection with the relevant matter. No third party shall have any right to enforce any contract to provide advice or services or to rely upon any advice given or opinion expressed by me or on my behalf. The application of any legislation conferring on third parties contractual or other rights, including the Contract (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 shall be excluded insofar as permitted by law.

21.           DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY: In any event, no liability whatsoever will be accepted on my part, agents or staff where such liability either arises from any instructions or information given by the client or by any third party being incomplete, inaccurate or incorrect; or where such liability is for any indirect, economic or consequential loss or damage, costs, expenses or other claims for consequential compensation whatsoever or howsoever caused which arise out of or in connection with the services provided by the firm or for loss of profit, loss of business, loss of data, depletion of goodwill or loss occurring in the normal course of business or otherwise.

 

22.         MY LIABILITY: I carry professional indemnity liability cover in the sum of £1 million therefore I limit the level of my liability to you to £1 million, unless you are injured or die as a result of my negligence, in which case my liability is without limit.

23.         JURISDICTION: The law which governs my contract with you is English law and it is agreed that English courts shall have sole jurisdiction in the case of any dispute.

24.          CONFIDENTIALITY:  I attach great importance to dealing with clients' affairs in strict confidence. However, the professional body regulating Notarial practice also has rights of inspection to ensure good practice and conduct.

25.          E-MAIL:  It is my policy to use e-mail wherever possible. Where a client has provided me with an e-mail address, e.g., by sending me an e-mail, I will assume that I may use that address for the sending of unencrypted sensitive or confidential correspondence or documents to the client. I may also, during the course of a matter, send unencrypted sensitive or confidential information to other persons involved, unless specifically requested by them or the client not to do so. All e-mails sent and the attachments thereto should be scanned for viruses by the recipient.

26.          MONEY LAUNDERING REQUIREMENTS:  I operate a money laundering reporting procedure as required by law whereby, in the event of any suspicion as to money laundering, information will be revealed to the appropriate authorities. All payments to my client account must be made via a UK clearing bank. Clients will be required to provide satisfactory proof of identity and full details of the source and proposed destination of funds. Pending this, funds may be frozen and I will not accept any responsibility for loss or delay caused by the failure of clients to provide such information promptly.

 

27.          TERMINATION/YOUR RIGHT TO CANCEL:

27.1     I reserve the right to terminate my engagement by you if I have good reason to do so, for example if you do not pay a bill or comply with my request for payment on account, or you fail to give me the co-operation that I am reasonably entitled to expect.

27.2       You may terminate your instructions to me at any time by giving me reasonable written notice. All fees and disbursements incurred up to the date of termination will be charged. Where the cooling-off period under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 applies, you have a cancellation period of 14 days after the date you have instructed me and I have accepted your instructions (your contract). You can cancel your contract within the cancellation period by giving me a clear statement and I will reimburse all payments received from you by the same method that you used. If you ask me to begin work during the cancellation period, you may still cancel but you must pay me an amount in proportion to the work which I have carried out.  

28.          REGULATION: This practice is regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury who may be contacted at The Faculty Office, 1 The Sanctuary, London SW1P 3JT, Email faculty.office@1thesanctuary.com Website: www.facultyoffice.org.uk., Telephone: 020 7222 5381.

 

 

29.          COMPLAINTS: This practice is regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Faculty Office, 1 The Sanctuary London SW1P 3JT, Email faculty.office@1thesanctuary.com  Website: www.facultyoffice.org.uk.

If you are dissatisfied about the service you have received please do not hesitate to contact me. If we are unable to resolve the matter you may then complain to The Notaries Society of which I am a member, who have a Complaints Procedure which is approved by the Faculty Office who will refer the complaint to be considered by one or several independent notaries. This procedure is free to use and 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, P O Box 7655, Milton Keynes MK11 9NR, email secretary@thenotariessociety.org.uk  Tel: 01604 758908.  If you have any difficulty making a complaint in writing, please do not hesitate to call the Faculty Office on 020 7222 5381 for assistance.  Finally, even if you have your complaint considered under the 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, if you are not happy with the result make your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, P O Box 6806, Wolverhampton WV1 9WJ, Tel: 0300 5550333, email: enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk. Website www.legalombudsman.org.uk If you decide to make a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, you must refer your matter to the Legal Ombudsman within one year from the act/omission or within one year from when you should reasonably have known there was cause for complaint.

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