Fees and Charges

Notary fees are generally based on the time spent on the matter and on the basis of an hourly charging rate.

CHARGES

Hilary Garnett charges £200 per hour with no VAT payable.

Jonathan Cornes charges £210 per hour with no VAT payable.

However, the cost of dealing with your document will, ultimately depend on a number of factors, the most significant of which is the time taken to complete the work on it. The notaries will try to review your document before the work is undertaken to give you a more specific estimate of the likely charges.

PAYMENTS OUT ON YOUR BEHALF

We may have to pay legalisation fees to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and/or a Foreign Embassy, High Commission or Consulate. It may also be necessary to pay for a translator or an interpreter and other payments may be required, including agent’s fees and travelling expenses. Your approval to these will be obtained and you will normally be required to make payment in advance of any such amounts.

BASIS OF CHARGING

If it is a simple matter of witnessing a document, a fixed fee will be charged. If there are complications or if the Notary Public is required to draft a document, obtain legalisation or some other authentication of the document, the charged raised will be based upon the time that is spent, based on the hourly rate set out above. This may include telephone calls made or received, letters sent and received, time spent in interviews, on drafting documents and on preparing the necessary entries in the notarial register.

Special factors

Special factors which might result in an increase in the charge to you include:

• Complexity or novelty;
• If the work has to be done away from our offices;
• Incomplete or ineffective documents where we have to spend time in liaising further with your advisers or agents who produce the documents;
• Special urgency, which may require us to drop other work to deal with yours or if the work unavoidably has to be dealt with outside office hours;
• The number and importance of the documents;
• The value of any money or property involved in the transaction for which the document has been produced;

Payment;

The notarial charges are normally payable upon signature of the document requiring notarisation and we reserve the right to retain any completed document until payment has been received.

RESPONSIBILITY

Please note that in any event, the Notary Publics responsibility in acting on your behalf is limited to the notarial formalities and appropriate incidentals connected to the documents in question, unless specifically instructed by you to draft or advise on any documentation, subject to us being provided with adequate instructions and time to carry out the transaction.