John is a Notary Public providing a full range of notary public services in Surrey, Richmond, Kent and Essex.
John is a Notary Public providing a full range of notary public services in Surrey, Richmond, Kent and Essex.
John is a Notary Public based in Surrey, Richmond Upon Thames, Kent and Essex whose work is recognised internationally. His primary function as a Notary Public is the authentication and certification of signatures, authority and capacity relating to company, business and personal documents for use abroad.
John is one of only 800 lawyers in England and Wales to be appointed as a Notary Public by the Court of Faculties of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is also a member of the Notaries Society.
John is committed to providing a professional, efficient and cost-effective notary public service for business and private clients.
In addition to his practice as a Notary Public, John is a Commercial Litigation Solicitor (with higher rights of audience) at an international law firm. He is admitted to practice in England and Wales and in Nigeria.
Areas served for appointments in Surrey, Richmond upon Thames, Kent and Essex:
Mobile notary services are available on request. This may be at your offices, home or other venues such as hospitals, care homes, prisons, ship in dock. John aims to be as flexible and accommodating as possible, so if you have a unique situation, just ask!
Please reach John at john.olatunji@heritagenotarypublic.co.uk or on 07554373295 if you cannot find an answer to your question.
A notary public is a member of the notarial profession which is the oldest and smallest branch of the legal profession – there are approximately 800 notaries public in England & Wales.
A notary public is a specialist lawyer who holds an internationally recognised public office and is authorised to authenticate documents for use abroad.
The notarial profession is an entirely separate part of the legal profession to that of a solicitor. Notaries public are also subject to separate rules, regulations and requirements.
John has been appointed as a notary public by the Court of Faculties of the Archbishop of Canterbury and he is regulated by the Master of the Faculties through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Whilst solicitors and notaries both provide legal services, a notary public carries out an entirely different role to that of a solicitor. Most notaries are also solicitors but the two roles are distinct and subject to separate rules, regulations and requirements. A solicitor cannot provide notarial services unless they have also qualified as a notary public which involves additional training and background checks.
The main differences between solicitors and notaries are as follows:
No. In fact, most lawyers are not notaries.
There are three branches of the legal profession in England & Wales - solicitors, barristers and notaries.
There are approximately 160,000 solicitors, 17,000 barristers and only 800 notaries.
Most notaries are also solicitors but most solicitors are not notaries. There is also very little cross-over between barristers and notaries.
You need a notary public if you are told by, say, your lawyer or other representative abroad that your document needs to be “notarised”.
A notary public will be able to authenticate your document so that is satisfies the requirements of this country and the receiving country – a notary public essentially facilities an international transaction.
A notary public can also assist with arranging for UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office and embassy/consular legalisation.
Some examples of when you may need a notary public are as follows:
I will usually be able to give you an indication on the cost involved for your transaction. In order to do this, you will need to let me know:
If the matter is simple I will endeavour to charge a fixed fee to include disbursements such as legalisation fees, postage, consular agent fees, courier fees, travelling expenses, translating costs and so on.
For more complicated or time-consuming matters my fee will be based on my hourly rate of £300 plus disbursements. I periodically review my hourly rate to reflect various factors including increases in overhead costs and inflation. If a review is carried out before your matter is concluded then I will inform you of any change in my hourly rate.
My fee charged may include time spent on preliminary advice, drafting and preparation time, making and receiving telephone calls, correspondence written and received in all formats, arranging legalisation and record keeping.
I do not charge VAT.
Disbursements
In the course of acting for you I may need to incur various expenses, including UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office fees, consular/embassy fees, agents fees, travel costs, mileage allowance in accordance with HMRC’s prevailing rate, postage charges, couriers’ charges, bank charges and unusual stationary costs which will all be recharged to you.
General points
Occasionally unforeseen or unusual issues arise during the course of the matter which may result in a revision of my fee estimate. Examples of this could include where additional documents are required to be notarised, additional translations or legalisations are needed to meet the requirements of the receiving jurisdiction, third party fees are adjusted to reflect external factors such as fuel price changes and so on. I will notify you of any changes in the fee estimate as soon as possible.
When you instruct me jointly with others, I am entitled to look at any one or more of you to pay the whole of the charges and disbursements that you jointly incur.
Please note that I cannot be held responsible for any documents which may be lost in the post/courier.
Please also note that once we have agreed an appointment date and time, if you cancel your appointment or fail to attend your appointment then you must pay to me an amount in proportion to the work which I have performed which will be at least £150.00 and this proportion will not be reimbursed to you.
It is important to note that seeing a notary public is far more than a mere rubber-stamping exercise and the cost involved reflects the great care that a notary public takes at every stage of the process to minimise the risk of error, omissions, alterations, fraud, forgery, money laundering etc and also the fact that they notary public will, amongst other things, often need to liaise with your foreign lawyer or representative, advise on requirements for this country and draft a notarial certificate.
The answer depends on the transaction in question and your notary public will be able to advise you on what documents are required.
As a general idea of the documentation required, it is likely that you will need to provide evidence of your identity and, if you are acting on behalf of a company, evidence of your authority to do so as well as the documents to be notarised together with any instructions you have received from the receiving country.
A notary public will often need to see all of the documentation before accepting instructions and certainly before he or she meets you.
Each notarial matter is different and the requirements and timescales will vary greatly according to whether the client is a private individual or a company and in particular according to the processing times of third parties such as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, legalisation agents, translating agencies and couriers.
Some of the typical key stages are likely to include:
Some countries require a document to be apostilled / legalised in addition to it being notarised. This is because they require official confirmation of the notary public’s signature and seal.
For some countries, it is sufficient for an apostille to be affixed to the notarised document. An apostille is a certificate from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office which confirms that the notary public’s signature and seal on the document is genuine.
For other countries, embassy/consular legalisation is also required which is when the recipient requires the notarised document to bear a stamp / certificate from the consular department of the diplomatic mission representing the country where the document is to be used.
Therefore, sometimes ‘legalisation’ refers to an apostille only and other times it also refers to the embassy/consular process.
Recipients in some countries require verification of the notary public’s signature and seal. When this is required, ‘legalisation’ must be obtained before the document is accepted abroad.
For some countries, it is sufficient for an apostille to be affixed to the document. An apostille is a certificate from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office on behalf of the UK Government which confirms that the notary public’s signature and seal is genuine.
For other countries, embassy/consular legalisation is also required which is when the recipient requires the notarial act to bear a legalisation stamp from the consular department of the diplomatic mission representing the country where the document is to be used.
In any event, a notary public should be able to assist you with this process.
Locations:
One London Square, Cross Lanes, Guildford, GU1 1UN
Mon | 08:00 – 22:00 | |
Tue | 08:00 – 22:00 | |
Wed | 08:00 – 22:00 | |
Thu | 08:00 – 22:00 | |
Fri | 08:00 – 22:00 | |
Sat | By Appointment | |
Sun | By Appointment |
John offers a flexible notary public service and is available for appointments outside of normal office hours. If you require an appointment outside of normal offices hours then please feel free to let me know.
Copyright © 2024 Heritage Notary Public Limited (Company Number 15702769) - All Rights Reserved.
John Olatunji Notary Public is the trading name of Heritage Notary Public Limited (Heritage Notary Public). For the avoidance of doubt, your contract is with Heritage Notary Public and not with John Olatunji in his personal capacity.
Regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
For the avoidance of doubt, whilst John's office in Surrey is based at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP in Guildford, John's notarial work is undertaken through Heritage Notary Public which is completely independent of Charles Russell Speechlys LLP and is regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and not by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.