How much does a notary charge?

[Tulipomania]

We need to get a 1-page letter notarised - i.e. to get proof that the person signing it (DH) is who he says he is.

How much would you expect to pay for this service? (Not in a big city if that's relevant)

I think we paid £50 last time we had anything notarised.

That's what I was expecting but we are being charged £150!

I have done some shopping around and there are very few local notaries, so it seems they can charge what they like.

The Post Office charges about £12-£13

I also used the Post Office to get a document notarised and it was much cheaper than using a local notary. You will need to find out where your nearest PO is that offers this service, not every one does.

The Post Office certification service sadly wasn't suffiecient for me. The authority I needed to send my documents to needed a Notary to certify the documents before having them sent off to be Apostilled. Thank you Brexit, it would have been unnecessary before leaving the EU.

@Tulipomania, whereabouts in the country are you? I'm just South of London so would expect things to be expensive here.

sufficient

@NetballHoop Southwest. This is Brexit related too - the document is required by an EU country so it has be notarised.

We just have to suck it up. I can find places a bit cheaper but an hour's journey away.

I paid £75 about 4 years ago.

OP, have you tried asking them to do it for less if it's just a page. I'd offer £50

Last year it was £100 to get a photocopy of a passport notarised by a public notary for use abroad.

Yes, she wanted to see the letter first before she quoted the fee. Bloody ridiculous!

Doesn’t matter how many pages, the job is the same. Notarising is to attest to the identity of the person signing the document. Nothing else. Doesn’t matter if it’s 1 page or 1,000 pages because the notary isnt checking the document itself.

A solicitor charged me only £5 four years ago for a probate document.

I think some people on here quoting what they've paid are getting certification mixed up with notarisation - they're two different things (and getting a doc apostilled is different again). If the document needs to be notarised by a notary public then that is a specialist service (as opposed to certification which any lawyer can do) and I would expect to pay around £100-150 for it regardless of the document length. I know it seems ridiculous!

I paid around £150 a couple of weeks ago to have some documents notarised.

And yes it’s very different to just having something signed by a solicitor.

@Whichwhatnow
I think people are mixing up certification with notarising as well.

I had something notarised in December 2021 and it was £20

however it was fairly simple

Paid £20 a few weeks ago

£50 but 10 years ago!

A solicitor did my deedpoll for £5!

Deed polls do not require notarisation.

I was quoted the minimum fee of £135 to have two documents notarised.

@Onnabugeisha

"WhatDoesItSay"
"OP, have you tried asking them to do it for less if it's just a page. I'd offer £50"

"Doesn’t matter how many pages, the job is the same. Notarising is to attest to the identity of the person signing the document. Nothing else. Doesn’t matter if it’s 1 page or 1,000 pages because the notary isnt checking the document itself"

Ahh, ok that makes more sense. Thank you

It is money for monopolised old rope. What was especially annoying when I needed something notarising, was that solicitors who were also notaries wouldn't offer it unless you were already a client of theirs. Hence the stand alone notaries can charge what they like.

We paid £10 to a local lawyer/notary for a document for the USA.