Terms

Terms of Business

MUFLIC NOTARIES LIMITED

The Office, Gothic House
Barker Gate
Nottingham NG1 1JU
England

Introduction

  1. This document outlines the terms and conditions under which I, VIRGILIU-SORIN MUFLIC (the “Notary”), Notary Public in England and Wales, having my practice regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and offering notarial services through MUFLIC NOTARIES LIMITED (the “Company”), a private company limited by shares registered under the Companies Act 2006 by the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales with company number 15876436 and with registered office at The Office, Gothic House, Barker Gate, Nottingham, NG1 1JU, England, trading as “Mr Notary” and “Notariat.UK”, will provide notarial services to you, as a Client.
  2. By instructing me, the Notary, to carry out notarial work, you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions and you acknowledge and accept that you, the Client, do not enter into a contractual relationship with me personally, as a Notary, but with my Company. All services provided to you, the Client, are offered through the Company. Any and all agreements, obligations, and liabilities arising from the provision of notarial services shall be solely between you, the Client and the Company.

 

Notary’s role

  1. As a Notary, I prepare, verify, witness, authenticate and/or certify copies of documents that are mainly intended to be used abroad. However, there are situations where these documents are for use in England or Wales.
  2. Most frequently, the documents notarised by me, as a Notary, are requested by and necessary to my clients when they want to prove certain facts to authorities, companies or individuals in other countries. People who use my services are generally those who are going to purchase or sell property in other countries, marry or divorce abroad, emmigrate to study or work overseas, those who have to accept or reject inheritance rights in other parts of the world, those who have to collect a pension from other states, or those who want to give their consent for the cross-border travel of their minor children. Clients appear before me to give a Power of Attorney to people from other countries to sign documents on their behalf, to sign affidavits to be used before foreign court proceedings, to have copies of their identity documents or degree certificates certified, or to make many other miscellaneous statements for various purposes. Companies based in England and Wales request the services of a local notary, for example, to have their incorporation documents certified when they want to do business abroad.
  3. Whatever type of document you need to notarise, you must remember that my role, as a Notary, is to verify your identity, legal capacity and understanding of the document, your willingness to sign it, as well as your authority if signing on behalf of another party (such as another individual or a limited company). After completing these steps, my role is, of course, to witness your signature, and to sign and seal the document myself. If required, I can also deal with legalisation (which is usually the process of obtaining the apostille from the Legalisation Office of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, but which may involve consular legalisation in some cases).
  4. Please note that it is not my role to provide you with legal advice as to the requirements of the law of the country where your document is to be used. Regardless of the country in which you intend to use the notarised document and the transaction you intend to carry out there, it is very important to seek qualified legal advice from a legal practitioner in that jurisdiction who can provide you with guarantees that the document will be accepted and will produce the legal effects you are after. I cannot guarantee such things for the simple fact that I do not have the legal education and professional knowledge of the legal requirements of other countries. As a consequence, it is advisable that when you use my notarial services, you also provide me with a draft of the document drawn up by your foreign lawyer, as well as with the instructions for the preparation of the document received from that lawyer. My role will be to deal with the notarisation of the document according to the respective instructions. Unless instructed otherwise by your lawyer based abroad, I will ensure that the requirements imposed by English law as to the validity of your document are met.

 

Your obligations as a Client

  1. You must provide accurate and complete information to me. This is necessary not only to avoid misleading me, but also because the document prepared, verified, certified, attested and/or authenticated by me, the Notary, is a document that will be relied on by Governments, authorities, courts, companies and individuals in other countries. The consequences that a document confirming inaccurate facts or details can produce must be properly understood.
  2. It will be necessary to email me the draft of the document to be notarised, any instructions received from your foreign lawyer, photocopies of your identity documents, as well as of other persons referred to in the document. Please make sure that you obtained the consent of those third parties as to the disclosure to me of their identity documents, as this is your obligation under my privacy policy. I will carefully review these documents and then let you know if I have any questions or need additional documents. Depending on your answers to these requests of mine, I will decide if I accept to act, what the costs involved are (my fees and associated costs) and what the next steps are.
  3. If you accept the price of my services, provide me with all required documents and information and I agree to act, I will send you an invoice and you will need to pay it by bank transfer into my Company’s bank account indicated on the invoice. In the absence of full payment, I will not schedule an appointment. If full payment is received, I will agree with you a place, a date and a time for our meeting face to face.
  4. It will be necessary for you to arrive at the appointment at the date and time set, having regard to the fact that most likely before and after that appointment I could have others, with other clients, and that any delay could drastically reduce the time allocated to you and my ability to complete the work as planned. If you are late for your appointment, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide the notarial services on the same day or location, I will cease to have such an obligation, and you will not qualify for a refund. However, depending on the circumstances and my schedule, I will do my best to arrange another appointment for you as soon as possible, and, if feasible, at the same location.
  5. At the appointment, you will have to produce original identification documents (passport, National ID Card, driving licence) and, if applicable, proof of address (usually in the form of a council tax or utility bill, or bank statement, none of which could be older than three months). You will also need to bring with you any other documents that we have discussed about before the meeting and which I asked you to produce. In the absence of any of these documents I will not be able to identify you as I have to, or complete the notarial work, and the provisions above applicable to the situation in which you are late for the appointment will be applicable in a similar way (no refund, no guarantees as to when or where I can reschedule the meeting).
  6. There is always the possibility that during our meeting I will notice facts, details, information that I did not have in mind before the appointment, either because you deliberately did not reveal them to me, or because you did not realise that you should have mentioned them to me. In such cases I will be forced to ask for additional information, explanations and documents, and I could even decline to act, or postpone the provision of notarial services until I receive the documents and information I need. The above provisions for the situation where you arrived late to the appointment also apply here, in the sense that you will not get a refund and I will try to notarise the document on another occasion, as soon as possible and, if feasible, in the same place. However, if I consider appropriate to decline to act and completely refuse to notarise the document, I will consider a refund, which may be only partial, in proportion to the time spent preparing that document and communicating with you. I may refuse to make any refund at all if I find that the methods you used were fraudulent.
  7. As a Notary, I should normally witness your signature (and the signatures of any other person that must sign the document). Please do not sign the document in advance of your appointment with me.
  8. It is essential that you understand what you are signing. If the document is in a foreign language which you do not understand sufficiently, I may have to insist that a translation be obtained. If I arrange for a translation, a further fee will be payable, and I will provide you with details of this. If you arrange yourself for a professional translation of the document, the translator should add their name, address, relevant qualification, and a certificate stating that “document X is a true and complete translation of document Y, to which this translation is attached.”
  9. If you and I cannot understand each other because of a language difficulty, we may have to make arrangements for a competent interpreter to be available at our interview and this may involve a further fee.
  10. If a document is to be signed by you on behalf of a company, a partnership, a charity, club or other incorporated body, there are further requirements on which I may have to insist. Please be prepared to provide me with evidence of identity of the authorised signatory, with a copy of the current letterhead (showing the registered office if it is a company), and with a Letter of Authority, Minute, Resolution or Power of Attorney, authorising you to sign the document.
  11. If you sign on behalf of a company, I will have to be provided additionally with a Certificate of Incorporation and of any change of name, with a copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and with details of directors and secretaries. I will be carrying out various company searches, which may have an effect on the level of fees charged. If you sign on behalf of a partnership, club, etc, you will have to provide me with a Partnership Agreement, or relevant Trust Deed, or Charter, or Constitution/Rules.

 

Notarial charges and expenses

  1. Details of my charges are set out below. Please note that if I have to make payments on your behalf such as legalisation fees, translator or interpreter fees, or other costs such as travelling expenses, your approval to these will be obtained first, and you are required to make payment in advance of any such amounts.
  2. With reference to my notarial fees, if the matter is simple, I will endeavour to charge a fixed fee to include disbursements such as legalisation fees, postage, legalisation agent fees, courier fees, travelling expenses, translating costs and so on. For more complicated or time-consuming matters, the fee will be based on my hourly rate of £150 subject to a minimum fee of £150, plus disbursements. The 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.
  3. With regard to disbursements, some documents require legalisation before they will be accepted for use in the receiving jurisdiction by obtaining an apostille through the UK Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office. For certain countries, additional legalisation is required through the relevant embassy or consulate. The cost of legalisation, including legalisation agent’s fees and postage to and from the legalising authority, will be communicated to you at the right time. The cost of posting the documents to you/another person by will also be determined and I will let you know about the exact amount required. Travelling fees will be determined based on where the meeting takes place.
  4. Payment must be made by bank transfer in the account indicated on my invoice. Payment of my fee and disbursements is due before the appointment is scheduled. If in an exceptional situation I book an appointment for you and prepare the document despite the payment not being made, the payment is due when the document has been prepared. If payment is not made in full, I will retain the document pending payment.
  5. 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.

 

Typical Stages of a notarial transaction

  1. Each notarial matter is different, and the requirements and timescales will vary greatly according to whether you are a private individual or a company and in particular according to the processing times of third parties such as the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office, legalisation agents, translating agencies and couriers, etc. Some of the typical key stages are likely to include:
  • Receiving and reviewing the documents to be notarised together with any instructions you may have received.
  • Liaising with your legal advisors or other bodies to obtain the necessary documentation to deal with the document (e.g. information from Companies House or foreign registries, powers of attorney etc).
  • Checking your identity, capacity and authority, or the identity of other persons who are to sign the document.
  • If a document is to be certified, checking with the issuing authorities that the document/award is genuine. In the case of academic awards, this would entail checking with the appropriate academic institutions.
  • Meeting with you to verify your identity and to ascertain that you understand what you are signing and that you are doing so of your own free will and ensuring that the document is executed correctly.
  • Drafting and affixing or endorsing a notarial certificate to the document.
  • Arranging for the legalisation of the document as appropriate.
  • Arranging for the storage of copies of all notarised documents in accordance with the requirements of the Notarial Practice Rules 2019.

 

Insurance and limitation of liability

  1. In the interests of my clients, I maintain professional indemnity insurance at a level of at least £1,000,000.00 per claim. Specific cover for higher limits may be obtainable in certain circumstances at your expense. Save as provided under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, my liability to you, the Client, for any loss, injury or damage of any nature whatever whether direct or consequential, including without limitation in respect of negligence or breach of my duty to you, is hereby limited to such sum in respect of any one claim or a series of related claims. The amount of any liability is to be reduced so far as may be appropriate to take account of the degree of responsibility of any other professional or other advisers whom you have consulted in relation to the matter as if I had successfully claimed contribution from them under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 taking no regard for any limitation agreed between you and such advisor, and they had the resources to meet the same, provided that I shall not be obliged to make or pursue any such claim for contribution. No liability whatsoever will be accepted in relation to any loss, damage or liability whatsoever caused directly or indirectly to any party other than youfor whom I have agreed to act in connection with the relevant matter. No third party shall have any right to enforce any contract by me to provide advice or services or to rely upon any advice given or opinion expressed by me. 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. In any event, no liability whatsoever will be accepted where such liability either arises from any instructions or information given by you 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 me 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. All searches of the Register of Companies carried out by me are made using the Registrar of Companies online service. To the extent that the Registrar does not accept responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions arising from use of the online service, I accept no responsibility or liability arising from reliance upon the results of such searches, if they should subsequently be found to be inaccurate or incomplete. These limitations will apply notwithstanding any express or implied term of business or any collateral agreement or warranty, whether express or implied. These terms of business and any disputes or claims arising out of or in connection with them and the provision of services to you are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

 

Notarial records

  1. It is my professional duty to keep proper records of my notarial acts. The records so kept clearly identify the date of the act; the person at whose request the act was performed; the person or persons, if any, intervening in the act and, in the case of a person who intervened in a representative capacity, the name of his principal; the method of identification of the party or parties intervening in the notarial act, and in the case of a party intervening in a representative capacity, any evidence produced to the notary of that party’s entitlement so to intervene; the nature of the act; and the fee charged.
  2. I will place complete photographic copies of the notarial act (or notarial certificate, as the case might be), of the notarised documents, of all identity documents collected, of all other documents produced to me, and of our written correspondence in a digital register which shall be preserved permanently by me irrespective of the form of the notarial act.

 

Data protection

  1. Personal data received from my clients is held securely and cannot be accessed externally. Data collected as part of notarial records is used solely for the purposes of meeting my professional legal responsibilities as Notary Public. For full details of my Privacy Policy and data processing terms please read the attached document named “Data Protection Privacy Notice” or click here to be redirected at the relevant page on my website.

 

Termination. Your consumer right to cancel

  1. 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.
  2. We entered into a “distance contract” if you are a “consumer” (an individual acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside your trade, business, craft or profession), and the contract was concluded without our simultaneous physical presence, with the exclusive use of means of distance communication. We entered into an “off-premises contract” if you are a “consumer” as defined above, and the contract was concluded in our simultaneous physical presence, but in a place which is not my office. If we entered into a distance or off-premises contract, under section 29 of The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, you have a right to cancel this contract at any time in the cancellation period without giving any reason and without incurring any liability, except where you request early supply of service. The cancellation period ends at the end of 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into (which is the day when I sent the invoice to you, meaning that I accepted to act).
  3. To exercise your right to cancel the contract, you must inform me of your decision by sending me an email or any other written message (i.e. a text message on my mobile phone number). You can also write to me a letter and send it by post to MUFLIC NOTARIES LIMITED, The Office, Gothic House, Barker Gate, Nottingham, NG1 1JU, England. In your message or letter, you must make a clear statement setting out your decision to cancel the contract. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication before the cancellation period has expired.
  4. If the contract is cancelled, the cancellation ends the obligations of the parties to perform the contract. Therefore, I will not provide you with the notarial services, and you do not have to pay the fee for my services. If you already paid the fee into my company’s account, you will be reimbursed without undue delay, and in any event not later than the end of 14 days after the day on which I have been informed of your decision to cancel the contract. My company will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction unless you have expressly agreed otherwise. You will have to provide me with the sort code and account number of your bank account. My company will not impose any fee on you in respect of the reimbursement.
  5. My company will not begin the supply of the service before the end of the cancellation period unless you have made an express request in writing. If you ask me to begin work during the cancellation period, you can still cancel, but you must pay me an amount in proportion to the work which I have performed, and this proportion will not be reimbursed to you. You agree that if you make the payment in full of the notarial fees and disbursements, and then attend the appointment at my office and have your document notarised, I am entitled to consider that you have made an express request for the provision of the services before the end of the cancellation period. However, I may want you to sign a formal request for the provision of services when you attend the appointment. This is up to me.
  6. My company reserve the right to terminate the engagement if I have good reason to do so, for example, if you do not pay a bill or comply with my request for a payment on account or you fail to give me the cooperation which I am reasonably entitled to expect.

 

Complaints

  1. My notarial practice is regulated through the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury:

 

Address: The Faculty Office, 1 The Sanctuary, Westminster, London, SW1P 3JT, England

Telephone: 020 7222 5381

Email: Faculty.office@1thesanctuary.com

Website: www.facultyoffice.org.uk

  1. If you are dissatisfied about the service you have received from me (through my company), please do not hesitate to contact me.
  2. If I am unable to resolve the matter, you may then complain to the Notaries Society of which I am a member. The Notaries Society have a Complaints Procedure which is approved by the Faculty Office. This procedure is free to use and is designed to provide a quick resolution to any dispute. If you need to complain to the Notaries Society, 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 1023, Ipswich, IP1 9XB, England

Email: secretary@thenotariessociety.org.uk

  1. If you have any difficulty in making a complaint in writing, please do not hesitate to contact the Notaries Society or the Faculty Office for assistance.
  2. Finally, even if you have your complaint considered under the Notaries Society Approved Complaints Procedure, you may at the end of that procedure, or after a period of 8 (eight) weeks from the date you first notified me that you were dissatisfied, make your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, if you are not happy with the result:

 

Legal Ombudsman, P O Box 6167, Slough, SL1 0EH, England

Telephone: 0300 555 0333

Email:  enquiries@legalombudsman.org.uk

Website:  www.legalombudsman.org.uk

  1. 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.

 

Governing Law

  1. These terms of business and any disputes or claims arising out of or in connection with them and the provision of services to you are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. Jurisdiction for any dispute lies with the courts of England.

 

Entire agreement

  1. This document constitutes the entire agreement between the Company and you, the Client, and supersedes all and any previous agreements or representations.