Notary Public London Guides has previous published various articles detailing how to become a Notary Public in the UK.  This article is an update and follow up on those articles to explain the most recent requirements for fully qualified UK Notary Publics who seek to renew their practising certificates to continue to practice Notarial and legalisation services in London and the UK. For further details of the Education requirements we would recommend that any Notarial students contact the Education secretary at The Notaries Society.

As any Notary Public in London will tell you, once qualified it is continuing obligation to apply for and obtain renewal of the Notary Public practising certificate from the Faculty Office (the regulatory body for Notaries Public) in order to conduct notarial business. This application is usually made at the end of the year during November and December. This process is controlled and regulated by the Master of the Faculties Office and, if the application is successful, the Office issue a Notarial practising certificate for the next 12 months. As you would expect, the rules of the Faculty Office are absolute and each Notary Public is required to submit written information and evidence on a variety of topics, confirming, amongst other matters, that:

• They act independently from any Law firm, at M D Pryke Notary Public we operate as a limited liability partnership entirely independent of Matthew Pryke’s partnership of Hamlins LLP.
• The Notary holds the minimum amount of indemnity insurance, currently set at £1,000,000
• The Notary practice has addition insurance cover in place to cover against fraudulent or dishonest acts, this is most often provided via an organisation called The Notaries Guarantee Limited
• The Notary is aware of the current money laundering legislation and will run their practice strictly in accordance with such regulations
• The Notary has undertaken the requisite level of continuing professional education during the previous 12 months of practice
• They provide a current Solicitors practicing certificate, if they are not operating as a Scrivener Notary

Once the Faculty Office is satisfied that the Notary making the application meets their criteria, the Master issues a yearly practising certificate which currently costs £440. Details of all of the qualified Notaries Public in the UK are currently maintained on the website of the Faculty Office.

For further details of how to qualify as a Notary Public, please contact Matthew on 0207 355 6000 or matthew@mdpryke-notary.com.