9.30 am – 6.00 pm GMT
Monday-Friday
info@coddan.co.uk
Notarial work for corporate documents
When a recipient asks for a UK company document to be notarised, the required notarial act must be identified before the document is signed, copied or submitted. The notary may need to certify a copy, witness or authenticate a signature, examine identity and authority, confirm an identified capacity, or prepare a notarial certificate for a defined purpose.
Coddan provides notarisation through its in-house and associated notaries. The appointed individual notary performs and controls the notarial act, decides what evidence is required and determines whether the act can properly be completed.
“Please notarise this document” may not explain what the notary is expected to certify. The recipient's purpose, wording and destination determine whether the notary must deal with a copy, a signature, the signatory's identity, the signatory's authority or capacity, or another stated fact.
Before the notarial route is fixed, establish as much as possible about:
You do not need to diagnose the correct notarial act before contacting Coddan. Send the recipient's wording and the facts you have. If a point is unknown, say “Not known”. The appointed notary will determine the act and evidence within the notary's professional authority.
Choose by professional purpose
Several procedures can produce a signed or certified document, but they do not perform the same professional job. The shortest appropriate route is the one the recipient actually requires.
If the recipient needs an official certified copy of a filing or a company certificate containing available certified facts, the appropriate starting point may be Companies House rather than a notarial act.
Some recipients accept a copy certified by a solicitor or another permitted professional and do not require a notary. The recipient's wording should be checked before the more specialised notarial route is selected.
This service is appropriate where a notary is expressly required to certify a copy, witness or authenticate a signature, examine identity and authority, confirm an identified capacity or prepare another appropriate notarial certificate.
An apostille is issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, not by the notary. Embassy or consular legalisation is another separate official act. Notarisation may precede either stage, but only where the document and recipient's requirements justify that sequence.
If the recipient has requested “authentication” or “legalisation” without identifying the required act, use UK Company Documents for International Use to identify the appropriate route.
A notarial act is not a decorative stamp placed on any document presented to the notary. The appointed notary decides what enquiries and evidence are necessary for the act being requested.
Where a person signs, acknowledges a signature or appears in a stated role, the notary may require satisfactory evidence of identity. The evidence and method are determined by the notary and the circumstances; they should not be promised before the instruction is reviewed.
The notary may need evidence identifying the company and the source of the document. An official Companies House certificate or certified copy may be appropriate, but an ordinary public-register download is not automatically an official certified copy.
Where a director, secretary, attorney, authorised signatory or another person acts for the company, the notary may need to examine the appointment, constitutional documents, resolutions, power of attorney or other evidence supporting the stated authority and capacity.
The notary may need to see an original, supervise signing, receive an acknowledgement of an existing signature or check how a document has been executed. A document should not be signed, dated, altered or detached from supporting material contrary to the notary's instructions.
The destination and recipient may prescribe wording, seals, attachments, paper format, electronic signature or a later authentication step. The notary must know the intended use sufficiently to select an appropriate act, while the receiving authority retains the final acceptance decision.
The appropriate act depends on the document and recipient. Relevant document families may include:
This is document recognition, not a promise that every document can be notarised in the same way. The appointed notary controls the act, evidence, wording, execution method and decision for the instruction.
If the recipient needs an official copy of a particular filing, continue to Certified Copies of Companies House Documents. If it needs available certified company facts or an eligible summary statement, continue to Company Certificates and Status Documents.
Language competence where available
Where available, Coddan can match a foreign-language company document with a UK notary who is professionally competent in that language. Some notaries used by Coddan also hold notarial qualifications in their countries of origin.
This can be valuable where a translation would otherwise be required solely so that the notary could understand the document. The appointed notary must still decide whether the notary's language competence is sufficient for the particular act and document.
A language-competent notary does not remove:
Language coverage is not universal and must be confirmed before the service is promised. Where a certified translation is required, Coddan arranges it through certified translators; the translator prepares and certifies the translation.
The correct document in the wrong form may not be accepted. The recipient's instructions and the appointed notary's professional requirements should be established before signing or certification.
The recipient may require an original document, a copy certified by Companies House, an ordinary copy certified by a notary or a document executed before the notary. These are not interchangeable.
A document that must be signed before the notary should normally remain unsigned until the notary gives instructions. If it has already been signed, the notary must decide whether an acknowledgement, re-execution or another procedure is appropriate.
Some documentary routes use paper originals and physical notarial certificates; others may involve an electronic document and a qualifying electronic signature. Availability depends on the act, the notary, the document and the recipient. Electronic form should not be selected unless every necessary stage and the receiving authority will accept it.
The notary determines whether personal attendance, remote communication or another permitted method is appropriate. No remote, same-day or attendance-free procedure should be promised before the act, identity evidence, execution requirements and professional rules have been reviewed.
Notarisation authenticates or records matters within the notarial act. It does not repair an inaccurate filing, create missing authority, correct an internal register or validate a defective corporate decision.
If the act depends on the company's registered name, status, officers, registered office or another public fact, the relevant Companies House information should be checked. A notarial certificate does not update or correct the public register.
The company's statutory registers, minutes, resolutions and authority documents must support the act where relevant. If records are missing or inconsistent, reconstruction, reconciliation, lawful correction or governance work may be required before the notary can rely on them. Missing facts must never be invented.
The fact that a person appears on the public register does not necessarily establish authority for every transaction. The constitution, board or member approval, power of attorney, transaction documents and recipient requirements may need to be examined.
An existing historic document may be capable of authentication, but a dissolved company cannot be treated as taking a new formal action merely because a notarial service is available. Investigation and preparation may be possible before restoration; the legal ability to execute or authorise the proposed document must be determined separately.
From recipient requirement to notarial certificate
You supply the facts, documents and available recipient instructions. Coddan identifies and organises the appropriate service within the agreed scope. The appointed notary controls the notarial act, later authorities control their own stages, and the recipient decides whether the completed document is acceptable.
Notarial work should not be priced as though every document requires the same act. The scope and fee depend upon:
A repeatable act may support a fixed price after its evidence, execution and delivery assumptions have been verified. A transaction-specific document, several signatories, unusual authority evidence, foreign-language work or a multi-stage route may require an individual quotation. No external fee or later stage should be treated as included unless the written scope says so.
The appointed notary performs the notarial act. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office separately decides whether the relevant document or signature is eligible and issues an apostille. An embassy or consulate separately performs and controls any diplomatic or consular act required by its current procedure.
Current FCDO guidance recognises paper apostilles and electronic apostilles. An e-Apostille requires a PDF that has been electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor, but not every document is eligible and not every recipient accepts electronic form. The required route should be established before the notary chooses the form of certificate or signature.
Notarisation does not automatically require an apostille. An apostille does not automatically require later consular legalisation. None of these acts guarantees acceptance or establishes the truth, legal effect or commercial value of every statement in the underlying document.
If the recipient has confirmed a sequence involving document retrieval or preparation, notarisation, apostille, translation, embassy or consular processing, the work may be suitable for coordinated management.
The written scope should identify the notarial act, every subsequent stage, the professional or institution responsible, the evidence and document form required, dependencies, external charges and any reserved delivery or acceptance matter. Coddan may coordinate a verified sequence, but each notary, translator, public authority, mission, courier and receiving institution retains control of its own act and decision.
Notarisation authenticates or records the matters covered by the notarial act. It does not correct the Companies House register, reconstruct the company's internal records, create corporate authority or restore a dissolved company.
An inaccurate or improperly delivered filing may require an ordinary present-day filing, registrar procedure or a specific replacement or second-filing route. RP01 replacement filings and the RP04 second-filing route are separate procedures and must not be assumed to apply merely because an error appears minor.
If statutory registers, membership records or company books are missing or inconsistent, use Statutory Registers and Company Books for Evidential Use. If the issue concerns minutes, resolutions, articles or authority documents, use the appropriate articles, resolutions or authority service. Missing facts and authority must not be invented.
Before restoration, work should be described only as investigation, retrieval, reconstruction, reconciliation and preparation. Administrative restoration and restoration by court order are separate procedures. Where restoration is required before a new corporate act or authority can exist, continue to the company restoration service. Notarisation, apostille or legalisation does not restore a company.
Coddan is the service provider and coordinator within the agreed scope; it is not the individual notary and does not control an independent professional or public authority. No person or organisation involved can guarantee another institution's processing, timing or final acceptance.
A notarial instruction can expose an underlying corporate issue. These connections should be used only where that issue affects the document, signatory or authority supporting the act.
Where another matter must be completed first, we identify the service or professional responsible for that work. Notarisation does not itself perform formation, annual compliance, identity verification, records, governance, correction, restoration or dissolution work.
Controlled notarial enquiry
Provide as much as you know. You do not need to decide whether a notarial act is required, what form it should take or whether an apostille, translation or consular procedure is also needed. If any point is uncertain, say “Not known”.
When you contact Coddan, include as much of the following information as is available. The purpose is to identify the document, signatory, authority, recipient and intended use—not to test whether you already understand the notarial route.
If something is not known, say “Not known”. Coddan can identify what needs to be checked and place the instruction before an appointed notary. You are not expected to determine the correct notarial act or the order of any justified later stage.
Questions about corporate notarisation
The appropriate next step
If a notary is expressly required, provide the document and recipient's instructions before it is signed or altered so the appointed notary can determine the appropriate act and evidence. If the request concerns an official Companies House product, an apostille, translation or another service instead, continue with the service that matches that requirement.
Coddan CPM LTD™ Business One-Stop Shop since 2005 Doing Business Made Easier!
Send us an e-mail
