If you are buying or selling property in Spain, dealing with an inheritance there, opening a Spanish bank account or applying for a tax identification number, your Spanish lawyer will often ask you to sign a power of attorney so that they can act for you without you travelling to Spain for each step. The document is prepared in Spain and signed in England, and a notary public is the link between the two. This post explains what happens at each stage and what to have ready.
Who prepares the document
The Spanish lawyer or notario prepares the document. In most cases it arrives as a bilingual document with the Spanish and English text side by side, which lets both you and me read what you are signing. The wording, the powers granted and the details of the person being appointed are matters for your Spanish lawyer, and I do not amend them. If anything in the document looks wrong to you, the time to raise it is before the appointment, with the person who drafted it.
If the document arrives in Spanish only, I will need a formal translation into English before the appointment, unless it is very short. I have to be satisfied that both of us understand what is being signed, and that cannot be done from a document I cannot read.
What happens at the appointment
You bring the unsigned document, your current passport or photo driving licence and a proof of address dated within the last three months. I check your identity against those documents and record your passport details. We go through the document so that I am satisfied you understand it and are signing freely. You sign in front of me. As the document is a public form notarial act there is no attached notarial certificate, signature and seal. It is all formed in one document.
I often get asked to attach a certified copy of your passport to the back of the signed power of attorney. This is usually the ID page only but can sometimes include the whole passport (with blank pages). This is normally where the lawyer in Spain is also using the power to obtain an NIE number.
Appointments usually take up to an hour where the document has been sent to me in advance. Although I act independently as a notary, I am also a solicitor with the firm RWK Goodman and I use their offices for my notarial appointments.
The apostille
Spain is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, and a Spanish notario or registry will normally expect the notarised document to carry an apostille before accepting it. The apostille confirms my signature and seal. It does not certify the content of the document.
There are two routes and I can arrange either. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office charges £45 per document for a paper apostille, plus £6 return postage to a UK address. Turnaround varies, so allow two to five weeks. Through an agent the cost is £64 per document plus £12.60 for return by courier to a UK address, and the document is normally back within about three working days. Clients working to a completion date generally use the agent route. Once the apostille is attached, the document can go to your Spanish lawyer by tracked post or courier.
Translation in Spain
Where the document is bilingual, the Spanish text is already in place. If not and any part is just in English, the receiving notario may require those to be translated by a sworn translator registered with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Cost
A power of attorney of this kind is a single notarial act. A typical notary fee is between £200 and £250, and no VAT is payable. I confirm a fixed fee once I have seen the document. The apostille and any courier charges are disbursements on top of the fee. Payment is due when the document has been notarised, unless agreed otherwise in advance.
Points that cause delay
- Do not sign the document before the appointment. A power of attorney that has already been signed cannot be attested as having been signed in my presence, and a fresh copy would be needed.
- Ask your representative in Spain whether or not a copy passport needs to be attached, just the photo page or the whole passport.
- Check that your name in the document matches your passport exactly, including middle names. A mismatch is a common reason for a document to go back to Spain for redrafting.
- If two people are to sign, for example a couple buying together, both need to attend with their own identification.
- If you are working to a completion date, tell me at the outset so that the apostille route and the courier can be planned around it.
Before you get in touch
Email me the document before the appointment so that I can review it and confirm the fee. My professional practice rules require me to keep a copy of each notarised document, in most cases for 12 years but for a public form notarial act such as a Spanish Power of Attorney I have to keep a copy permanently, and I am also required to keep a copy of your identity documents for five years. If you would like to proceed, get in touch and we can arrange a convenient appointment.
Malcolm GregoryNotary Public and Solicitor, in practice as a notary since 2006. Member of The Notaries Society, regulated through the Faculty Office. Ask Malcolm about your document
This guide is general information about notarial practice in England and Wales. It is not advice on your particular matter. The requirements of foreign governments and other receiving authorities are set by them and can change without notice, so check them with the authority before you act. I only act for you once I have confirmed your instructions and fees in writing. Fees and third-party charges were correct when written and can change.