Notary in UK for US loan closing

I have moved to the UK and am hoping the sale of my home in the US will close Tuesday, June 29th. I've been sent a Warranty Deed that they are saying I need to have Notarized and FedEx'd back to them Monday.

I was told that as the legal document to be signed is an International document, that I can't use any old notary here, I have to go to a specialist.  The specialist may or may not be able to see me early next week and that means the closing may be delayed - something I want to avoid at all costs.

Does anyone know if I truly need this International Specialist? To me all they are doing is watching me sign the paper and saying, yes - this person is who she claims to be. I'm not asking them to interpret the document, so why do I need a specialist?

I'm panicking here  to say the least.

I don't have an answer, but a question.  Where did you find the specialist who can't see you until next week (since I've never met a notary that you couldn't just stop in-they' usually don't have long waiting lines  ?)  And have you tried going to the embassy-there may be someone there who can help you.

The system for verifying signatures in this country is not appropriate to how the US likes it done. I don't see that there's too much difference, technically. But the US documents do ask for a "seal" and only nortary publics have them. There are people in this country who are notary publics and for this qualification they do ask for some sort of compensation in return. You may find some charge £50-£75, but you can also find some who will do it for free if you use them for other services (such as a law firm).

There are around 900 in this country. To locate one in your area, click on
http://www.thenotariessociety.org.uk/
and follow the link for "Find a Notary"

The notary I was referred to was on hols this past week, and he makes his own appointments which is why they can't promise I'll be able to see him Monday.

I can just hear the cha-ching sound when they said International Specialist... so I was trying to find an alternative. Thanks for your replies.  I'll phone round some Monday morning.

When we sold our home last month and required a notarization of the sale docs and we didn't want to deal with the hassle of having a notary near us do the docs, then we'd have to verify his/her seal, that would take more time, expense, etc....we went to the US Embassy in London.

The Notarial Services at the Embassy were a breeze to use and we were under a really tight timeframe (had just two days to get it notarized and Fed Ex it back to the States) so I honestly don't know how we could have done that without using the Notarial Services at the Embassy.  It was a train ride to the Embassy which was a pain but the actual process took us 15 minutes from the time we arrived to the time we left.  Can't beat that.

Best of all:  NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY!

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/cons_web/acs/scs/notary.htm

Good luck.

I got it all taken care of today thankfully. The Notary did ask me to schedule an appointment, but it took all of 15 minutes, he even faxed it to the US for me and it was just 30 pounds.

Thanks for all the help.