Notaries and solicitors: notarised translations

What a notary and a solicitor actually do

England and Wales have two professions that people confuse when translations are involved. A notary public is a lawyer appointed to authenticate documents for use abroad: the notary identifies the person signing, witnesses the signature, and attaches a notarial certificate that foreign authorities, and the FCDO’s apostille, can rely on. A solicitor certifies that a copy is a true copy of an original, administers oaths for affidavits and statutory declarations as a commissioner for oaths, and can certify a document so the FCDO will apostille it. Neither profession reads Turkish or checks whether a translation is correct. The Chartered Institute of Linguists puts it this way: the UK has no state system of sworn translators, and certification of a translation is done by the translator or translation company itself. A notarised translation is therefore a certified translation to which a notary has added confirmation that the translator signed it in the notary’s presence.

When someone asks for a notarised translation

• A foreign authority, outside the UK and Türkiye, that will only recognise a translation carrying a notarial act and an apostille.
• A UK bank, pension provider or private lender dealing with a Turkish power of attorney or inheritance papers.
• A solicitor preparing a document for use in Türkiye, where the Turkish side expects a notarised translation.
• Occasionally a court, though the civil rules require only the translator’s certification or an affidavit verifying the translation.

The Home Office, HM Passport Office, UK ENIC and the healthcare regulators do not ask for notarisation. Before paying for it, ask the body for its wording; more often than not a certified translation is what is meant.

How an Ankara-based company meets the request

We have no UK office, so our translators cannot appear before a notary in London. What we provide is the Turkish equivalent, which is a fuller act than a UK signature witness: the translator, sworn before a notary in Ankara, signs the translation at the notary’s office; the notary certifies the translator’s signature and binds the translation to the original or a copy; and the notarial certificate is apostilled at the Ankara kaymakamlık so any Hague Convention reader, including a UK bank or solicitor, can verify it. The notary tariff is passed through at cost, about £12–15 per page in 2026, plus £5 handling; the apostille is £15; translation is from £10.00 per page Turkish to English and £6.50 English to Turkish; courier to the UK is £30. No UK VAT is charged. If a UK body has written that it needs a UK notary specifically, we say so and suggest a route through a UK notary, which needs a translator physically present; the Notaries Society’s directory lists notaries by area.

Documents that pass between the two professions and Türkiye

• A vekaletname from Türkiye for a UK sale or bank matter, apostilled in Türkiye and translated here.
• A UK power of attorney drawn up by a UK notary for tapu, court or bank use in Türkiye: notarised in the UK, apostilled by the FCDO, then translated and notarised in Ankara. Tapu offices have their own form requirements, including a photograph on property powers, so the Turkish draft should be agreed first.
• Statutory declarations and affidavits sworn before a solicitor for Turkish courts and nüfus offices.
• Certified copies of passports and certificates that a solicitor certifies for the FCDO before they go to Türkiye.
• Translator’s affidavits verifying a translation for an English court, which we swear before an Ankara notary and apostille.

Common reasons notarial files bounce

• A notary is asked to certify that the translation is correct; notaries refuse, because that is not what they attest.
• The translation is notarised before the underlying document was apostilled, so the apostille page is missing from the translation.
• The notarial certificate is not itself apostilled and the foreign reader cannot verify the notary.
• A UK power of attorney for Turkish property omits the elements the tapu office expects, and the Turkish notary will not accept the translation of a defective power.
• Names differ between the notarial act and the passport because Turkish characters were dropped.

Solicitors and notaries who send us work regularly receive a fixed page price, a single point of contact and invoicing in the firm’s name; the details are on our page for solicitors and barristers.