How to Notarise a Loan Agreement in Australia

An Australian loan with an Australian lender almost never involves a notary. The lender identifies you itself, and any mortgage is handled through its own systems and your conveyancer or lawyer. When a notary does appear in a loan, it is because one side of the transaction is overseas.

When a notary is actually needed

The common situations are:

• Borrowing from a foreign lender, most often a mortgage over property you own or are buying in another country while living in Australia.
• Guaranteeing someone else's loan abroad, typically a parent, sibling or adult child whose foreign bank wants a guarantor.
• A family loan across borders, such as a relative overseas lending to you, or you lending to them, where one side wants the signatures formally witnessed.
• An Australian company borrowing from, or lending to, a foreign entity, including a loan between an Australian parent and an overseas subsidiary.
• Enforcing a loan overseas, where a foreign court or lawyer needs a certified copy of the signed agreement.

In each case the foreign party cannot see you sign and cannot check an Australian identity document. A notary's certificate, usually with an apostille, answers both problems.

If the other party is in Australia and the lender is Australian, ask why a notary has been requested. A domestic loan rarely needs one.

How to have it notarised

Bring the agreement unsigned, every page, along with photo identification (a passport is safest) and any instructions the lender has given about how it wants the document executed.

The notary will:

• check your identity against the name in the agreement;
• satisfy themselves that you understand the document and are signing of your own free will;
• witness your signature, and initial pages if the lender requires it; and
• attach a notarial certificate and record the act in their register.

The notary does not review the terms. A notarial certificate says who signed and when. It says nothing about whether the interest rate is fair, whether the security is enforceable, or what the lender's country's law makes of the document. For those questions, you need a lawyer, ideally in the lender's country.

A document in a language you do not read raises a particular problem, because the notary must be satisfied you understand what you are signing. Expect to need a translation. Our page on notarising documents in a language you do not read explains the options.

Guarantees: the notary will ask questions

A guarantee is where the notary's checks on capacity and free will matter most. Guarantees for family members are signed under pressure more often than any other document, and a guarantor can end up liable for the whole debt.

Expect the notary to speak with you on your own, to ask whether you understand the extent of your liability, and possibly to ask whether you have had independent legal advice. A notary who is not satisfied may decline to act. That protects you as much as the lender.

Some foreign lenders also require a certificate that the guarantor has received independent legal advice. That comes from a lawyer who advises you, not from the notary witnessing your signature. Before signing any guarantee, especially one secured over your home, see a lawyer.

Signing for a company

If a company is the borrower, lender or guarantor, the notary will usually need evidence that the people signing are authorised to bind it: company records and often a board resolution approving the transaction. Some foreign lenders also want the notary to certify the company's existence and the signatories' authority. See our pages on notarising for a company and notarising a board resolution.

Getting a certified copy

After signing, keep a complete copy. If the agreement later has to be produced to a foreign court, registry or tax authority, a notary can certify a copy after sighting the signed original. If the original went to the lender, ask it for a certified copy from its own records, or keep a notarised copy made at the signing appointment.

Getting it apostilled or legalised

Only DFAT issues apostilles in Australia; a notary cannot.

• If the lender's country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, DFAT apostilles the notarial certificate. Membership changes, so check the HCCH status table on the day.
• If it is not, DFAT authenticates the document and it then goes to that country's embassy or consulate in Australia for legalisation.

Some countries require security documents, such as mortgages over their land, to be signed before their own notary or at their consulate rather than before an Australian notary. Ask the lender or its lawyer before booking anything, because a document signed the wrong way may have to be signed again.

What it costs

Notarial fees are not set by statute and vary between practitioners. As a market estimate only:

• witnessing one signatory on a loan agreement: roughly $100–$200
• each additional signatory or document at the same appointment: often less
• company transactions involving authority checks: usually quoted individually

Long agreements with every page initialled, several signatories, or company authority certificates take longer and cost more. DFAT and embassy fees are separate and charged per document.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sign first and bring it to the notary later? Usually not. The notary witnesses the signature being made. Our page on what to do when the document is already signed covers the options.

Does notarising make the loan enforceable? No. It proves who signed. Enforceability depends on the agreement and the law that governs it.

Can a Justice of the Peace witness it? For a document going overseas, generally not. A JP is not recognised abroad and a JP-witnessed document cannot be apostilled.