Notary Public · Fairlight, British Columbia
Important documents, explained in the language you think in.
Wills, powers of attorney, travel letters, property transfers and every notarization in between. Booked quickly, explained without jargon, and never rushed.
What brings people in
Most people do not arrive knowing what the document is called.
So here it is the other way round: the situation first, the legal name for it second. Describe yours on the phone in ordinary words and we will tell you which one it is.
You are buying or selling a home
We take the file from the day your offer goes firm through to the day the keys change hands, and we file it at the Land Title Office for you.
ConveyancingYour lender has sent you papers
Refinancing, a renewal, a new charge or a discharge. We take the lender’s instructions and work to whatever date they have set, not the other way around.
Mortgages and refinancingYou want to sort out your will
Drafted with you in conversation rather than filled in from a form, properly witnessed, and stored with a will search registered so it can be found later.
Wills and estate documentsA parent is getting older
An enduring power of attorney and a representation agreement, so that someone they trust can act on money and on health care when they no longer can.
Powers of attorneySomeone is travelling without both parents
A travel consent letter that a border officer will actually accept, plus letters of invitation for family visiting from abroad.
Travel and invitation lettersSomeone has asked for it certified
Affidavits, statutory declarations, certified true copies and witnessed signatures for any public registry in British Columbia. Usually while you wait.
Notarizations and affidavitsThe full list of services runs to more than thirty items, from manufactured home transfers to commercial leases.
Languages
A will is hard enough to read in your first language.
Six languages are spoken in this office, which means most clients can go through every clause in the one they think in rather than the one they translate into. Where we cannot help directly, we will arrange an interpreter and tell you the cost before you book.
How an appointment works
Four steps, and you will know what happens at each one.
Nobody should have to guess what a notary appointment involves, or turn up carrying the wrong thing. This is the whole sequence.
Tell us the situation
On the phone, in ordinary words. We name the document, give you a fee range, and say how long it takes.
We send a short list
Exactly what to bring for your file. Two pieces of identification is the part everybody forgets.
We read it through together
Not pointing at lines to sign. Every clause explained, questions welcome, in your language wherever we can.
You leave with copies
Signed, witnessed, filed where it needs filing, and a copy in your hands the same day.
Our notaries
Two notaries, and the one you meet is the one who has your file.
The practice stayed small deliberately. Nobody here hands your file to a name you have never spoken to, and nobody charges for a question answered on the phone.
Commissioned in 2012 and the founder of the practice. Amara looks after personal planning: wills, enduring powers of attorney, representation agreements and the conversations families need before signing them.
Commissioned in 2017. Wei carries the residential conveyancing and refinancing work and is usually the person your realtor or mortgage broker ends up speaking to. Fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.
On fees
British Columbia sets no fee schedule for notaries. Every notary sets their own.
Which means the only thing standing between you and a surprise is a number in writing. Ours arrives before the file opens, and it is itemized rather than rounded off.
- A range on the phone, straight awayYou should never have to book an appointment just to find out roughly what something costs.
- Disbursements on their own linesRegistration charges, searches and couriers listed separately from our fee, never folded in.
- Any change in writing, same dayIf a search turns up something that moves the number, you hear it before more work happens.
For realtors, brokers and lenders
A completion that slips is your problem before it is ours.
Which is why the file opens the day it arrives, why you get a person rather than a shared inbox, and why the update reaches you before you have to ask.
- Files opened the same business day they arrive
- A named notary on every file, with a direct line
- Six languages, so your client is never the bottleneck
- Evening and Saturday signings when the date is tight
What clients say
Placeholder reviews, shown to demonstrate the layout.
On a live site these would be pulled from the practice’s real Google reviews, which for most notaries is the strongest asset they already own and the one their current website tends to bury.
My mother speaks very little English and had put off her power of attorney for years because of it. She went through the whole thing in Cantonese and understood every word. That is not a small thing.
Nine days from subject removal to completion and I was sure it would fall apart. Every question came back the same day. It closed on the date it was supposed to close.
I send every client here now. In four years not one completion date has moved because of something on the notary side, and my clients who need a second language stop being a scheduling problem.
Questions
Asked before almost every first appointment.
If yours is not here, call and ask it. Nobody in this office charges for a question answered on the phone.
Notaries handle non contentious matters: property transfers, mortgages, wills, powers of attorney, affidavits and notarizations. Anything disputed, and anything heading toward a courtroom, belongs with a lawyer. If your file turns out to need one, you will hear that from us at the beginning rather than halfway through.
Two pieces of current identification, at least one a government issued photo card such as a driver licence or a passport. Everything beyond that depends on the document, so ask when you book and we will send a short list for your specific file. Bring the document unsigned: a signature has to be made in front of the notary to be witnessed.
Yes, in Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi and Tagalog directly, and in Farsi by arrangement. For anything else we will arrange an interpreter and tell you what that adds before you book. For some documents the law requires an independent interpreter rather than a family member, and we will say so if that applies to you.
Yes. Mobile signings are available across the Lower Mainland by arrangement, including hospital and care home visits where the signer cannot travel. Travel is quoted in advance like everything else.
Usually not. Weekday mornings are generally quiet enough to take walk ins for a straightforward signature, affidavit or certified copy. Call ahead if you want to be sure, and always book properly for a will, a power of attorney or anything to do with property.
Tell us as soon as your offer goes firm, even if completion is six weeks away. Opening the file early is free and it is the single biggest reason dates hold. For a will or a power of attorney a week is normally plenty.
Visit us
Unit 105, 88 Rosewood Avenue
Fairlight, British Columbia
Street level, no step at the door. Free parking behind the building off Cedar Lane.
Tell us the situation. We will tell you what it is called.
Same week appointments most weeks, a written quote before anything starts, and a notary who picks up the phone.