Get a deed poll £18.50

Get a deed poll

Certified copies

A certified copy is a copy of your deed poll that we certify as a true copy of the original. Most organisations accept one and keep it, so the original stays at home and you can tell everyone at the same time.

A drawing of a family holding certified copies of a deed poll

Why people order copies

Banks, lenders, pension providers, employers and professional bodies usually keep a copy of the evidence they check, so they keep the certified copy you send and you never post the original. Two organisations ask for the original itself and post it back: HM Passport Office and DVLA. Everyone else is a copy, and several of them can be told in the same week.

Each copy is sealed as a certified copy. The organisation you send it to keeps it, and the original never leaves your house.

How many you need

Count organisations that keep what you send, not accounts: two banks and three old pensions is five copies before you start. A workable count for most people:

  • One for each bank and building society.
  • One for each pension, investment or savings provider, including NS&I.
  • One for your employer, and one for a professional body if you are registered with one.
  • One for HM Land Registry if you own property (it accepts a certified copy).
  • One for each insurer and each utility that asks in writing.
  • Two spares: one to keep with the deed, one for the organisation you have not thought of.

Most people who order copies order between six and fifteen. How many certified copies you need works through it organisation by organisation.

Three certified copies of an adult deed poll, side by side
Copies are printed with the deed, sealed, and posted in the same envelope.

Prices

CopiesPricePer copy
2£6£3.00
6£10£1.67
10£15£1.50
15£20£1.33
20£25£1.25

Copies are ordered with your deed poll at the checkout and arrive in the same envelope. Custom cover letters, addressed from you to each organisation, are sold in the same bundles, and the board-backed envelope (£1.99) keeps a thick set flat in the post.

How to use them

  1. Sign the deed poll first. Copies are certified as true copies of the signed deed, so the deed is witnessed before anything is sent.
  2. Send the original only where it is asked for. HM Passport Office and DVLA, one at a time, and each posts it back.
  3. Send a copy to everyone else, with the cover letter, in the same week. They keep the copy; you keep the deed.
  4. Keep two spares with the deed for the years ahead.

Already have a deed poll?

We can only certify a deed poll we drafted, so copies are not sold on their own. If yours is from elsewhere, or lost, a replacement deed poll with copies is the route, and it costs the same as a new one.

What a certified copy is not

It is not a photocopy, which most organisations will not accept because anyone can make one, and it is not a notarised copy, which is for documents used abroad. What a certified copy is sets the three side by side.

Questions people ask

Is a certified copy accepted in place of the original?

By many organisations, yes: banks, lenders, employers and HM Land Registry among them. HM Passport Office and DVLA are the exceptions, both ask for the original deed and post it back. So the original goes to one of them and a copy goes to everyone else at the same time.

Do organisations send certified copies back?

Some look at a copy and return it; many keep it on file, which is the point of having copies. The who-to-tell guide marks the ones that normally keep what you send.

What is the difference from a photocopy?

A photocopy proves nothing about the document it was taken from, and most organisations will not accept one. A certified copy is one we produce alongside your deed and certify as a true copy of it. What a certified copy is.

Is it the same as a notarised copy?

No. A notarised copy is for documents used abroad. For UK organisations a certified copy is what is asked for; for another country, see using a UK deed poll abroad.

Can I order copies on their own?

We can only certify a deed poll we drafted, so copies are ordered with a deed at the checkout. If your deed is from elsewhere, or lost, a replacement deed poll with copies is the route, at the same price as a new one.

Can I order more copies later?

Ask us. If you added SafeKeep, more copies are 25% off for ten years; otherwise a paralegal will tell you the quickest way for your situation.

How many do most people order?

Between six and fifteen. Count the organisations that keep what you send, one copy each, and add two spares.

Something else? Ask us, and a person replies by email, normally the same working day.

Not the one you need?