I have noticed both here and on other forums that many holders of domains issued by Nominet in the UK, (.co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk etc), are unfamiliar with the requirements that Nominet make to transfer "Legal Registrant" status of a domain. In the case of most other domain transfers (.com. .net, .org etc) a transfer of legal title can be made simply by 'pushing' the domain to the Registrar account of the buyer, or by approving a transfer out to a new Registrar - however THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE BY NOMINET for a transfer of "Legal Registrant" status. What does "Legal Registrant" status imply? "Legal Registrant" status provides for a legal claim to 'ownership' of the domain and a certificate of registration is issued by Nominet confirming "Legal Registrant" status, (you wouldn't buy a car or a house without the papers would you?). Does that mean I cannot use and administer a .uk domain that has been pushed to my account? No! - A .uk domain pushed to your account will be administered within your account control panel in exactly the same way as any other domain. So why should I care if I get "Legal Registrant" status from some UK quango? Good question - lets look at a couple of scenarious:- 1) Your have desireabledomain.co.uk which you bought from a seller here at DP, a big company wants to buy the domain for mega-bucks because it suits their brand. They check the Registrant details with Nominet but it doesn't show you because you received the domain by a 'push'. Problem is that it doesn't show the details of the person that sold it to you either because he bought it from somene else and got it as a push to his account. Sadly the original registrant died last week, but Nominet shows him as still being the "Legal Registrant" of the domain! Your chances of getting a sale on desireabledomain.co.uk are looking very slim indeed because you can't deliver "Legal Registrant" status to the company wanting to buy! 2) You receive a domain by a 'push' from someone here at DP and later sell it on to someone else, pushing it to their account. After a while your buyer tells you that he has spotted that he is not the "Legal Registrant" of the domain and he wants full title. Problem is you aren't shown as the "Legal Registrant" either because you didn't go through the Nominet process to become "Legal Registrant". You can no longer find the guy that sold you the domain and your buyer is threatening to sue you if you don't tranfer "Legal Registrant" status to him ... but you can't! Okay, what do I need to do to properly transfer "Legal Registrant" status of a .uk domain? Let's see what Nominet say http://www.nic.uk/registrants/maintain/transfer:- Hope you find this post helpful, following its advice will certainly help you steer clear of problems when dealing in .uk domains. (Of course ownership of all domains rests with the Registry, but 'ownership' in this post refers to the standard due entitlement to the domain).
Someone recently sold me a .uk domain they did not legally own. I have asked for a refund, have yet to receive one. Check that the seller understands what they have to do before buying, thats my advice! +Rep
Im glad that i read this thread, appears that there is quite a lot involved when dealing with uk domains. Thanks for the information.
I'm in the middle of transfering a UK domain for a client from godaddy to another, and there taking forever! :|