Who should own your business domain?

Start with the registration

Your domain is the address customers type to reach you. If the only person who can renew it, recover the account or authorise a change is a former supplier, an ordinary website update can become a very annoying negotiation.

The useful starting point is the registrant: the person or organisation recorded as holding the registration. A registrar is the provider through which you register and manage the name. ICANN explains that the registrant enters into an agreement with that registrar, which sets the terms for maintaining the registration.

For a business buying a new domain, our recommendation is straightforward. Use the appropriate business or individual as the registrant and an account the business can recover. Ask your supplier to confirm those details before the project gets moving. Paying a website invoice alone doesn’t tell you who is recorded on the domain.

Source: ICANN: information for domain name registrants

Your website, domain and email have different jobs

A domain registration, website hosting and email can come from different providers. The domain gives you an address; hosting holds the website. Email is a separate service that also relies on the domain’s settings.

That separation gives you choices, but it needs a clear handover. Before replacing a website, ask the person doing the work to identify which settings serve the website and which support your email. Keep a record of the current configuration and agree what will change. A casual instruction to replace everything is a poor brief.

You may be perfectly happy with your current domain provider. A new website doesn’t automatically mean the domain registration or email needs to move. Let the technical plan follow the change you actually want.

Give a supplier the access the work needs

Imagine a fictional interiors studio whose designer registered its domain in the designer’s personal account. The website works, so nobody thinks about it until the studio needs a new site and the designer has stopped replying. The difficulty is now account control, before anyone has discussed the new design.

We would rather settle that responsibility at the beginning. Where the provider supports delegated access, give the supplier a suitable role while retaining the business’s own account access. Use the provider’s available security controls, including two-factor authentication, and keep recovery details somewhere the business can reach.

A supplier can still do the technical work. The business needs a reliable way to recover control if that supplier becomes unavailable.

For a .uk domain, check the registered email

Nominet provides Online Services for .uk registrants. Its guidance says an account is created when you register a UK domain through a registrar, using the email address associated with that registration. The service can be used to manage contact details, change registrar or transfer the registration to someone else.

If you don’t know which email was used, start with the registrar. Ask it to confirm the registration details and its process for recovering access. Nominet’s guidance also points registrants to their registrar first, with Nominet support available if that route cannot help. Avoid making assumptions from an old invoice or somebody’s recollection.

Source: Nominet: Online Services introduction

Changing provider and changing registrant are different

You can want a new domain provider while keeping the same registrant. You can also need to change the registrant, for example when a registration moves from an individual to their limited company. Those are different requests, and Nominet’s guidance distinguishes them.

For domains covered by ICANN’s transfer rules, such as many .com registrations, transfer restrictions can affect the timing. ICANN’s FAQ describes circumstances including a change-of-registrant lock. Don’t apply a generic .com checklist to every .uk domain or promise an immediate move before the registrar has checked the situation. Ask the receiving provider to confirm the process for the actual domain.

Source: The UK Domain: transferring a domain to someone else

ICANN’s domain transfer FAQ

Make renewal somebody’s responsibility

Agree who pays the renewal, where the notices arrive and who checks the payment method. Put the renewal date in a business record that survives a change of employee or supplier. If you use automatic renewal, somebody still needs to keep the account and payment details current.

Before a handover, check the registrant details, registrar login and recovery route, renewal responsibility, and the plan for website and email settings. These checks are small enough to finish before launch. They are much harder to untangle when an account is already inaccessible.

How we approach it at Pointed

We ask clients to keep their domain registered in their own name or the appropriate business name. If a new domain is needed, register it in your own account. We provide the website connection records and guidance, with the arrangement for existing email agreed before changes are made.

Pointed hosting and self-managed website handover are separate options within the agreed project scope. Whichever route you choose, the domain remains yours. Bring your existing provider details when you enquire, without sending passwords, and we’ll work through the connection and handover requirements with you.

Enquire by email, WhatsApp or our short enquiry form. We agree the scope and price with you before you pay by Stripe invoice.