Domain expired

[groucho]

I had an email from nominet today saying that my domain has expired and to contact my registrar. A couple of questions. Is it normal for a registrar to let a domain expire?
I am the registrant and I can't remember how I lost control of this domain, ie, to be able to renew it.

Is there anything underhand going on?

[groucho]

I have been on the whois site and it has expired today. I am the registrant. I feel a little bit uncomfortable not having control of it. The registrar is HEARTINTERNET. I called them and they told me the registrar is Unitel Direct. This is correct.


Not keen to give domain name online as my address is in the info.

Edited by groucho on Monday 2nd March 18:59

[groucho]

Been speaking with HeartInternet. Unitel Direct who is a reseller has my domain on their site. I have lost control of it. I'm going to tell them to transfer it back to me. I am the owner.

This doesn't seem right. What stops them not renewing and then buying it themselves, or charging £500 for renewal? I do not trust them.


The website is still up though.

Edited by groucho on Monday 2nd March 20:02

Edited by groucho on Monday 2nd March 20:06

[groucho]

colin79666 said:

You aren't unless you have paid for the renewal. With domains you are effectively renting the exclusive use of the domain. Once payment stops the landlord takes it back. Who did you actually buy the domain from? Unitel describes themselves as a Heart reseller in their t&cs.

I bought the domain back in 2008 from easily.co.uk when I buit my website myself. There is no way I can personally pay for renewal at the moment as Unitel has control on Heart. Heart said if they do not transfer it over, then they will transfer it to me themselves.

So, people could end up losing domain names in these scenarios?

[groucho]

TonyRPH said:

Unless you can provide proof (in the form of branding or similar in the case of a business) you are likely to have lost it.

• reminders are almost always sent a month or two before expiry.

I can do this. My name and address, company name are on Whois.
I did not get any reminders. Nominet sent me an email today. This sounds unscrupulous.

[groucho]

rpguk said:

This. If you're listed as the registrant and you got an email directly from nominet then you have enough to take control of the name again. I think it'll cost you a tenner or so to switch the IPS tag to another provider (first instigate a transfer).

That it's already expired may complicate things a little. Give Nominet a call on 01865 332244 and they'll advise you on how best to proceed. You're lucky it's a .uk as nominet are an absolute pleasure to deal with compared to just about every other registry.

When you're done make sure you've got all your other domains under your control.

I have transferred it like said above. All I have to do is call them to change nameservers, unless I can do this? Cheers.