We recently had a cry for help from a client that, out of the blue, lost its website and all email access. Completely baffled they called on their friendly marketing and PR company…
To cut a long story short, the client’s domain name had expired and nobody had informed them because they were not logged as the official registrant.
As is quite usual, the registrant was the web builder. In this instance his company had disbanded over two years ago and he was well and truly now ‘off the radar.’
Our client had no idea the domain had expired, and no rights to take immediate control of it in the absence of the registrant.
You see, whoever purchases the domain name is ultimately in complete control. If that individual becomes unavailable for any reason - and hasn’t shared their domain supplier’s log in/ownership details with them - you are in a sticky situation.
• There is a waiting period of 2 months to renew a domain that has lapsed and is out of your control.
• If the domain registrant has passed away or moved on and unable/unwilling to help, your only option other than to wait two months is to take legal action.
Our advice:
Ensure you have full control of your web domain name. Set up an account with a provider such as Fasthosts and have your design or web company transfer your domain name/s to your account. Keep the account details safe, and ensure you share them with a third party or keep a record somewhere.
Talk to us if you’d like to know more.
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