I have noted a number of UK domain registrations being made available in the advertising sections almost invariably these have been done through one of the online bulk services and the owners are not aware of the current situation on transferring these domains.

A UK registration is attached to a tagholder, the tagholder can transfer to another tagholder and can update all information on the domain EXCEPT the registrant, this has to be done through Nominet at a cost of £35 + VAT.

Legally the registration is owned by the registrant so even if you have bought a domain from someone the previous owner is the legal owner of that domain until the registrant details are changed and the fee paid.

Prior to the 19th of May this year this was a free service since then the fee above applies.

Further details can be obtained from this address

http://www.nominet.org.uk/MakingChangesToYourDomainName/Transfer/

Please ensure you are aware of the situation before agreeing to any deal.

A good point to make!

Simply put: If you buy a domain and have its tag moved, unless the £35 fee is paid then the original guy you bought it from could go and snatch it back without you having a leg to stand on.

Originally posted by Goldwing

A UK registration is attached to a tagholder, the tagholder can transfer to another tagholder and can update all information on the domain EXCEPT the registrant, this has to be done through Nominet at a cost of £35 + VAT.

Urggh - seems to be reason enough to avoid .uk domains...

Glad I dont own any .co.uk domains. I guess there will be no more 10$ sales and the like :( Maybe you should get a mod to post this warning in RO&R to help protect all the members here.

Urggh - seems to be reason enough to avoid .uk domains...

Actually it can be a reason to have a UK name, less chance of it disappearing ( on saying that i fought tooth and nail against the idea as it was going through the "consultation" phase)
It does however put a block on low value speculative registrations which make up the bulk in the RO&R as I have seen it.

Glad I dont own any .co.uk domains. I guess there will be no more 10$ sales and the like Maybe you should get a mod to post this warning in RO&R to help protect all the members here.

Actually my biggest monatary sale of a domain came from a .co.uk :)
It is basically the old caveat emptor "let the buyer beware" just way too many people advertising "free transfer" etc which can lull people into a false sense of security.
Matt's explanation is exactly right of what can happen.

When I said I guess there will be no more 10$ sales I am not devaluing the ccTLD but stating that it would be impossible to actually transfer ownership for such a low cost.