Dear all,

I am renewing my terms and conditions document and want some advice please on the legalities of domain names.

Particularly what is the legal requirements governing domain name renewals? Does the customer and legal owner of the domain name have to inform me (as their web host who has registered it on their behalf in my domain account) that they dont want it renewed, or do I need to contact them and ask them what they want to do with an upcoming domain renewal?

Currently unless a customer tells me they dont want it renewed I will renew it automatically, but I have always wondered what would happen if I renewed a domain name that I hadnt been told to renew and the customer turns round and says "hang on, I didnt want it renewed, I'm not paying".

I do not think there is much policy on renewals. The onus of renewing is on the registrant not the registrar. You also have a fair amount of latitude in terms of grace periods so this would be at the registrars discretion

You know you should seek a lawyer if you want legal advice. :D

But there are no legal requirements for domain renewals except
what the registries say, the registrars say, and what you say.

As said above surely it's really down to the T&C you set as a reseller.
You can enforce any T&C you set - however getting people to pay for something they don't want it always difficult.

I use 123-reg.co.uk for all my domains.
They use a positive renewal system.
So, they first send me an e-mail when the domain has 90 days to go until it requires renewal.
I get another message at 45 days, another at 30, then 14 and when in the final week it's almost a message a day.

By default they will use any credit card information they are holding on file for me to attempt to renew the domain unless I log into my control panel and set the domain to "allow to expire".
So if I do nothing and they have up to date and valid credit card information I should in theory never lose a domain as it will always be renewed on the last day for a year (or two years with a co.uk).

I've seen people on these very forums complain about this system saying it is unfair and almost theft that a registra can take money without you actively saying "Yes, I'd like to renew that domain".
However I've not heard of anybody then taking it any further and getting anything from the registra - if a customer receives no less than 5 e-mails warning them that a domain is about to expire and that they need to cancel it if they no longer require it and they choose to ignore it then tough!

If I was in the domain reselling business I too would follow the "positive renewal" system and make sure this was big and bold in my T&C and also make sure the customer got plenty of warning e-mails all the way up to the domain name coming up for renewal.
I'd much rather get an e-mail from somebody saying "How dare you charge me $10 to renew a domain I didn't want" than "Somehow a domain worth thousands to me has now expired".