On June 10, 2014 .UK will be available as a second level domain. Here’s some very important information:
Checking your rights to .uk
For the majority of users the equivalent .uk domain will be automatically reserved when it launches on June 10, 2014. So if you have a unique .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .plc.uk or .ltd.uk the.uk equivalent will be reserved up until June 10, 2019 as long as your domain remains registered.
To successfully complete a 2nd level .uk registration, the owner contact information must be an exact match to the owner contact information of the equivalent third level .uk domain name, otherwise your registration will fail. Furthermore, if your third level .uk domain name resides at a registrar other than BargainHost, Nominet will email the registrant to confirm the registration.
For names that shared the same website name but had different domain name endings (i.e. www.example.co.uk and www.example.org.uk) you can check whether you have the rights to the new .uk by using the rights lookup tool.
If you decide not to register the new .uk equivalent domain before June 10, 2019 it will then become available for someone else to register, but your existing domain will of course still be yours as long as it remains registered to you.
Registering a new domain
On June 10, 2014 you will be able to register a website with just the .uk – no .co required.
The rules will be largely the same for existing .co.uk and .org.uk domains, with these exceptions:
- Where the registrant is overseas an address for service in the UK will be required.
- PO Boxes won’t be acceptable in the address.
- If entering a UK address, the owner and admin contacts for a domain must have a country code of GB, GG, JE or IM. UK will not be an accepted country code.
Securing a .UK name today
If you want to try to secure your .uk name today you can register a .co.uk. Use the rights lookup tool to check whether the domain name you want is available to register. If there is no equivalent domain with rights already existing within the .uk domain family, this will then mean that by registering the .co.uk you will automatically have the right to register the new .uk when it becomes available in June 10, 2014.
You must register the .co.uk by 07:59hrs UTC on June 10, 2014 for the right to reserve the new .uk equivalent.
.UK second level
Launch: June 10th, 2014, 0800 UTC
Price: £6.99 for 1year and from £4.99 for multi-year registrations.
As always, contact support if you have any additional questions.
