Buy .uk Domain Name

No. For the second level the rules put it in one sentence: «Any person may register a SLD within .uk.» The clause setting the general principle adds that the registry accepts applications first come, first served and places no restriction on who may apply, which names they may hold or how many. Local presence applies only in the closed zones — .ltd.uk and .plc.uk require a company registered at Companies House, and .net.uk requires an internet service provider.

The calendar is published day by day. For the first 30 days the name works fully and can be renewed. From day 30 to day 90 the name no longer resolves — your site and email will not open — but renewal is still possible. From day 90 to day 95 renewal closes. On day 95 the name is released at the UTC time announced in the registry's public daily drop list. Random dropping was abolished in 2022.

Not by default. The registry's field definitions say it plainly: the registrant's name and address are not disclosed by default; to publish them you have to open the relevant fields with the registrant's permission. The contract takes the same line: personal data appears in WHOIS only where consent has been given. In other words, what you switch on here is publication, not privacy. You can inspect a live record from the whois search screen.

Yes. The registry has announced that the port 43 WHOIS service for .uk closes on 9 February 2027, with RDAP taking its place. The first step has already been applied and measured: the IANA record for .uk was updated on 4 August 2026 and no longer advertises a WHOIS server, listing only the RDAP server. The registry had warned in advance that some WHOIS clients may fail to locate the server as a result. The registry's contract and policy set is renewed on the same date.

Not by the UDRP but by the registry's own Dispute Resolution Service. A complainant must prove two things together: that they have rights in a similar name or mark, and that the name is an abusive registration in the respondent's hands. What sets the procedure apart is the free mediation the registry runs before any expert stage; if the parties settle, the case closes there. «Rights» are not limited to registered trade marks and can include descriptive terms that have acquired a secondary meaning.

The contract answers this the other way round: «A domain name is not an item of property and has no owner.» Two concrete consequences follow — the registry will not record mortgage-related obligations on the register, and all copyright and database rights in the register belong to the registry. It also states that accepting a registration does not acknowledge any rights of yours in the words within the name. The right to use rests on the contract and lasts as long as its terms are met.

The registry, the contract, the dispute procedure and the lifecycle are identical. The difference is the level: .uk sits directly at the second level, while .co.uk is a zone inside it. .co.uk is a far older and far fuller pool; because direct .uk opened later and the priority rights ended on 10 June 2019, short names have stayed available there for longer. The choice usually comes down to availability and how you want the brand to read.