The .london Domain: A City Ending That Asks for a Link
.london entered the root zone on 13 February 2014 under an ICANN registry agreement dated 14 November 2013, with Dot London Domains Limited as the contracting party. The company is registered at the address of London & Partners, the city's official promotional agency. The nTLDstats page accessed on 12 August 2026 shows 42,060 registrations, of which 36,108 sit in the zone file.
Restaurants and bars, boutique hotels, agencies, law and accountancy practices, cultural institutions, neighbourhood initiatives and shops serving the city all use the zone. Registration here asks for a connection to London. Try candidates through a .london domain search, and compare another city ending on the .hamburg page.
Clause 1 of the registry's Naming Policy opens names to individuals and entities holding a physical address in London (the City and the 32 boroughs), or who declare in good faith an affiliation with or interest in London — offering information, goods or services relevant to London or Londoners is given as the example. Clause 6 then allows the registry, where it determines the requirement is not met, to suspend, cancel or transfer the name, with no obligation to refund any fee. You upload nothing at registration, but your declaration binds you. That sets this ending apart from several city extensions where no connection is asked for at all.
.LONDON Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Dot London Domains Limited
- ICANN registry agreement 14 November 2013
- Root zone record 13 February 2014
- Connection requirement London address or a good-faith declaration of affiliation
- Registered domains 42,060 (nTLDstats, 12 August 2026)
- Present in the zone file 36,108 names, about 86%
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .london domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.london Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$49.90 /year -
Transfer
$49.99 /year -
Renewal
$54.99 /year -
Restore
$149.90 -
Late Renewal
$11.00
Included With Every .london Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.london Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .london domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .london address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .london domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $11.00 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .london returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.london Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.london Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .london domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.london Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .london Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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Yes, provided you declare in good faith that you have a connection to London.
The Naming Policy does not treat a physical address as the only route: offering information, goods or services relevant to London or Londoners counts as an affiliation. Your declaration binds you, and the registry may suspend the name if it concludes the requirement is unmet. Make the connection visible on your site.
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No. The requirement is met by declaration rather than by evidence.
The registry performs no check before registration, but reserves the right to look afterwards. Under the policy, if it determines the requirement is not satisfied it may suspend, cancel or transfer the name, and it carries no obligation to refund fees. Publishing the address and contact details that support your declaration is the most practical protection.
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Terms tied to government, local authorities and landmarks are reserved.
The Naming Policy reserves terms associated with the UK government, the Greater London Authority and the 32 boroughs, transport and policing services, the monarchy, and the names of parks, squares, neighbourhoods, streets and museums. Such names may only be allocated to those the registry considers properly associated with them.
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The November 2024 policy rests directly on United Kingdom legislation.
It requires domain use to be lawful and to comply with the 2024 regulations governing internet domain registries in the country. It also makes you responsible for activity on any sub-domain you create or any name you lease to someone else. Check who holds a name through whois search.
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Of 42,060 registrations, 36,108 sit in the zone file, about 86 percent.
That high share shows a zone filled with working business sites rather than parked holdings. The rule that follows: if the short name you want is taken it is probably in real use, so waiting for it to lapse is unproductive; widen the stem with a neighbourhood or a service instead. Test the patterns through the bulk domain name search.
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