domain name transfer

[Mwebb]

My domain name is registered to myself. This is because at the time of registering did not have the company set up.

Now i can transfer it, but it costs £35, which i would rather not pay. As a limited company trading from that domain, is it essential to transfer it...either legally or otherwise?

Michael

Posted here aswell as internet forum ( didnt know the best place-feel free to delete 1 of the posts)

 

[Antonia @limeone.com]

But there are some issues around this when you want to raise finance, the domain name is then not an asset of the business and there are also, if the domain name has financial value tax implications.

It is not uncommon for individual directors to own domain names, this only is an issue legally( see tax comments above) if that director wishes to withdraw once the business is fully functional. Those problems arise from the other director's point of view though!

 

[VeryMark]

It is not essential legally to transfer the domain name unless issues arise as Antonia says.

Do check, though, through a 'Whois' search that you are actually the registered owner - some ISP's have been known to make registrations in their own name - and also register any obvious variations (singular/plural/hypenated/unhyphenated & .com/net/co.uk) and link them to your website to deny them to competitors & pirates.

Also diarise the renewal date to make sure it's not missed.

 

[Mwebb]

Antonia,
you are becoming my unofficial legal department. First the excellent advice i got from John at your office on my term and conditions, and now this.

At present, i am the only director, i suppose a good little tax evasion could be at a later date sell the domain name to the company, and rent it to them at present.

What raised this question is the whois details actually say the domain is run by an individual on on a non commercial basis. And this is not true.??

Thanks

Michael

 

[Mwebb]

Sorry i should also add that individual is listed as me.

 

[VeryMark]

Micahel, you have:

(1) the .com registered but with the registrant shown as "na"?

(2) the .co.uk registered as you say with your address omitted as a non-trading individual - this may breach Nominet's rules and could presumanly result in action by them, but how likely or dangerous this is I don't know - you need someone like crus or Matrixx to comment on that.

Don't forget also that what's posted on these forums is public.

 

[Mwebb]

Crossgaurd
thanks for the advice. I didnt realise the .com was saying NA. I guess i could change the address of the .co.uk to my trading address and have it shown?

Michael

 

[crus]

Hi Michael & Philip,

for the amount of concern you are having, I would just bite the bullet and transfer the .co.uk. This is easily done, just sell the company the name for reg fee and have the company pay the transfer fee as a one of expense. To do this simply conmtact nominet and request a transfer form for the domain and this will be sent to you.

Always try and keep you detail up to date, the non trading individual is a new bi of info on the whois which is just to show a whois opt out that does not want to distibute their address etc via the whois

Nominet appreciates that some individuals are concerned about having their personal address published on the WHOIS and has responded to these concerns by giving non-trading individuals an opportunity to opt out of having their address details displayed. If you are a non-trading individual, you will be able to opt out of the WHOIS by speaking to your registration agent or ISP, who in turn will modify the domain name record held by Nominet on your behalf so that your address details are not displayed. In cases where the domain name holder has chosen to opt out, the WHOIS will return the registrant's name but the address field will state: "This individual has chosen to opt out of the WHOIS. Contact via Agent."

The same stands true for the .com, get it updated with your correct registrant details, it has never caused any hassle to any of mine (often happens when moving domains from registrar to registrar) but that does not mean that it won't cause you any hassle.

D

 

[Mwebb]

Yeah,
i think i will transfer the .co.uk and keep the .com and just forward to the .co.uk

Cheers guys, was just wondering if it was worth doing, as the paper work needed is stupid.

2 confirmation letters. both signed by me!
Copy of ID for me
All the Ltd company details
+ the transfer form
Can't wait to fill all that in!!

Michael