What is Nominet? The .uk registry and what it means for your domain

Nominet is the official registry for .uk: the Oxford-based organisation that keeps the register of every .uk domain name, sets the rules for .uk and makes sure each .uk name can be found on the internet. You register a .uk domain through a registrar that works with Nominet, and that is also where you handle most things for your domain. Nominet comes into the picture for the rules, your registration details, disputes over a name and the big switch on 9 February 2027.

This article covers what Nominet does, who handles what for a .uk domain, what changes in February 2027, how to tell a genuine Nominet email from a fake one, what the Nominet lookup shows and how a .uk domain dispute works. For registering a .uk domain itself, including the different .uk options, naming rules, transfers and renewals, see how to register a .uk domain name.

What is Nominet?

Nominet runs the UK's country code domain, much like SIDN runs .nl, DNS Belgium runs .be and DENIC runs .de. The key facts, according to Nominet itself:

• Running .uk since 1996. .uk dates back to 1985 and was first managed by University College London, then by UKERNA, the UK education and research network. Nominet was founded in 1996 and took over from there. Why the domain is .uk and not .gb is covered in the history of domain names.
• A public benefit company. Nominet runs .uk for the greater good and works with its members, the companies that sell .uk domains. There are more than 2,000 of them.
• More than 10 million .uk names. According to Nominet, over 120,000 new ones are registered every month.
• More than .uk. Nominet has run .cymru and .wales since 2015, was appointed as the .gov.uk registry in 2023 and provides the technology behind brand domains such as those of the BBC and Microsoft. It also runs DNS for government services, including the NHS.
• Based in Oxford. Its office is on the Oxford Science Park.

Nominet, registrar and registrant: who does what?

Three parties are involved in every .uk domain:

That agreement with Nominet consists of the registrant terms and conditions, the rules of registration and the Dispute Resolution Service policy. You accept it when you register the domain. If you are not sure which registrar your domain is with, who manages your domain explains how to find out.

What Nominet's rules mean for your .uk domain

• Anyone can hold a .uk domain. You do not need a UK address. Only a few options, such as .me.uk and .ltd.uk, come with extra requirements; these are listed in how to register a .uk domain name.
• Accurate details. Nominet checks registrant names and addresses against sources such as Royal Mail, the electoral roll and Companies House. If that fails, Nominet or your registrar may ask for proof of identity or a company certificate. If your details cannot be validated, Nominet can suspend the domain.
• Naming rules. A .uk name uses the letters a to z, digits and hyphens. Nominet does not support accented letters.
• Changing the registrant. To put the domain in someone else's name, ask your registrar. What a change of registrant involves is covered in how to change the owner of a domain.

What changes on 9 February 2027?

On 9 February 2027 Nominet moves .uk to a new registry system, the platform it already uses for other domains. From then on .uk works much like most other domain endings:

How transfers and renewals work until that date, and the periods that apply afterwards, are explained step by step in how to register a .uk domain name. How a transfer with a transfer code works in general is covered in how to get your transfer code and move your domain.

How do I log in to Nominet Online Services?

As a .uk registrant you have your own account with Nominet, Nominet Online Services. You log in with the email address you used to register the domain, and you see every domain registered with that address. Here is how to get in and what you can do there:

1. Never logged in before? On the login page, choose the first-time login or forgotten password option. Nominet then emails the address linked to your domain with a link to create a password.
2. If that email does not arrive, your domain probably has a different address on record. Ask your registrar to update it; Nominet only sends the email to the address in your registration.
3. If you no longer have access to that address and your registrar cannot update it, you can re-establish your identity with Nominet. Nominet charges £10 plus VAT for this.
4. Once you are in, check your details. If your registrar is accredited by Nominet, the registrar updates them for you; otherwise you update them yourself in Online Services.

Until 9 February 2027 you can also use Online Services to move your domain to another registrar yourself, or to start a change of registrant if your registrar does not handle it, for £10 plus VAT per domain. If you registered your .uk domain using your registrar's privacy or proxy service, Nominet holds no contact details for you and you cannot log in.

Is that email from Nominet genuine?

Nominet does email registrants directly, for example when your details cannot be validated or when your domain has passed its expiry date without being renewed. Such a reminder includes your domain name, the expiry date and the name and website of your registrar, and advises you to renew through your registrar. How to tell a genuine email:

• The sender. Registry emails come from nominet.uk or nominet.org.uk addresses. In 2023 Nominet warned about fake emails spoofing nominet.co.uk that asked people to validate their login details.
• Your registrar. If you get an unexpected email, text or call about your domain, contact your registrar yourself and ask whether anything needs doing. That is Nominet's own advice too.
• The domain itself. Look the domain up in the Nominet lookup. If the email names a different registrar than the lookup does, do not trust it and check with your registrar.

Still unsure? Nominet's customer support is at domainsupport@nominet.uk or +44 330 236 9470, Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm UK time. How to spot a fake domain invoice in general is covered in how to spot a fake domain name invoice.

Who owns a .uk domain? The Nominet lookup

The Nominet Domain Lookup shows information about any existing .uk domain, including:

• which registrar the domain is with;
• the nameservers and whether DNSSEC is on;
• when the domain was registered and last updated;
• whether Nominet has validated the registrant's name and address.

The registrant's name and address are only shown if the registrant has agreed to it, as has been the case since GDPR came in in May 2018. If you have a legitimate reason to know them, for example to enforce your rights or for a dispute, you can send Nominet a Data Release Request at data-release@nominet.uk. Your own details are then shared with the registrant.

On the command line, whois -h whois.nic.uk yourdomain.co.uk keeps working until 9 February 2027. Since August 2026 the IANA records for .uk no longer list that WHOIS server, so a whois command without a server name may already fail for .uk domains. After that date you use RDAP, for example through the Nominet lookup or the ICANN Registration Data Lookup. What else this kind of data contains is covered in how to manage your domain's WHOIS data.

Someone has registered your name as a .uk domain: the Dispute Resolution Service

If someone holds a .uk domain with your brand or business name, you can use Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) instead of going to court. You need rights in a name that is identical or similar to the domain, such as a trade mark. Since 7 July 2026 WIPO, the UN agency for intellectual property, has administered the DRS on Nominet's behalf; the policy stays with Nominet. New complaints are filed through WIPO's .uk page.

No VAT is added to these fees for cases raised on or after 7 July 2026. To succeed, you must show on the balance of probabilities that you have rights in the name and that the domain, in the registrant's hands, is an abusive registration. If your complaint succeeds, the domain is transferred to you, suspended or cancelled, as requested in your complaint. According to Nominet, a fully reasoned case takes about 8 to 12 weeks. The policy and example complaints and responses are on Nominet's Domain Disputes page.

Seeing dns1.nic.uk or hostmaster.nic.uk in a DNS answer?

You will see these names in dig or nslookup output, or in a DNS test, when you look up a name that is not in the .uk zone. They come from the zone's SOA record: dns1.nic.uk is the primary nameserver for .uk and hostmaster.nic.uk the admin address. For a name under .co.uk you will see hostmaster.nominet.org.uk instead. An answer looks like this:

$ dig does-not-exist-example.co.uk A

;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
co.uk.  300  IN  SOA  dns1.nic.uk. hostmaster.nominet.org.uk. ...

The status NXDOMAIN means the name does not exist in .uk. Nominet appears because Nominet's zone gives the answer, so this is not an outage at Nominet. Check the following:

1. Is the domain spelled correctly, including the ending? yourdomain.uk and yourdomain.co.uk are two separate domains.
2. Is the domain registered? Look it up in the Nominet lookup.
3. Has the domain expired or been suspended? Then contact your registrar.

If your domain does exist and your website or email still does not work, the cause is usually the domain's own nameservers or records. How to troubleshoot DNS problems with dig and nslookup shows how to track it down.

Your .uk domain and hosting with LJPc

Your .uk domain stays with your registrar while we host your website and email. In the order wizard in the customer portal, choose a domain you already own and link your hosting with us. Then set the nameservers at your registrar to ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network. All the steps are in how to register a .uk domain name, and how to change your nameservers explains the nameserver part.

Not sure about an email concerning your .uk domain, or stuck linking it to your hosting? Create a support ticket and we will help you out.