How to find out who owns your domain name, and how to get it back

To find out who owns your domain name, look it up to see which company it is registered with, then ask that company whose name it is in: Nominet’s free lookup covers addresses ending in .uk, and ICANN’s lookup covers .com and the other generic endings such as .net and .org (checked October 2026). If it turns out to be in someone else’s name, getting it back means that person moving it into yours, and both have a set process for doing it.

This guide covers both, in the order you are likely to need them. If your hosting is closing down at the same time, start with this guide instead, because the order you do things in matters.

Look it up

Type your domain into the lookup tool. For a .uk address, Nominet’s tool shows which company the domain is registered with and how to contact them. By default it does not show the name and postal address of the person or business it is registered to (Nominet, checked October 2026).

ICANN’s tool works the same way for .com, .net, .org and the other generic endings. ICANN says not every detail has to be shown, and that where something is hidden you may see a remark or a redacted label in its place (ICANN lookup FAQ, checked October 2026).

If the lookup shows name servers, they are worth a note too. They show which company holds the settings that point your domain at your website and your email, and that can be a different company again. On Stephen’s site, the domain was registered in one place and those settings were held in another.

Registrar and registrant, in plain English

The registrar is the company the domain is registered through, such as the firm you or your web designer paid for it. The registrant is the person or business recorded as responsible for it.

Strictly speaking, Nominet’s terms say a domain name is not property and has no owner (Nominet’s terms, checked October 2026). So when people ask who owns a domain, the real question is who the registrant is. The same terms say to contact your registrar first with any question about your domain.

If it is in your name but you cannot log in

Contact the registrar shown in the lookup and ask them to help you back into the account. They will want to know you are who you say you are.

For a .uk domain, the email address Nominet holds for it may belong to whoever set it up. If you are the registrant but cannot get at that email, Nominet lets you prove who you are again and update the address, for £10 plus VAT (Nominet, checked October 2026).

If it is in someone else’s name

Ask them to move it to you. When they are willing, it is mostly paperwork.

For a .uk domain this is called a Registrant Transfer. The current registrant starts it, the new registrant has five days to accept, and Nominet charges £10 plus VAT, which either of you can pay (Nominet, checked October 2026).

For a .com domain, ICANN’s advice to someone whose domain was registered by their web developer is to contact whoever registered it. If that person cannot be reached or has gone out of business, contact the registrar to update the details (ICANN, checked October 2026). One thing to expect: under ICANN’s current rules, after a change of registrant a .com registrar must lock the domain against moving to another registrar for 60 days, unless it let you opt out of that lock beforehand (ICANN transfer policy, checked October 2026). ICANN has since agreed to remove this lock, but has not yet set a date for the change (ICANN board resolution, checked October 2026).

Once the domain is in your name, you can move it to a registrar of your choice. For a .com, your current registrar has to either let you get the code you need from your own account, or give it to you within five calendar days of asking, under the same ICANN transfer policy (checked October 2026).

If they will not help

This is where it gets harder, and slower.

If the person holding your .uk domain is the registrar itself, Nominet takes complaints about registrars registering domains in their own name without the registrant’s permission, and about registrars not transferring domains when asked. Its advice is to raise it with the registrar first (Nominet complaints, checked October 2026).

Beyond that, .uk has a Dispute Resolution Service, run for Nominet by the World Intellectual Property Organization since 7 July 2026. To use it you need rights, such as a trade mark, in a name the same as or similar to the domain, and Nominet is clear that showing you have rights is not enough on its own to win. A summary decision costs £200 and a full decision £750, with no VAT added (Nominet, WIPO fees, both checked October 2026). The service’s policy does list, as one sign of an abusive registration, a domain registered because of a relationship between the two of you, which you have used on your own and paid for (Nominet’s dispute policy, checked October 2026).

For .com, ICANN says it cannot transfer or return a domain to anyone. The options it lists are reaching an agreement, waiting to see if the domain expires, going to court, or a dispute process in some trade mark cases (ICANN, checked October 2026).

If you get to this stage, talk to a solicitor before you spend money on a dispute.

A change coming for .uk

Nominet is changing how .uk domains are managed on 9 February 2027. Moving a domain between registrars will use a transfer code from the old registrar, valid for 14 days, instead of the current system where the domain is pushed to the new registrar using its tag (Nominet registrar FAQ, checked October 2026). From the same date, Nominet’s Online Services close and everything goes through your registrar, including updating your details (Nominet, checked October 2026).

So the two £10 processes above, proving who you are and the Registrant Transfer, apply until then. After that date, start with your registrar for both.

Keep it in your name from now on

ICANN’s own advice is not to list web designers, hosting companies or anyone else as the registrant of your domain (ICANN, checked October 2026). When I set up a domain for a client, it is in their name from day one, and the hosting and email are in accounts they control.

If you are being offered a website on a monthly contract, ask whose name the domain will be in before you sign. Is a pay monthly website worth it? has the other questions worth asking.