The following policies are applicable in case of .UK domain names:


The maximum length of a .UK domain name is 64 characters (including the extension).

The minimum length depends upon the extension under which the domain name is being registered:

under .CO.UK/.ME.UK extensions - 6 characters (including the extension)

under .ORG.UK extension - 7 characters (including the extension)

Allowed characters (excluding the extension):

The domain name may consist of only the following: a - z, 0 - 9 and hyphen (-).

The domain name may not have a hyphen as the first and/or last character as well as the third and fourth character (simultaneously).

The domain name may not consist of only 2 letters; however, it may have a letter and a number or 2 numbers.

Example:

Registration for ab.co.uk is not allowed whereas Registration of 1c.co.uk or 23.co.uk is permitted.

UK Registry follows a grandfathering process for names registered in the 2nd Level extension.

If a 3rd Level .UK domain name is registered before June 10, 2014, 0800 UTC, then the corresponding .UK domain name can only be registered by the Registrant of the 3rd Level .UK domain name. 1

As per the grandfathering process, if .CO.UK, .ORG.UK and .ME.UK were all registered (by different people), the .CO.UK owner will have first rights on the corresponding .UK domain name. If .CO.UK wasn't registered, the .ORG.UK owner gets preference over the .ME.UK owner.

While registering a 2nd Level .UK domain name for which the corresponding 3rd Level .UK name already exists, the applicant needs to provide complete Contact information of the 3rd Level name.

The domain name may not be identical to any existing Second Level extension (CO, LTD, ME, NET, ORG, PLC, AC, GOV, MOD, MIL, NHS, POLICE, NIC, SCH) or any Second Level extension under .UK the creation of which has formally been announced by the .UK Registry. For example, Registration of org.co.uk or nhs.org.uk is not permitted.

The domain name may not be identical to any existing Top Level extension (COM, NET, UK, EU, etc.) or any Top Level extension the formal approval of which has been announced by ICANN (the regulatory body overseeing the functioning of the Internet). For example, Registration of com.co.uk or eu.org.uk is not allowed.

A .UK domain name can only be Registered for 2 years.

A .UK domain name does not have any Money Back Period.

The .UK Registry does not support any type of domain name Locking/Suspension.

The .UK Registry does not support any kind of Bulk actions.

A .UK domain name can have maximum 10 Name Servers.

In case of a .UK domain name, every Child Name Server that you create/add, is automatically associated with that .UK domain name as a Name Server.

A .UK domain name displays only 1 Contact (Registrant) in the Whois Lookup.

The Company Name (identity) of the Registrant Contact cannot be modified for free.

A .UK domain name can only be renewed for 2 years.

You may renew your .UK domain name anytime from 6 months before its Expiry, upto 90 days after its Expiry.

There is no concept of a Redemption Grace Period in case of a .UK domain name.

Actions performed on .UK domain names are completed asynchronously via e-mails (unlike domain names in other extensions such as .COM, .NET, etc.). Thus, until our system receives a response email from the .UK Registry, that particular action on your .UK domain name would remain on the status Order Waiting for Callback Response.

The various actions that are affected by the above constraint are:

Domain Name Registration

Domain Name Renewal

Modification of Domain Name Contact Details

Addition of Name Servers

Modification of Name Servers

Deletion of Name Servers

Addition of Child Name Servers

Modification of Child Name Servers (IP Address as well as Host Name modification)

Deletion of Child Name Servers

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