Who owns my .ie domain? How to check before you need it

Who owns my domain? Most small business owners never ask, because they know their web address and assume it’s theirs. Whose name the domain is actually registered in is a different question. That rarely matters until the person who set it up stops answering, a renewal notice goes to an old email address, or you want to move the website somewhere else. Then it matters a lot, because the domain carries your website and your email.

This article is about .ie domains: how to find out who holds yours, what to ask your registrar, and how to move the domain when you need to. A .com works along similar lines, but the lookup and the rules are different.

Registrant, admin contact, registrar

Three roles get mixed up all the time.

The registrant is the person or business that holds the right to use the domain. The .ie registry uses that word; in everyday terms it’s the owner.

The admin contact acts for the registrant and receives the administrative messages about the domain. Under the .ie rules it has to be a named person, not a company, and registrars’ .ie guidelines state it can’t be a third party such as a web developer or reseller.

The registrar is the company you pay. For .ie that has to be an accredited .ie registrar.

Web designers often register the domain on a client’s behalf. That’s fine if the client is the registrant, someone in the business is the admin contact, and the designer only does the technical work. It becomes a problem when the designer, or their agency, is the registrant. Then they hold the right to use your business name online, and moving it needs their cooperation.

Who owns my domain? How to look it up

The .ie registry runs a WHOIS search on weare.ie (linked from its Find or change your Registrar page). Search your domain and click “View Full WHOIS Information”. You’ll see when the domain was registered, when it’s due for renewal and which registrar it’s with.

What you may not see is a name. The registry publishes the registrant name only when the registrant is a legal person, such as a limited company. Individuals are not published unless they’ve agreed to it. So:

• If you see your own company name, good.
• If you see a company name that isn’t yours, for example your designer’s agency, you have your answer.
• If you see no name at all, the registrant is probably a person. That could be you or the person who set it up. You need to ask.

While you’re there, write down the renewal date and put it in your own calendar. Don’t rely on reminder emails alone. They go to whatever address is on the registration, and that may not be one you read.

What to ask the registrar

The WHOIS result names the registrar. Contact them, or the .ie Registration Services Team ([email protected], +353 1 236 5400), and ask three things:

1. Who is the registrant on this domain?
2. Which email address is the admin contact?
3. Which account pays the renewal?

Expect them to check who you are before they answer. If the answers are “you”, “an address you control” and “your account”, you’re in good shape. Anything else is worth fixing now, while everybody is still reachable.

If the domain is in your name: moving it to another registrar

To move a .ie domain to a new registrar you need an authorisation code, the Authcode (other registrars call it an EPP code). You can get it from your current registrar. If they won’t give it to you, the .ie Registration Services Team will generate it on your behalf. You pass the code to the new registrar and they complete the transfer. The Authcode is sent only to the email addresses registered for the registrant and the admin contact. Make sure those addresses are up to date, and that you can read them, before you request it.

Three things to know before you start.

The transfer isn’t free. According to the registry, a transfer to another billing contact requires a renewal payment for the domain. That’s a renewal, not a penalty, but budget for one year at the new registrar’s price.

Codes can expire, and how long they stay valid depends on the registrar. Request the code when you’re ready to use it, and don’t leave the move until the week the domain expires.

The domain is not the same as the DNS. If the nameservers stay where they are, the website and email keep running during the transfer. If the new registrar switches the domain to its own nameservers, every DNS record has to be copied across first: the A record for the website, the MX records for email and the TXT records for SPF, DKIM and DMARC. Email is what usually breaks in a domain move, and it often goes unnoticed for a day or two because nobody gets an error message. Mail simply doesn’t arrive.

If the domain is in someone else’s name

Changing the registrant is a separate process from changing the registrar. The .ie registry calls it a registrant transfer.

The current registrant has to agree. Their registrar submits the request, and the new holder has to meet the .ie registration rules, which means showing a connection to Ireland with the documents the registrar asks for. The registry explains the details on its How to update your details page. Registrars charge for this; one Irish registrar lists €45 + VAT. Do it in two steps: change the registrant at the current registrar first, then move to a new registrar if you want to. Some registrars won’t accept a registrant change in the middle of a transfer.

If the designer is still around, this is usually a short, polite email and a signed statement from them. Ask while the relationship is good. It’s much harder after an argument about an unpaid invoice.

If they can’t be found or won’t cooperate, .ie has its own Alternative Dispute Resolution Process (ADRP), run by Net Neutrals EU. A domain registered by a web developer on a client’s behalf is one of the cases the registry lists for it. It starts with optional mediation. If that goes nowhere or the other side doesn’t respond, you can ask for a formal decision. That can end with the domain transferred, deleted or left where it is. You have to show that you’d be eligible to register the domain yourself, and Net Neutrals publishes the fees, so check those before you start. The older route through WIPO costs between €1,500 and €5,000. I’ve written about the wider situation, including hosting and WordPress access, in what to do when your web designer disappears.

How I’d set up any small business domain

Whoever registers it, the end result should look like this:

• The registrant is the business, or the owner for a sole trader, with the name spelled the way it appears on your CRO or Revenue documents.
• The admin contact is a named person in the business, with an email address you’ll still read in five years. Ideally not an address on the same domain: if the domain lapses, the reminders about it can’t reach you.
• You have your own login at the registrar, even if someone else does the technical work.
• The renewal date is in your calendar.
• You have a written note of who controls the DNS, because that’s where your email settings live.

None of this takes long when the domain is new or when everyone is still in contact. It takes weeks, and sometimes money, when they aren’t. If you can’t answer “who owns my domain?” today, start with the WHOIS lookup and then work through the steps in the web designer disappeared article.