Nominet's .UK standardisation moves the registry to its Registry Services Provider platform and changes important operational procedures. For domain owners, the questions concern renewals, transfers and their registrar's instructions. For registrar teams, the work also includes contracts, support processes, portal familiarisation and technical integration.
Scheduled for 9 February 2027
Nominet's date announcement names Tuesday 9 February 2027. Its formal notice says that a delayed transition would have a revised effective date and that existing agreements and policies continue until transition.
Current state, checked 3 November 2026: the legacy .UK platform remains current. Future procedures described here are scheduled guidance. A planned date, a demonstration environment or an available testbed is not evidence that the production change has already occurred.
This independent resource centre explains the decisions and checks involved. Nominet remains the authority for registry policy, access and the actual transition. DomainSabre's marketplace launch and the registry transition are separate events.
Who needs to prepare?
A domain owner using another registrar should begin with its provider's communications and renewal arrangements. A registrar must coordinate the business and technical changes relevant to its operation. A reseller should agree with its sponsoring registrar which customer messages and procedures need updating. An engineer should identify the integration they maintain rather than assuming every member uses EPP.
If you are unsure which category applies, start with members, registrars, registrants and accreditations. An organisation can have more than one role; assign work by responsibility rather than by a broad label such as “Nominet member”.
There is a specific action for owners who manage their names directly with Nominet: its direct-registrant guidance asks them to choose a registrar and move before transition. That instruction should not be confused with a requirement for all owners to change an existing registrar.
Five areas to review
Nominet's official preparation checklist organises readiness around five areas. The questions below turn those areas into practical review tasks.
| Area | The question to resolve | Read next |
|---|---|---|
| Domain lifecycle | Will your records and customer instructions distinguish renewal, restoration and final deletion? | Expiry and lifecycle |
| Domain transfers | Does each handover distinguish a registrar move from a registrant change, and the current process from the scheduled one? | TAGs, TACs and ownership |
| Agreements and policies | Who has reviewed the applicable obligations and identified changes to your own arrangements? | Roles and responsibilities |
| Dragon Domain Manager | Have the people who use the portal practised the relevant workflows in the appropriate environment? | Dragon and test environments |
| Registrant support | Will a customer receive accurate, consistent instructions and know where to get help? | Communication checks |
Treat these as connected workstreams. A changed transfer screen needs accurate support instructions. A changed lifecycle needs an appropriate renewal process. A successful connection test does not prove that either of those wider tasks is complete.
Choose your next action
If you own domains: confirm who manages each name, how you recover access, who receives notices and what the provider says about renewals and transfers. Review a planned sale or provider move before its deadline becomes urgent. The transfer and lifecycle guides explain the main distinctions.
If you operate a registrar or reseller service: name owners for the policy review, customer communications and operational handover. Use the printable readiness checklist to identify evidence needed for each action. Separate your retail renewal arrangement from your registrar's registry operating mode.
If you maintain an integration: inventory its dependencies, select the correct environment and record expected and observed results. Start with EPP preparation and registry data services, then plan checks around transition.
Public research tools during preparation
UK domain drop search presents the accepted public list with its own source publication, import and freshness information. UK WHOIS lookup makes a deliberate browser request for public RDAP fields. These tools support research; they do not verify a registrar's migration, replace authorised portfolio reconciliation or prove that a scheduled procedure is active.
A drop reminder is an optional notice about a selected published occurrence. It is separate from a registrar's renewal duties to its customers and from DomainSabre's optional registry-update emails. The data-services guide explains the source boundaries.
Preparation resources
- Readiness checklist: role-labelled actions, source references and a print-friendly format.
- Reviewed changes: the initial evidence baseline and later material revisions when recorded.
- Dragon, testbed and OT&E: distinguish interface training, integration testing and production.
- EPP preparation: an integration inventory and static test-evidence template.
- Registrant communications: review messages against the procedure they describe.
- Transition checks: pending work, state reconciliation and escalation.
The checklist is an aid to preparation, not certification. You can read and print every resource without subscribing, entering a domain portfolio or connecting a registry account.
Reviewed information and unresolved details
The review history records a baseline checked on 3 November 2026. For example, the dedicated Dragon demo page now provides current access information that is more specific than older prospective descriptions elsewhere. Availability and applicability are checked by environment rather than inferred from a general documentation index.
Use the factual-review date to judge this page's currency. A source that cannot be checked does not become “verified today”, and the arrival of the scheduled date does not silently rewrite the explanations. Consult the latest official notice before making an operational decision.
Official resources and independence
Start with Nominet's standardisation hub, registrar preparation guidance and future-state reference. The detailed guides below link the applicable primary material for their topic.
DomainSabre publishes independent guidance as it prepares its own UK domain auction marketplace. These pages are not Nominet instructions, an endorsement or a replacement for account-specific support. Our editorial policy explains the use of sources and corrections. The general domain guides cover buying, selling and research alongside these registry topics.