Renew Before It Lapses

Register

What you own when you register a domain

Last reviewed

The short version

  • Registering a domain doesn't make you its legal owner.
  • It gives you the sole right to use the name for a set time.
  • The longest time is 10 years in one go.
  • You're called the registrant. You have jobs to do, and renewing is the big one.

"Owner" is the everyday word

Most people say they "own" their domain. That's fine in conversation. But the exact wording is different.

Registering a name with a registrar doesn't give you legal ownership of it. It gives you an exclusive right to use it for a set length of time.[1]

Two boxes. Left: what you get when you register a domain, the exclusive right to use the name for a set time. Right: what you do not get, legal ownership of the name itself.
Registering gives you a right to use the name for a set time. It does not give you legal ownership of it.

The proper word for you is registrant, or "domain holder".[1] The registrant is the person or group the name is registered to.

A registrar is the company you register through. It manages the reservation of domain names.[2]

What happens when you register

The steps are short.

Five steps in a list: choose a name and check it is free, pick how many years to pay for, give your contact details, pay the registrar, and then you are the registrant.
The five steps of a registration. At the end of them, you are the registrant.

The exact screens differ from one registrar to the next. The idea is the same. You pick a name, say how long you want it for, give your details and pay.

How long it lasts

You don't pick a name for ever. You pick a term, which is the number of years you've paid for.

The longest term for a generic name such as .com is 10 years.[2]

A row of ten blocks numbered one to ten, each one a year. The first block is filled in. A note says ten years is the longest a registration can run at one time.
A registration runs for a term of up to 10 years. You renew before the term ends to keep going.

Some registrars say they offer up to 100 years. Look closely. In that case the registrar renews the name for you every 10 years.[2] The 10-year limit hasn't moved.

When the term ends, the right to use the name ends too, unless you renew. The next pages show how.

Your jobs as registrant

ICANN publishes a list of what a registrant must do. Two of the items matter most here.

  • You take sole responsibility for the registration and use of your domain name.[3]
  • You must give accurate details for public directories such as WHOIS, and update them quickly when they change.[3]

WHOIS is a public lookup of who registered a domain. We cover it on the lookup page.

What next

The details you give now are the details that matter later. So the next page looks at whose name should go on a registration, and why a business should care.

Sources

  1. Domain name, Wikipedia (accessed 2026-10-26)
  2. Domain name registrar, Wikipedia (accessed 2026-10-26)
  3. Registrants' Benefits and Responsibilities, ICANN (accessed 2026-10-26)