Who runs it
.co.uk is administered by Nominet, and its expiry process is a registry that records the registrant separately from the registrar, which helps in ownership disputes.
What happens after expiry
Nominet runs its own process rather than the ICANN model. After expiry the domain is suspended, then held in a protected state before release.
The grace period
The domain stops resolving at expiry but remains recoverable by the registrant for a period afterwards, generally measured in weeks rather than days.
Recovery after that
Nominet's protected period is longer than the typical .com redemption window, which gives more room to recover. Fees are usually lower than gTLD redemption fees.
Worth knowing about .co.uk
Nominet holds the registrant record directly, so you can check who a .co.uk is actually registered to, and update the registrant, through Nominet rather than only through your registrar. That is genuinely useful when a former web designer holds the registrar account.
What is true of every extension
- The domain stops resolving the moment it expires. The website and the email both stop at once, because both depend on the same records.
- Your registrar panel may still show the domain as active while the rest of the internet already treats it as gone.
- Every stage after expiry costs more than renewing did, and the last stage cannot be undone at any price.
Registry policies change. The shape of the process below is stable, but confirm the exact windows with your registrar before relying on a specific number.