Transferring a .uk domain with an IPS tag

A .uk domain doesn't move between registrars the way a .com does. There's no authorisation code to copy out of an email and paste into a new account. Instead, every .uk domain carries an IPS tag, a marker in the registry that shows which registrar is allowed to manage it, and transferring the domain means getting that tag changed, not presenting a code. The registrar you're leaving has to make the change, and unlike a .com transfer it does not add a year to your registration.

What an IPS tag is, and how it differs from an auth code

Every domain under .uk, including .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk and .ltd.uk, is registered with Nominet, the organisation that runs the .uk registry. Nominet does not record a single registrant contact and a free-floating auth code for each domain the way the generic top-level domains do. Instead it records an IPS tag against the domain: a short code identifying the registrar currently responsible for it. You can see this in any public WHOIS lookup for a .uk domain, where the registrar name and its tag are shown together.

Moving the domain to a new registrar means getting that tag changed to the new registrar's tag. Only two parties can do this: the registrar that currently holds the tag (the "losing" registrar) or Nominet itself. The registrar you're moving to cannot reach into the registry and take the tag; it can only accept the domain once the tag has been changed. This is a deliberate security control, so a domain can't be moved away from its owner by a third party who simply asks the new registrar to take it.

Because there's no auth code, there's also no code to lose or have expire in the way a .com's can. What .uk transfers use instead, under Nominet's current process, is a Transfer Authorisation Code (TAC) that the losing registrar generates for the registrant. A TAC is only valid for 14 days from when it's generated. If it isn't used to start the transfer within that window, it expires and has to be generated again, so there's no point requesting one weeks before you're ready to act.

Before you start

• Check the domain isn't locked. Most registrars let you lock a domain against transfer as a security measure. If yours is locked, the tag change will be refused until you unlock it with your current registrar.
• Check the WHOIS contact details are current. Nominet verifies the contact details held against a .uk domain. If it can't verify them, the domain is placed into a pending data quality validation status and the transfer stalls until you update or confirm those details. This is one of the more common reasons a transfer that should be quick ends up sitting for days.
• Know the exact IPS tag you're moving to. A wrong or mistyped tag is the single most common cause of a failed .uk transfer. It won't damage the domain, but it can send it to the wrong registrar or simply fail, and you'll need to start again.
• Don't expect a free year. A .uk transfer does not renew the domain by default. More on that below, because it changes what you should ask for when you request the move.

This section walks through moving a .uk domain to Hostworld, which is the route most readers arrive here for. Moving a .uk domain away from Hostworld, and moving one between two other registrars, both use the same tag mechanism and are covered briefly afterwards.

Step 1: Look up who currently holds the tag

Run a WHOIS lookup on the domain. The result will show the current registrar and its IPS tag. This confirms where the domain actually sits, which matters if the domain has changed hands before, or if you're not certain which account it's managed under.

Step 2: Unlock the domain with your current registrar

Sign in to the account the domain is currently registered through and remove any transfer lock. Registrars vary in where this option sits, but it's usually alongside the domain's other management settings, often labelled as a domain lock or transfer lock. Do this before you ask for the tag to move; a locked domain will not release.

Step 3: Get Hostworld's IPS tag

To move the domain to Hostworld, your current registrar needs our IPS tag, not an auth code. If you're ordering the .uk domain transfer through Hostworld, the tag is given to you as part of that order in your account at portal.hostworld.uk. If you're not sure which tag to quote, open a support ticket and we'll confirm it, rather than guessing at a value from an old registrar list or a third-party lookup site.

Step 4: Ask your current registrar to release the domain

With the domain unlocked and the correct tag in hand, request the release through your current registrar. This is the step they have to carry out, since the gaining registrar has no way to change the tag itself. Give them the tag exactly as provided, and double-check it before you submit the request; a single mistyped character is enough to send the transfer to the wrong place or fail it outright.

Step 5: Wait for the tag change to take effect

Timings genuinely vary by registrar. Some update the tag within minutes; others quote up to a day. There's no single figure that applies across every registrar, so treat "later today" as the realistic expectation rather than a fixed number of minutes, and check WHOIS again once you'd expect it to have gone through. If it's still showing the old registrar and tag well past the time your current registrar quoted, that's your cue to chase them, not to assume it's simply slow.

Step 6: Decide on renewal

Unlike a .com transfer, a standard .uk transfer does not extend the registration term and does not carry a transfer fee of its own. The expiry date stays exactly where it was. A one-year renewal at transfer is optional, not automatic, and only applies if you or the gaining registrar explicitly requests it, and even then it isn't guaranteed to be offered. The one exception is if the domain is within seven days of expiring, in which case a transfer-in is typically completed with a renewal charged alongside it, since there isn't time to do otherwise before the domain would lapse. If keeping the current renewal date matters to you, don't assume a year gets added; ask for it explicitly if you want it, and check what the receiving registrar's process actually does.

For the exact screens involved in giving up or accepting a .uk domain inside a Hostworld account, see transferring a .uk domain into your Hostworld account, which covers the click-by-click steps rather than repeating them here.

Moving a .uk domain away from Hostworld

If Hostworld currently holds the tag and you want to move the domain elsewhere, the release has to be actioned from our side, the same as with any losing registrar. In a WHMCS-based client area such as ours, this is typically a separate screen from an ordinary domain transfer, usually labelled something like Release Domain, where you enter the IPS tag of the registrar you're moving to. If you can't see this option against the domain in your account, open a support ticket and ask us to release the tag, quoting the exact tag you want it sent to.

If a registrar genuinely won't cooperate with a release, Nominet itself offers a direct route to change the tag, for a fee (currently £10 plus VAT charged by Nominet, not by the registrar). This exists precisely for cases where the losing registrar is uncooperative, and is worth knowing about even though most transfers never need it.

Moving a .uk domain between two other registrars

If neither end of the transfer is Hostworld, the mechanism is identical: the losing registrar changes the tag to the gaining registrar's tag, the domain isn't renewed automatically, and a lock has to be lifted first. There's nothing Hostworld-specific about this case; the steps above apply regardless of which two registrars are involved.

What next

Once the tag has moved and WHOIS shows Hostworld as the registrar, the domain is with us but it isn't necessarily pointing at anything yet. If you're setting it up to serve a website or mailbox hosted with us, the next step is pointing it at our nameservers, ns1.serverworld.uk, ns2.serverworld.uk, ns3.serverworld.uk and ns4.serverworld.uk, from wherever the domain's DNS is currently managed. Our domain guides cover that step in full, and our domain registration and management product page has the rest of what a .uk domain does once it's with Hostworld.