Why transfer it to a legal entity
When a domain is registered to an individual, the business effectively depends on a specific person. If that's an employee or contractor, control over the domain can easily be lost when they leave or in a conflict. Transferring it to the company secures the rights to the organization and makes the domain a fully-fledged asset.
- the domain is registered to the company rather than to a private individual;
- it's easier to hand over matters when responsible staff change;
- renewal and maintenance costs are accounted for as the legal entity's expenses;
- during a sale or reorganization, the rights to the domain are visible and clear.
If the domain is still on an employee, it's worth addressing the risks of such an arrangement in advance – this is covered in detail in the article "A corporate domain registered to an individual".
Transfer scenarios
The exact procedure depends on who currently owns the domain and how smoothly the transfer goes. Three situations are the most common.
- An individual transfers the domain to their own company. The simplest case: the owner is interested in the transfer and submits the request to the registrar themselves.
- An employee transfers the domain to the employer. Here it's important to obtain the current owner's consent and supporting documents so that the transfer is done properly.
- Transfer between different registrars. Sometimes it's more convenient to change both the owner and the registrar at once – then the steps are combined into a single procedure.
The change-of-owner operation itself is the domain ownership transfer service. It shouldn't be confused with a change of administrator: these are different actions, as explained below.
Documents and procedure
The registrar transfers the domain to the legal entity after confirmation from both parties and a review of the documents. The exact set depends on the registrar and the zone, but the following is usually required.
- an application from the current individual owner to transfer the rights;
- the legal details and registration data of the receiving company;
- documents confirming the authority of the person acting on behalf of the legal entity;
- consent to data processing and completion under the registrar's rules.
The procedure usually goes like this: we agree on the parties' data, prepare the application and the set of documents, submit the request to the registrar, and wait for confirmation of the change of owner. If you also need to change the responsible person in the data at the same time, the article "How to change a domain administrator" helps you sort it out.
How to avoid downtime for the site and email
An ownership transfer concerns the rights to the domain and normally doesn't affect how the site and email work – the DNS records and hosting stay the same. Failures more often come not from the change of owner itself, but from accompanying changes made in a rush.
- don't change DNS servers and records unnecessarily at the moment of the transfer;
- check in advance that the domain is paid for and not close to its renewal date;
- keep access to the control panel and email services until completion;
- plan any hosting migrations separately, not combined with the change of owner.
If you'd like to go through the procedure without risks and without an unnecessary pause in the site's operation, we support the transfer from preparing the documents to the registrar's confirmation, and we'll advise which steps to take in what order.