Renting a domain name is one of the services that allows you to get a favorite address for a site if it is already registered for someone else. How legal this service is and how to arrange it will be described in the article below.
What does it mean to rent a domain name?
If the registration of a domain name means obtaining the right to dispose and the right to use it, then the lease in this case will imply the transfer by the administrator (the person for whom the domain name is registered) of the right to temporarily use this name to the tenant. When renting a domain name, a new person gets the right to use the domain name for his site, while the lessor all this time cannot change the registrar, contact information or change the DNS server.
Note: since the administrator of a domain name does not actually have ownership of it and the terms of its use are governed by an agreement with the registrar, you need to carefully consider whether the administrator has the authority to transfer his rights to third parties.
Why rent a domain name?
Usually, the rights to a domain name are obtained from the registrar or bought from its administrator. There is also such a service on the market as renting a domain name. It is assumed that the name has already been registered and its administrator wants to transfer the rights to it, but is going to do this only for a while.
Rent may be needed if:
- The cost of a domain name is high and a potential tenant cannot pay such an amount at once.
- A project that requires a domain name is temporary (for example, it is needed to host a business card site for an exhibition that will last only 3 days).
- A potential tenant is not sure that the startup he is about to launch will immediately start making a profit and wants to avoid additional costs. If the project turns out to be successful, it will already be possible to think about buying out the rights to the domain name.
These are just the most common reasons; there may well be other justifications for not buying, but renting a domain name.
How to arrange a lease?
The scope of domain names circulation is devoid of the need to conclude agreements in writing. The results of the name registration are recorded in electronic form; the offer offered for signing by the registrar also does not require signing, you just need to perform certain actions, considered as an expression of agreement with the terms of the agreement.
Securing lease relations is also no exception, and many specialized services for the lease and sale of domain names offer their contracts that exist in electronic form. That is, for registration, you just need to fill out a special form, after which the tenant needs to transfer money. Written transactions are made, as a rule, only in relation to especially expensive domain names – in such a situation, contracts can also be certified by a notary.
Hosting providers are often the guarantors of the lease. However, sometimes they take a commission for helping to formalize legal relations, and for operational services.
Thus, the right to use a domain name can be the subject of a transaction. The transaction itself is most often concluded on a specialized platform where such services are provided. As a result of the agreement, the tenant is entitled to use the domain name for a limited time, which cannot be longer than the period for which the name is registered. In this case, the time limit can be set by both the lessor and the registrar through which the transaction is made.
