Changing your domain registrant and contacts

At the registry, every domain carries four contact records: registrant, admin, tech, and billing. You edit them from the portal — registrant changes are typically what people want when they say "change ownership of a domain."

What each role means

• Registrant — the legal owner. This is the most important one. Registry records show this person/organization as having authority over the domain.
• Admin — administrative contact. For most personal domains this is the same as registrant.
• Tech — technical contact. For DNS or hosting questions; typically same as admin.
• Billing — billing contact. For renewal payments; typically same as admin.

For most domains, all four records point at the same person. They diverge for organizations where the registrant is a company, the tech contact is the IT manager, and billing is finance.

Editing contacts

1. Go to Domains and click the domain.
2. Open the Registrant card (Edit contact details).
3. You'll see four cards, one per role. Each card has the current contact data and an Edit button.
4. Click Edit on the role you want to change.
5. Update the fields, save.

Most TLDs accept the changes immediately. A few (.de, .eu, certain country-codes) require an additional confirmation step at the registry — we'll tell you if so and walk you through.

Editing contacts in the portal

The portal exposes the Registrant for editing: open Domains, click the domain, and use Edit contact details on the Registrant card. That is the role that controls ownership, and for most domains it is the only one you will ever touch. The remaining registry roles (admin, tech, billing) are set alongside it; if you need them to differ from the registrant, open a ticket and we will set them for you.

Changing the registrant triggers a mandatory 60-day lock

This is the single most important thing to know before you edit contacts. Under ICANN's Transfer Policy, changing the registrant's name, organization, or email address counts as a Change of Registrant - and that triggers a mandatory 60-day lock on transferring the domain to another registrar.

The lock is not optional after the fact. Some registrars offer an opt-out, but only at the moment you make the change. There is no way to lift the lock once the change has gone through.

So if you plan to both update the registrant and move the domain to another registrar, do it in this order:

1. Transfer first, while the current contact details are still in place.
2. Then update the registrant name, organization, or email at the new registrar.

Do it the other way around and you're locked out of the transfer for 60 days. Editing the admin, tech, or billing contact - or changing a registrant field that isn't the name, organization, or email, such as a phone number or street address - does not count as a Change of Registrant and does not trigger the lock. For the full picture, see Domain locks explained.

WHOIS privacy and contacts

If WHOIS privacy is on (default for most domains), the public WHOIS lookup shows proxy contact details — not your real ones. The actual contacts on file at the registry are still your real details; privacy is a layer in front.

The contacts editor shows you what's on file at the registry (your real details). Lookups from outside (whois.com, GoDaddy WHOIS lookup, etc.) show the privacy proxy.

For more, see WHOIS privacy.

Handle changes under the hood

When you edit a contact, our domain backend (OpenProvider) creates a brand-new contact handle at the registry rather than modifying the existing one in place. This is intentional:

• It preserves history — the old handle still exists tied to its previous use.
• It avoids the rare race condition where editing in place could affect other domains sharing the same handle.

You won't notice this — it's a backend detail. From your perspective, the contact updates and that's that.

Common changes

• Updated address — edit the Registrant card and the change carries through.
• Got married/divorced, changed name — edit registrant, possibly admin/tech/billing too.
• Switched companies — depends. If transferring registrant ownership to the new company, do an explicit registrant change. If the domain is yours personally, just update name/email.

What we can't change via this editor

• Registrant for .eu domains — registry policy requires a transfer-out and re-registration to a new registrant. We can guide you through it; open a ticket.
• Some country-code TLDs with strict registry policies. The editor flags these and explains.