.au domain names: renewals, transfers and direct .au

Most small businesses registered their .com.au years ago, often through a web designer or host, and haven’t thought about it since. That’s fine until a renewal email goes to someone who has left, a letter asks you to “renew” with a company you’ve never used, or you sell the business and find the domain wasn’t part of the deal.

Here’s how .au domain names work now, from the rules set by auDA, the not-for-profit that administers the .au domain with the Australian Government’s endorsement.

You licence a domain name, you don’t own it

Under auDA’s Licensing Rules, a .au domain name is a licence: “non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable”, and it “does not create a proprietary interest”. Names are allocated first come, first served. “Non-transferable” means you can’t simply hand it over: moving it to a new holder goes through a formal change of registrant.

auDA doesn’t sell names. Accredited registrars do, often through resellers such as web hosts. auDA sets the wholesale price, and providers “set their own retail price”.

Who can hold which name

Every .au licence needs an Australian presence. The rules define it to include an Australian citizen or permanent resident, an Australian company, an entity with an ABN, and some partnerships and trusts. Owners and applicants of Australian trade marks also qualify, but only for a name that exactly matches the mark.

.com.au and .net.au are for commercial entities, and the name has to be connected to you. The options under rule 2.4.4 include:

a match or acronym of your company, business or personal name
a match of your Australian trade mark
a match or synonym of a service you provide, goods you sell, or an event, activity or premises you run

“Match” means the same words in the same order with nothing added. auDA’s own example: Forexample Publishing could hold forexample.com.au, forexamplepublishing.com.au or publishing.com.au.

The direct .au (yourbusiness.au, introduced on 24 March 2022) only needs an Australian presence. There’s no name-connection test, and auDA’s FAQ says you don’t need an ABN or ACN.

Renewals and what happens if you miss one

Licence periods are 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 years, though auDA notes that not every provider offers five-year terms. Under the rules:

You can renew from 90 days before the expiry date, as long as you’re still eligible. The new term starts when the old one ends, so renewing early doesn’t cost you time.
Your registrar must remind the registrant contact at least 30 days before expiry.
If the licence expires, you have 30 days to renew. auDA says that during this grace period “your website and email services will stop working”, and some providers charge a fee to restore the name.
After those 30 days, the name becomes available to anyone on a first come, first served basis.

Eligibility has to continue for the whole licence. You must keep an Australian presence, and your registrant details must stay “complete, true and accurate”, with changes notified within 14 days. If a company that holds a licence is deregistered, the licence is treated as cancelled 30 days later, unless a transfer was agreed before deregistration and auDA is given evidence of it.

The practical risk is the registrant contact email. Renewal reminders and the transfer code go there, so if it belongs to a former employee or your old web designer, you won’t see them.

Moving to a different registrar

To move a domain to another provider, you ask the new registrar to transfer it and give them the domain’s authorisation code (also called the domain password or EPP authInfo code). Under the rules:

Your current registrar gives the code only to the registrant contact listed in the registry, unless the registrant authorises someone else in writing.
auDA’s password recovery tool also lets you retrieve the code and check the expiry date.
There’s no fee under auDA’s rules for moving between registrars. If you move within 90 days of expiry, the new registrar may charge a renewal fee.
A transfer can’t go ahead while a complaint, dispute or court case about the name is under way.

auDA says a transfer can take up to three days. If you’re also moving your website, see how to move your website to a new host without losing Google rankings.

Selling a name or buying a business

Moving the licence to a different holder is a change of registrant, and it’s separate from changing registrars. auDA’s transfer page is blunt: “buying a business does not mean the domain name licence is automatically transferred.”

Both parties must be eligible, the request must be in writing, and the licence must not have expired.
The new holder enters a new licence agreement with the registrar. auDA’s guidance says any full years left on the licence carry over, up to five years; ask the registrar what term and fee applies.
Under the rules, the transfer has to be requested within 28 days of the sale agreement, unless the agreement says otherwise.

Renting or leasing a .au name to another business isn’t allowed, except to a related company.

Do you need the direct .au?

Probably not, unless you want it. auDA’s FAQ says “you do not need to register both”, though it suggests a matching .au as a brand-protection measure, and that there’s “no intention to phase out com.au”.

The priority window for existing .com.au and other .au holders ran from 24 March to 20 September 2022. Names nobody applied for were released on 3 October 2022. auDA says “a small number” of contested names remain on priority hold, and are allocated only when the applicants agree or when only one active application remains.

Renewal letters from someone you don’t know

auDA’s WHOIS Policy keeps expiry dates off public WHOIS results. Its stated reason: some in the domain industry were sending “unsolicited renewal notices to registrants with whom they did not have a prior business relationship, causing significant levels of customer confusion”.

If a renewal notice arrives from a company you don’t recognise, look up your domain on the official .au WHOIS, which shows your registrar’s name. Pay renewals only through that registrar or the reseller you bought from. auDA also warns of phishing emails from people posing as auDA staff, and says scams can be reported to Scamwatch.

Prices and rules that are changing

auDA’s wholesale price rises from $8.64 to $9.50 a year (ex GST) on 1 October 2026, announced in August. At the same time it’s introducing a rebate of up to $0.45 per name a year for registrars that meet quality, compliance and security standards. What you pay depends on your provider.

The licensing rules are also under review. In August 2026 the auDA Board approved the recommendations of its independent Policy Advisory Panel in principle. They include removing the route that lets a .com.au or .net.au match “the name of a service, goods, event, activity or premises”, and, according to auDA’s review page, allowing renewal at any time. auDA says no rule changes have been finalised and draft rules will go to public consultation. Until then, the current rules apply.

Checklist

Look up your domain on the .au WHOIS. Search your name at whois.auda.org.au and note which registrar holds it.
Check the registrant contact email. Log in to your registrar or reseller account and make sure renewal notices and transfer codes go to an inbox the business controls, not a former employee or old web designer.
Check the registrant details are right. Confirm the registrant name and contact details in your registrar account are current, and tell the registrar about any change within 14 days.
Find your expiry date. Get it from your registrar account, or from auDA’s password recovery tool at pw.auda.org.au, and put a reminder in the calendar 90 days before it.
Renew for longer. Ask your provider whether it offers a multi-year term, up to the five-year maximum.
Ignore renewal letters from providers you don’t use. Renew only through your registrar (shown on WHOIS) or the reseller you bought from.
Put the domain in any business sale agreement. Name the domain licence in the contract and request the change of registrant through the registrar within 28 days of signing.

Download checklist PDF

Sources 13 sources

You licence a domain name, you don’t own it

Who can hold which name

Renewals and what happens if you miss one

Moving to a different registrar

Selling a name or buying a business

Do you need the direct .au?

Renewal letters from someone you don’t know

Prices and rules that are changing

Checklist

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