foak, domain registering

not for me, for a friend who runs a self funded animal rescue,

the domain that uses her rescues name has been owned by someone for 2 years,
never had a website attatched to it or owt.

according to nominet it was due for renewal on the 13th of january 2010, and
hasnt been renewed yet, but it's still listed as taken by the domain
registrar (123.net or something like that)

when should it become free for anyone to register if the last owner dosent
renew it? or is there a way to claim it without alearting the last
registered owner so he tries cyber squatting or something like that??

 

It's anything up to 30 days after expiry I think - dependant on the
registrant. The good news is, it's now likely to cost the owner more
to renew it (he'll have to pay a redemption fee) so he probably won't
bother. The bad news is that there are lots of robots that snap up
previously owned domains that just got released into a pool, so you
may find its already taken by someone who'll want over the odds for it
by the time its freed up.

 

The last registered owner won't know. Your friend should simply try
periodically to register the domain name himself. If it's not been
renewed then some time mid April it should stop showing as already
having been taken when he does.

 

IME, if nobody bothers to spend their stupid prices, the domains get
freed up again after a while, and can usually be registered for the
normal cost. I've taken on a few "other TLD" domains which somebody semi-
maliciously registered then got bored with.

 

Exactly. I've done it.

 

I've used this lot before http://www.dropcatcher.co.uk/faq.php with
success - managed to whip away a key domain for a mate from right under
the nose of the competition

 

Aah I wouldn't know, on the rare occasion its happened to me, I've
just abandoned the domain!