- Removal manifest
- Sheet 2 of 7
- Item 1: the domain
Transferring a .au domain name
To move a .au domain to a different registrar, you start with the registrar you want to move to and give it the domain’s transfer authorisation code; under auDA’s rules the registrant pays no fee for that move. Handing the licence to a different person or business is a separate process, a change of registrant, in which the new holder takes out a new licence agreement and pays the licence fee.
This sheet summarises auDA’s published rules and guidance as at October 2026. auDA is the administrator of the .au domain and the place to check the current rules.
01Two kinds of transfer
auDA’s rules treat the two moves differently, and it helps to know which one you are making before you ask anyone for anything. Changing hosting provider can involve the first; selling the business involves the second.
| Question | Change of registrar | Change of registrant |
|---|---|---|
| What changes | The registrar of record, which manages the licence in the .au registry. | The holder. The rules define a transfer as a novation of the old licence and a new licence agreement for the new holder. |
| Where it starts | With the registrar you want to move to, through its website. | With your current domain name provider (registrar or reseller), through its website. |
| What it needs | A written request from the registrant, a valid authorisation code, a registrant still eligible to hold the licence, and no current complaint, dispute or court case over it. | An eligible registrant, a receiver who meets the Australian Presence and eligibility rules, a written request, no current complaint, dispute or court case, and a licence term that has not expired. |
| Fees | The rules say the registrant is not required to pay a fee for a transfer between registrars. | The new holder pays the new licence fee. auDA notes some providers may also charge for performing the transfer, because they must check both parties are eligible. |
| How long | auDA says it can take up to three days to take effect once approved. | The rules require the registrar to make the transfer within two calendar days of the request. |
| Years left on the licence | auDA’s transfer page sets out the carry-over of years only for a change of registrant. | Full years remaining pass to the new holder, up to the five-year maximum; part years do not. auDA’s example: three years and two months remaining becomes a new three-year licence. |
02Registrar, reseller and registrar of record
auDA describes two kinds of domain name provider: an auDA accredited .au registrar, or a .au reseller. Whichever you used, every .au licence has a registrar of record, the registrar that manages it in the .au registry. If you registered through a reseller, the registrar of record is the organisation the reseller registered the name through, even though you may have no contract with it.
This matters for a hosting move, because a host that sold you the domain may be a reseller rather than the registrar of record. auDA says you can find out who the registrar of record is through its WHOIS tool. Moving between two resellers that use the same registrar of record involves no change of registrar of record, and auDA’s advice for that case is to ask the registrar of record how its process works.
03The authorisation code
The transfer authorisation code is the key that lets a domain leave one registrar for another. auDA notes it is sometimes called a domain name password or EPP authInfo code, and that it is different from the username and password you use to log in to your provider’s account. The code is unique to each licence, while one account can manage several domains along with email and web hosting.
Getting it
auDA gives two ways: ask your current registrar by email or phone, and it will send the code to the registrant contact email recorded in the .au registry; or use auDA’s .au domain password recovery tool. The rules add that a registrar gives the code only to the registrant contact in the registry data, unless the registrant has authorised it in writing to go to someone else, such as a developer handling the move. So the registrant contact email has to be one that somebody still reads.
Looking after it
Section 2.12 of the Licensing Rules sets the form of the code and the registrant’s duties around it. Three of its rules matter most in a move, in the order the rules give them:
- A code must be between 13 and 32 characters long, include at least one letter and one number, and contain no dictionary words.
- The registrant must take all reasonable measures to keep it secure, and tell the registrar if it is lost or stolen, or if someone else is believed to know it.
- After a transfer to a new registrar, the registrant must change the code within two calendar days. If that does not happen, the new registrar may reset it, and must then give the registrant the new code within 24 hours.
The third duty is the one a busy move forgets. The code was shared to make the move; changing it means the shared copy no longer opens anything. A safe cutover puts it alongside the other access changes on moving day.
04When a transfer cannot happen
auDA says a licence cannot be transferred, to another holder or to another provider, while a complaint about it is before the Licence Review Panel, while it is under internal review, or while it is the subject of proceedings under the auDA Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP). Two narrower limits sit in the rules: a change of registrant needs a licence term that has not expired, and an edu.au licence cannot be moved away from the edu.au registrar.
A licence close to its expiry date adds a timing question. auDA says a .au licence can be renewed up to 90 days before it expires, and that after expiry there is a 30-day grace period in which the site and email stop working. Auto-renewals and contract terms covers the renewal dates in more detail.
05When the business itself changes hands
auDA is plain that buying a business does not automatically transfer its domain name licence to the new owner; the transfer has to be arranged. Where a licence moves under a contract, such as the sale of a business, auDA says the transfer must happen within 28 days of entering the contract, unless the agreement says otherwise. The rules frame this as the registrant’s duty to request the transfer within 28 calendar days.
The receiver must be eligible for the namespace on the day. auDA points to the eligibility and allocation criteria in section 2.4 of the Licensing Rules for checking that. If the business is closing rather than being sold, when a business closes its site covers what happens to the licence.
06If a provider will not cooperate
auDA runs a complaints process that covers .au licence eligibility and the conduct of .au domain providers, registrars and resellers alike, under the .au Licensing Rules. It runs the auDRP separately, for disputes about legal rights in a name, such as intellectual property. On auDA’s description, a provider that sits on a transfer request is a conduct question, while somebody else claiming the name is a dispute.