In June 2014 Nominet launched the registration of domain names directly under the .uk domain extension. At that time, owners of existing co.uk, org.uk, net.uk and me.uk domains were given five years to secure the exact matching .uk domain. This reserved "grandfathering" period gave owners of existing domains priority to secure their matching .uk domains. The grandfathering period will come to an end on 25 June 2019. After this date, the reserved .uk domains will be released to the general public on a first come, first served basis starting on 1 July 2019. 

If you have not already done so, Lexsynergy recommends that clients secure their rights in all eligible .uk domains before 25 June 2019 to ensure their brand is protected against domain squatters who are likely to snap up domains as soon as they are released to the public.

Currently, there are over 1 million unclaimed .uk domains that will soon be available to the general public for the first time. This includes high-quality domains containing generic terms and limited characters. If there is a .uk domain that you wish to register once it is released, Lexsynergy is offering an automated registration queue. This registration queue will give you priority access to this large pool of domains as soon as they are available and is only offered by a handful of registrars. If you are interested in learning more, please email support@lexsynergy.com.