Renew your domain name
When does your domain name expire?
Basically, your .be domain name expires after one year. Depending on the extension and your registrar, this can sometimes be for several years. Your registrar can tell you exactly when your domain name expires. Otherwise, you can ask for a registration certificate.
If you don't pay your registrar the annual registration fee for your domain name within the set deadline, he will delete your domain name. If you do pay your registrar on time, your domain name will be renewed for another year.
Some confusion may exist as to the exact date of expiration. The date when your domain name expires is theoretically one year after the date of registration. Assuming you registered on, for example, January 15th, 2022, it will expire on January 15th, 2023. However, since the billing by DNS Belgium is done only at the end of every calendar month, in practice, it will remain registered until January 31st of 2023.
The theoretical expiration date should therefore be seen as an indication. Your registrar could also decide to delete your domain before that time. This happens mostly if you either ask for it to be deleted or haven’t paid the registrar’s bill in time. Your domain name can also be deleted in case of domain name abuse.
What happens after the domain name is removed?
Your domain name is not released immediately once it has been removed. The period during which it cannot be registered again differs depending on the extension of your domain name.
A .be domain name
When you have your .be domain name removed, it will be kept in quarantine for 40 days:
- The domain name is not accessible
- You cannot update it
- Others cannot register it
The registrar who removed the domain name can reactivate it at your request. A transfer can be carried out before or during the quarantine. After 40 days the domain name is available again for whoever wants to register it.
-
After 40 days, the domain name is available again for whoever wishes to register it. That happens after 40 days have completely elapsed and 24 times per day (on the hour).
-
The current registrar can remove a domain name after having requested the transfer code (which is valid for 7 days) and before the launching/executing of the transfer by the new registrar. The transfer can still go through, but then it becomes a transfer from quarantine.
A .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name
A deleted .vlaanderen or .brussels domain name will first be placed in a redemption status for 30 days:
- The domain name is not accessible
- You cannot update it
- Others cannot register your domain name
The registrar who has removed the domain name can restore it at your request.
No reactivation is possible anymore after those 30 days. The domain name is given ‘pending delete’ status for 5 days. After those 5 days (i.e. 35 days after the removal request), the domain name is released for registration.
Why it’s best not to let your domain name expire
It is actually very smart to have your domain name renewed when you do not actually need it anymore, so as to prevent cybercriminals from hijacking it and wreaking havoc. A word to the wise…