The registrant is the person or organization officially recorded as the legal owner of a domain name. If you need to move that ownership to someone else, such as a new company, a business partner, or a buyer, that's a change of registrant. It's a different request from simply correcting a spelling mistake or an outdated phone number on the domain's contact record.
Registrant Change vs. Updating Contact Details
These two requests are often confused, but they mean different things:
- Updating WHOIS contact information keeps the same owner but corrects details like a name spelling, email address, phone number, or physical address. This is a routine, low-friction update.
- Changing the registrant actually transfers legal ownership of the domain from one person or organization to another. Because this affects who controls the domain going forward, it's treated as a more sensitive request and usually requires extra verification.
If you only need to fix a typo or refresh your details, see the related article on updating WHOIS contact information linked at the end of this page. If you're genuinely handing the domain to someone else, keep reading.
When You'd Need to Change the Registrant
- You're selling your business, and the domain needs to go with it.
- The domain was originally registered under your personal name but should now belong to your registered company.
- You're taking over a domain from a former business partner or a previous owner.
- The domain was registered with incorrect ownership details from the start and needs to be corrected to the actual owner.
How to Request a Registrant Change
- Contact ZIPROF support and explain that you need a registrant (ownership) change, not a contact detail update.
- Provide the full legal name and contact details of the current registrant and the new registrant.
- Be ready to confirm your identity as the current account holder, since ownership changes are verified before they're processed.
- Once verified, ZIPROF updates the registrant record for the domain and confirms the change to both parties by email.
A registrant change can only be made with the consent of the current registrant (or the account holder managing the domain). It can't be actioned on a request from the new owner alone, since that would let anyone claim a domain that isn't theirs.
What Happens After the Change
For generic domains like .com, .net, and similar extensions, changing the registrant's name, organization, or email address typically triggers a 60-day inter-registrar transfer lock under standard domain industry policy. During that window the domain still works normally, renews normally, and can be managed as usual; it just can't be moved to a different registrar until the lock period ends.
.co.ke domains are administered separately by Kenya's own registry and don't follow that same 60-day lock rule, though ZIPROF may still apply its own short verification period before the change is finalized.
Either way, your website and email hosting are unaffected by a registrant change. Only the ownership record on the domain itself is updated.
If you only need to correct a detail rather than change ownership, see How to Update Your Domain's WHOIS Contact Information.